I've always been told that education is the answer to most of society's woes, but the older I get the less I believe that.

I think the answer is curiosity. Then comes logic. /1

Hear me out here: I'm not saying that education isn't important. It is. But you can educate people to think just about anything if they're not curious enough to look past what they're taught. /2

My dad was kind of a dick, and I'm sure I've explained why several times on Twitter.

But he was also someone who demanded intellectual curiosity from his children. If I asked him "Why?," he'd tell us to figure it out for ourselves. /3

At best, I got book recommendations.

"Dad, we read about the Holocaust in school. Why did that happen?"

"Read 'Mein Kampf' and 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'."

"Which do I read first?" I asked.

"Pick one," he answered. /4

This could've, obviously, gone very bad. But he made me talk about what I'd read. If I had statements to make about what I'd read, I'd make them, and he'd say, "Why do you think that?" /5

[An example]

"I read it in 'Mein Kampf'," I might say.

"Do you know any Jews?," he might answer.

"I don't think so."

"Then what the do you know about Jews?" /6

I was never TOLD anything. My father had definite opinions about Republicans and Democrats and Bush and Clintons, but I wasn't allowed to parrot those opinions back.

[Real example]

"Hillary Clinton is the worst!" I proclaimed.

"Why?" my father asked. /7

I'd parrot back his reasons for hating Hillary Clinton, trying desperately to gain his approval.

"I already know what I think," he said.

He told me to research her on the internet when I got home. /8

By my next ride with my dad to Wayne Middle School, I liked Hillary Clinton and knew exactly why. I was able to argue all her good points against my father's belief of her bad points, even using things like "Well, you tell ME to think for myself" in the argument. /9

"Fair," my father replied. "Her father must've told her to think for herself too."

"Or her mom," I answered.

"Yeah, maybe," he replied. "It could've been her mom."

"People can get their on their own."

The subject was dropped there.

/10

My father also wasn't that white dude who kept his kids from other kids. We lived in a box in a working-class neighborhood. If there was a sleepover 3 blocks down in the projects, I went there. If there was a sleepover "up the hill" that I was invited to, I went there too. /11

And it was of utmost importance to him that I go to public schools. Other people cheated and used addresses of family members to get out of the city schools. He could've done that. He didn't. /12

My father's belief then* was that he'd taught his kids to be self-learners, and that the diversity of the city schools would make his children better citizens. Back then*, he thought that making intellectually curious, empathetic kids was his best contribution to the world. /13

*He later reversed on all of that after a green card marriage.

My father's bi-polar disorder manifested late. He always had depressive episodes, but his manic episodes didn't start until his mid-40s. He wouldn't take meds; I made sure he got to work. But he did a 180. /14

My point--although I took a very, very long detour to get here, is that it's curiosity that matters most. My father got that, and that's why he didn't follow down the path of his batshit-fundie parents. He had a Metro card and a love of museums. /15

And while he had some right-leaning beliefs, he never allowed his kids to have them just 'cause. He never let us just win a game of Axis & Allies, and he never allowed us to simply parrot his beliefs about anything. /16

He managed to do that without ever "gaslighting" us. Or at least that's what he did with me, and I was the one kid who was almost solely raised by him. /17

I maintain a strict prior/post mental illness view of my father. I won't speak of the 'post' here.

I'm grateful that I was raised to be curious. I'm grateful I was never handed a "Why?" or a "How?" I'm definitely grateful to have never been handed "That's just how it is." /18

I'm a better person because my father made me read about what Nazis thought of Jews, let me say some shit, and then came back with, in short, "Come back to me when you know some shit." /19

And that's why curiosity is most important.

After curiosity comes LOGIC. You've gathered all of this information because you are a curious person. Can you now take that information you've gathered and put it together in a way that makes sense? /20

My father didn't just want me to collect more information; he wanted me to collect more information so that I could construct better arguments. /21

That's what a free society would want to teach its next generation: intellectual curiosity and logic.

Is that what we've been teaching in the United States, public school or otherwise? /22