Einstein and thinking

I determined about a year ago, while writing a paper for my M.A program, that the number one goal of education should be to assist people to become strong, independent thinkers. The ability to analyze, debate, and innovate is a key to not only developing one's potential but also to ensure the continuance of democratic political systems. I especially found value in the ideas of Edward de Bono, the developer of lateral thinking theory. Despite his obvious love of himself for thinking of such a creative thought process (see his web site for evidence), his ideas further strengthened my belief in the need for thinking-based education.

Today on CNN.com, there was an article about the legacy of Einstein. 2005 is the centennial anniversary of Einstein's miracle year of 1905, when he published a series of papers that changed the way the world thought. Now, I actually know little about Einstein, and I have only a passing understanding of his theories of relativity, but it seems that his approach to thinking again supports my beliefs about where education should go.

Einstein was not a man without issues. He wasn't a family man, quite obviously, based on the article in CNN, and he apparently felt isolated by the end of his life. Does his obsession with thinking provide an argument for or against thinking-based education?

Anyway, these are my own muddled musings on the matter. Suffice it to say that in practical terms, I believe in inquiry-based learning with the use of essential questions to guide lessons, particularly at the higher levels of education. I have no personal experience, though, since I have been teaching English as a foreign language in Korea for most of the past ten years. Down the road, I hope to get into a different situation to see how my thoughts actually play out in a classroom.