One of the cliches in education these days is the need to teach students to engage in "critical thinking."

Stephen Zelnick, who teaches at Temple University, writes in an article for the John William Pope Center that once you give it a closer look, programs and classes that promote "critical thinking" are fairly predictable.

He says "the original meaning of 'critical thinking' has been confused with thinking that is critical of American values and institutions, a mode of thought that reflects the left orthodoxy of the university community itself."