Title: Critical Thinking
Headings: 
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Critical  Thinking: Distinguishing Between Inert Information, Activated Ignorance,
Activated Knowledge
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Content: Inert  information. By  inert information, we mean taking into the mind information that,  though memorized, we do not understand-despite the fact that we  think we do. For example, many people have taken in, during their  schooling, a lot of information about democracy that leads them  to believe they understand the concept. Often, a good part of the  information they have internalized consists of empty verbal rituals  in their mind. For example, many children learn in school that “democracy  is government of the people, by the people, for the people.” This catchy phrase often sticks in their mind. It leads them to  think they understand what it means, though most of them do not  translate it into any practical criteria for assessing the extent  to which democracy does or does not exist in any given country. Most people, to be explicit, could not intelligibly answer any of  the following questions: What is the difference  between a government of the people and a government for the people? What is the difference  between a government for the people and a government by the people?