How teaching children to analyze cereal commercials could build critical thinking skills

Summary

The article discusses the lack of critical thinking in America, using a CNN segment about prediction markets as a jumping-off point. The author laments that most viewers would not take the time to research what prediction markets actually are or how they differ from polls. The piece connects this to broader concerns about media manipulation and suggests that teaching children critical thinking skills could start with something as simple as analyzing cereal commercials — helping them recognize marketing manipulation and apply that skepticism more broadly. The article argues this would take a generation to bear fruit but is a necessary cultural shift.