As 'critical thinking' without a solid foundation of fact is pretty useless, I beg to differ. The only reason I am able to determine what is solid and what is not is because I grew up in the classical education system. This meant the first 7 years of information was learning by rote. I learn the history of Europe, the stone ages, and many different countries. I learnt the geography and climate zones of many different countries. I learnt my times tables, the basics of science, etc. Without learning these facts by rote, people have nothing to compare incoming information with.