...at the school I went we also got teached critical thinking.

Good for you my friend :-) I also learned to think of a proof for the Theorem of Pythagoras, not just blindly apply the rule a squared plus b squared equals c squared. That doesn't change one iota of what I claim here; school is not here to teach you to think for yourself but to prepare you for your role in the industrial economy. That's what it was made for specifically.