My stepfather was often heard to say that he hoped the one thing he had taught his daughters was how to think. That "how to think" was more important than reading or writing or arithmetic. Now he wasn't talking about a certain belief or religion. He wasn't talking about a certain political affiliation.What he meant by "how to think" was simply a way to put ourselves in a situation and reason it out. He meant that he had tried to pass on to his children the ability to problem solve.
Now if I were to take that statement and add to it, I would say that I have learned there are often many solutions to certain problems. If one solution doesn't work, always there is another to be found. I think this innate belief is my stepfather's legacy to his daughters. I don't believe everyone has this ingrained belief system, so perhaps my stepfather was correct in believing it was more important to teach his children how to think not always what to think.
Many people try to tell children there is only one way to do something...the right way, but perhaps in doing this we squash the natural ability to think something through to a conclusion, test the conclusion then rethink the problem if the solution doesn't work.
Sort of reminds me of the old adage of teaching a man how to fish so he will be able to feed himself forever rather than giving the man a fish to have for just that one meal.
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