Yes, I do believe reasoning skills should be taught in primary school. Children need to learn from the earliest ages to think for themselves and not just follow the crowd. These are skills they will need to use throughout life. If children learn to look for all possible outcomes, they will be so much better off in life. Reasoning by using the facts will lead them to the logical conclusion. Using examples in lieu of the facts will lead them to the best possible outcome, I believe.
Facts are irrefutable. When children are taught to research the facts, they will always have the right answer come from the facts. So, they will always know how to find the right answer even when someone is trying to lead them astray. As mentioned in class when trying to figure out if information on a website is credible
.http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp As in this Starbucks rumor.
Also, children should be taught to look at examples as views of the consequences of a certain action. If they see a peer taking a certain action and other peers taking the same action, then reaching the same conclusion. They can reasonably assume that they will have the same consequences to their same actions. Although, not always necessarily true, but to their best guess. For example, if Billy, Bobby, and Tommy all bully other children on three separate occasions, but all receive the same punishment. Then Jimmy can safely assume the same consequences will happen to him if he tries to bully another child.
Some critics might say that children's brains are too immature to handle such information, but I believe if you put the information in terms they can understand, the information will seep in. The heart of the matter lies in age-appropriateness.
If information is presented to the child in the right manner and context, they will absorb it. Learning to reason and coming up with the correct conclusion will serve the child well throughout his life.
