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How can teaching methods make students unwilling to question their beliefs?

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Fragment of a Roman fresco showing Socrates seated and draped in a white robe, with Greek text above, on a red background with visible cracks. — Philosophy of education Socrates, Roman fresco, 1st century bce; in the Ephesus Museum, Selçuk, Turkey.

In the philosophy of education, teaching methods that discourage students from questioning their beliefs are often categorized as indoctrination. While educators generally aim to foster critical thinking—a process involving the impartial scrutiny of information and the evaluation of reasons—indoctrination functions by bypassing this reflective inquiry.12

Teaching methods can make students unwilling or unable to question their beliefs through several approaches:

Aim-based indoctrination: Instruction is specifically designed to ensure students adopt certain beliefs regardless of whether those beliefs are supported by evidence.1
Method-based indoctrination: Teachers employ techniques that instill beliefs in a manner that prevents students from independently evaluating or challenging them.1
Doctrine-based indoctrination: Students are led to embrace specific sets of beliefs, such as particular political ideologies or religious doctrines, without regard for their evidential status.1

These methods stand in direct contrast to the ideal of critical thinking, which requires students to be disposed to construct and evaluate reasons for their judgments and to act in accordance with those reasoned evaluations. Ethical education should prioritize the development of these habits of mind, such as curiosity and open-mindedness, rather than the uncritical acceptance of dogma.32