the care and feeding of a needle-sharp intellect

I'm looking over a file I started a couple years ago called NotesToMyChildren. It's addressed to hypothetical future offspring, but it is in fact a list of points I want to remember when I'm homeschooling.

Some of the items on the list seemed appropriate to talk about on the babyblog. This one definitely belongs here instead:

Quoting from Walter Block's Defending the Undefendable:

At the present time, with the intense discussion on the evils of heroin addiction, it is well to heed the old adage -- "listen to both sides of the story." Among the many reasons for this, and perhaps most important, is the fact that if everyone is against something (particularly heroin addiction), one can assume that there is something which can be said in its favor. Throughout mankind's long and disputatious history, the majority opinion has, the majority of the time, been wrong.

On the other hand, even those who agree with the majority opinion should also welcome an attack upon it. The best way to teach the verities of life, according to the Utilitarian John Stuart Mill, is by hearing the opposition. Let the position be challenged, and let the challenge fail. This method was considered by Mill to be so important that he recommended inventing a challenging position, if a real one was not forthcoming, and presenting it as convincingly as possible. Thus, those who believe in the unmitigated evils of heroin addiction should be eager to hear an argument in favor of it.