I don't see the validity of this point. MC tests ask students to pick from four predetermined choices. They don't require him to figure out the answer for himself by putting ideas together (my definition of critical thinking). Rarely in life are we presented with four answer choices, one of which is correct.
Asking a student to pick from a few choices about the tone of a paragraph is a far cry from asking him to write a meaningful essay about it.
Hear, hear!
We've already taught DD10 the extremely useful but (IMO) not especially "analytical" skill of "If you aren't sure, cross out the obviously stupid answers and pick from the remaining ones." And the "backwards plug-in" (in math, plug the answers you have left after crossing out the dumb ones into the problem and see if they look like they work). These are test-taking hacks. One could argue they are applicable to other things in life, but they aren't demostrating mastery of the material.
