The following is a transcript from a high school critical thinking class lead by Mr.Jones. Jones uses a projector to show images, those image changes will be shown in brackets.
So let’s think for a moment about what you know. This is Egypt [google earth image of Egypt] . What is Egypt famous for?
Students: Pyramids ! The Sphinx!
Jones: Great! What is this? [Image of the great pyramid of Giza]
Student: The big Pyramid.
Jones: Right. What we call the Great Pyramid of Giza. This pyramid is almost 500 feet tall, it was constructed of 2.3 million stones, weighing up to 200 tons each. It is the only remaining wonder of the ancient world. Why was it built?
Students: there is some unintelligible sounds
Students: A pharaoh was buried there!
Jones: Interesting. Why do you say that there is a pharaoh there. [ Image of Tutankhamun bust]
Students: ……
Jones: Come on, where did we learn it?
Students: The History channel. I read about it online. In a text book.
Jones: Great. With a show of hands, how many of you have actually looked into it?
Students: no one raises their hand
Jones: OK. I’m sure ancient Egyptian Pharaohs aren't something you are interested in, but what if I told you that there is no evidence that a Pharaoh was buried in the great pyramid? In Fact the only reason we think it was a burial site is because inside the top most chamber is a big granite box. Now, old archeologist call this room the “King’s Chamber” which gives this argument an easy boost. [Jones shows an imagine of the Kings chamber] . So here is the Kings chamber. It’s a big empty room with a stone box in it.
30 or so seconds go by while the students talk amongst themselves
Jones: Let’s assume that someone was buried there. Who is it? Standard Archeology would tell you that Khufu was buried there. They say that he built it and it was his tomb. There are multiple problems with this, the first is that there is nothing inside the Great Pyramid as I mentioned before. So if there is nothing inside the pyramid how do they know? In the attic area of the Kings Chamber, there is a bunch of graffiti [changed picture to , one of those pieces of graffiti is the name “Khufu”. That’s it. There is no other major evidence that says it was a tomb or who was buried there. They also use this evidence to show when the pyramid was built and who built it.
Student: So who built the pyramid?
Jones: Excellent. This is the first thing I want you to think about. There are multiple theories some seem more far fetched than others but I want you to listen and think about it yourself. 1) Mainsteam scientist will say Khufu and the Egyptians built it ~4000 years ago. 2) Some Archaeologists believe that the Pyramid was build ~10-11000 years ago by an earlier society and simply occupied by the Egyptians. 3) Somehow a GOD built the pyramid and 4) Aliens built the pyramid.
Some students agree with one of the reasons, some laugh
Student: Which one do you believe Mr. Jones?
Jones: Well, that's not what this is really about, it's about getting you to critically think. It may not even be one of these options and there is something we are missing. But thats ok. Infact if you started with any of these ideas that is ok, as long as you understand that just because “everyone” believes something does not mean its true. Investigate yourself and listen to all the facts.[ Images changes to the three pyramids of Giza] . OK so we are not sure who built the pyramids but how they built it. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Students: Aliens! God!
Jones: Well to be honest, we don’t know that either. There are multiple theories some claim that we used water elevators, some claim that they used huge teams of men to pull the blocks hundreds of miles.
[image goes black]
Jones: Alright folks, thats all the time we have for today. Tomorrow we will be talking about the news media.
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