Drawing on the writings of Jean Piaget, Paulo Freire, Yoneji Masuda, John Naisbitt, and others, this paper examines the purposes of education and posits a model for developing strong sense critical thinking (SSCT) skills among elementary school students. Part I examines the purpose of education, while Part II discusses SSCT, defined as the ability to question one's own framework of thought, to understand the arguments and rationale of others, and to reason dialectically in such a way as to determine when one's own point of view is at its weakest and when an opposing point of view is at its strongest. Part III examines possible scenarios for developing SSCT skills at Philadelphia's Joseph Pennell Academics Plus elementary school, outlining best case, worst case, and probable scenarios. Parts IV and V look at the historical context for developing SSCT, while Part VI outlines future possibilities for an SSCT program at the Joseph Pennell school. Contains a 40-item annotated bibliography. (MDM)