Since Socrates first posed questions to his ga-clad philosophers, teachers have encouraged students to think. This author, a fifth-grade teacher, explains the importance of teaching children to think for themselves rather than merely coaxing them to come up with the instructor's answer. Some of the methods he uses in his classroom include building "thinking time" into activities and using both encouragement and skepticism when questioning students. He contends that students need to know why they are required to think from the very beginning of an assignment, and discusses the importance of using persuasion and convincing arguments to demonstrate clear thinking.