Noble proposes that adoption by the US public school system of military methodology for problem solving has played a central role in shaping the thinking skills and learning strategies of young students. Public schools have historically transferred "militarized" training philosophies into their pedagogy. Military effectiveness and efficiency demand that training programs emphasize the ability of the individual to conform to the machine. "Military cognitive engineers" recognize the application of metacognition as a basis for improvement of reactive skills, as opposed to reflective, critical thinking. The adoption of "militarized" pedagogy by public school systems is responsible for the degradation of education, creating generations of students that do not know how to learn, think, question or solve problems.

Characteristics of military pilot training serve as evidence of the pedagogical path requiring that human intelligence conform to the needs of the machine. Effective and efficient combat decisions can not wait for human reflection. Therefore, pilots have been trained to think reactively to the demands of their work environment, thereby eliminating opportunities for reflective thinking. Reflective thinking has been engineered into the flight deck computer system to model human schemata for pilot task decision making. The logic used in this program became recognized by the military as a "learning tool" for efficient and effective human training. This training has been adopted by the US public school system and apparently is the major cause for young students' ineffectual critical thinking.

Pilot skill effectiveness and efficiency are increased by the intellectual augmentation of "man-computer symbiosis". This symbiosis should not be confused with methodology applied to the improvement of learning and thinking skills. Although useful to military operations, these programs will interfere with the development of reflective thinking skills and should not be adopted by US public schools. Nobels work provides the reader with the information necessary to identify and avoid such programs.