Cognitive Castration

"Cognitive Castration" names both the process and the effect of much of school.

The Process: The subject is invited to offer personal opinions in a free intellectual environment. Those opinions which do not meet with rapidly-evolving standards in what it is considered decent to think or believe, are punished with the emotion of shame, preferably inflicted by a group.

The Effect: A person who reacts to the inevitable cognitive dissonance with displays of emotion (to avoid being shamed again, castrati will compete in terms of shrillness, volume, and extremism), not with introspection and reason.

It is generally not possible to reason a person out of cognitive castration. They were never reasoned into it in the first place.

It may be possible to shame them out of it.