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In science courses, this is relatively easy to do. Idealizations, approximations, and simplifications lie close to the surface and are clearly articulated in most presentations. They are ignored or overlooked by the students, however, principally because explicit recognition and restatement are rarely, if ever, called for on tests or examinations. In history, humanities, and the social sciences (key elements of a classical or liberal education), underlying assumptions are frequently more subtle and less clearly articulated; probing for them requires careful and self-conscious attention on the part of instructors and students.
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