I, personally, don't believe it's possible to teach critical thinking. I think it's a function of intelligence.

Maybe you're right. I come from a family of smart people but we were also always taught to question, challenge and push back. My father is a Holocaust survivor, which at least partly explains why red flags and alarm bells sound at anything that smells of group think. We - as in, The Frankfurters have a highly-evolved nose for bullshit.

Of one thing I am convinced: you can't teach passion and you either have talent or you don't.