Interesting. Serendipitously, I had a conversation closely related to this issue earlier today, at a meeting about science museums. One person said , with some frustration, that one needed to design exhibits to "force" people to think. My immediate reaction was that what was actually needed was exhibits that "allow" people to think. To put it differently, my experiences is that everyone actually has the inclination/capability to think, and what is needed is more a matter of nurturing encouraging that rather than initiating/creating it. Remove barriers and provide a little grist and .... away it goes. Maybe that's what you mean when you say you can't teach people to think?