The Changing World
Perhaps most importantly in today’s information age, thinking skills are viewed as crucial for educated persons to cope with rapidly changing world especially the ability to learn and make sense of new information.
The basic idea behind our thinking was designed about twenty-three hundreds years ago by the Greek philosophers and is based on argument. Socrates put high emphasis on dialectic and argument. Socrates saw his role as simply pointing out what was “wrong.” He wanted to clarify the correct use of concepts like justice and love by pointing out incorrect usage. Plato believed that the “ultimate” truth was hidden below appearances. His famous analogy is of a person chained up in a cave so that he can see only the back wall of the cave. Plato used this analogy to point out that as we go through life we can see only the “shadows” of the truth.
Aristotle systematized inclusion/exclusion logic. From past experience we would put together “boxes,” definitions, categories or principle. When we came across something we judge into which box it fell.
As a result, our thinking is concerned with “what is,” which is determined by analysis, judgement and argument. But there is another whole aspect of thinking that is concerned with “what can be,” which involves constructive thinking (designing a way forward).
A thinking system based on argument is excellent. There is nothing wrong with it at all. But it is not sufficient. From the past we create standard situation. We judge into which “standard situation box” a new situation falls. Such a system works very well in a stable world. But in a changing world the standard situation may no longer apply. Instead of judging our way forward, we need to design our way forward. We need to be thinking about “what can be.”
Why Critical Thinking?
Everyone thinks and it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or downright prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of we produce, make, or build depend on the quality of our thought. Excellence thought can increase our quality of life if it is systematically cultivated.
A Definition
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standard upon them.
A well cultivated critical thinker:
Raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely
Gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstraction to interpret it effectively
Comes to well reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
Thinks open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences
Communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problem
Critical thinking is, in short, self directed, self disciplined, self monitored, and self corrective thinking.
Why is it urgent to teach student critical thinking?
Student are not born self directed, self disciplined, self monitored, and self corrective thinking. We often heard children say “I can’t” more than “I can.” Many children grow up lacking of thinking skills because of laziness and the failures of the educational system.
Teaching children to become effective thinkers is increasingly recognized as an immediate goal of education if students are to function successfully in a highly technical society, then they must be equipped with lifelong learning and thinking skills necessary to acquire and process information.
The impulse to question, hypothesize and deduce/induce needs to be nurtured and when it is not, kids fall into bad thinking habit which is also lead to bad quality of life. Student should be trained to know how to ask questions and get answers, have the ability to identify and face a problem, generate ideas that could be solutions and show that they can make a reasonable decision, so that they can deal with problem and potential problem calmly and effectively in an ever changing world.
March 1, 2005
1st assignment of Philosophy of Education
