Critical Thinking
The word thinking alone can insinuate many things from analyzing something to simply daydreaming. However, when you add critical in front of it you specify the definition much more. Critical thinking is analyzing something with skepticism to draw your conclusions from it. The authors of From Critical Thinking to Argument state, “because critical thinkers seek to draw intelligent conclusions, they are sufficiently open-minded that they can adopt a skeptical attitude towards their ideas, toward their assumptions, and toward the evidence they themselves tentatively offer.” Critical thinking allows you to dive deeper into whatever you are doing and analyze it. It is important to do in school, your professional life, and personal life because it creates a deeper understanding and better-developed opinions.
Critical thinking goes back to 1910. Philosopher John Dewy defined it, and wrote about it as ‘reflective thinking’. He defined it as, “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends”. There are many examples of critical thinking that Dewy writes about in his books. Some of them are as simple as how long it will take to get from point A to point B if the train is late. Others are about small human decisions, “A man on a walk notices that it has suddenly become cool, thinks that it is probably going to rain, looks up and sees a dark cloud obscuring the sun, and quickens his step”(Dewy). In this example the man takes in all the information and then decides to walk faster.
In the 1930’s there was a study called The Eight Year Study of the Progressive Education Association. Many schools participated in this study and started to implement critical thinking in the education of high schoolers. Since then schools have been enthralled with teaching critical thinking skills, even designing specific courses about it.
In your academic life, it is extremely valuable to be able to analyze something and formulate a coherent thought about the subject. In the classroom setting teachers or books give you the plain facts and it is your duty as a student to draw a conclusion from them. This is the way we actually learn. So often students can memorize facts well, they can repeat information but they don’t understand it.
For example, anyone can memorize the Gettysburg address, it’s one of the most popular speeches in history. President Abraham Lincon talked about how we should honor the dead and preserve our great nation forever so that all those people didn’t die in vain. It takes critical thinking to conclude that the purpose was to provide closure for the country and unite them in this pivotal time. His speech was given to inspire America to bring equality to this great nation. Analyzing the speech and thinking critically about it produced a better understanding of the implicit meaning. Critical thinking makes you a better student.
Learning to think critically in your academic life helps prepare you for your professional life. There are a lot of jobs that involve interaction between people and it is helpful to be able to hear what someone is saying, think about it and form a response in a timely manner. It is also important to be able to look at your own work and be able to analyze it to make it better.
Critical thinking also opens the doors for self-improvement. When you intensely look at your decisions and ideas you are given the opportunity to make them better. Critical thinking is also important in your personal life when making these decisions. We naturally tend to think critically in our daily lives. When anyone talks to you it is instinctual to analyze what they are saying with skepticism. If you believe everything everyone says to you people could trick you into anything. Critical thinking in a way keeps you safe.
In life, it is also important to explore things for yourself and form your own opinions about them. A great example is when you are meeting someone for the first time. It is a good idea to analyze the things they say and do because it gives you insight into their character. Looking at their character with skepticism is also essential because it can protect you from someone bad. Whether we like it or not we always think critically of others at first. There is the predator vs. prey theory of nature. Instinctually when we meet someone new we decide if we are the predators or the prey, in humans case dominant or submissive. Critical thinking of the other character is the main piece to this.
Critical thinking is so important in your academic, professional, and especially in your personal life. In all three settings thinking critically allows you to analyze facts or other people’s ideas and use that understanding as a basis for your own opinions. In your academic life, critical thinking fosters a deeper understanding of a topic. In the professional world, it is important to think critically of the information you find and are given to do your job appropriately. Most importantly it is necessary to think critically in your personal life because it will help you make good decisions and may keep you safe.
Works Cited
Barnet, Sylvan, et al. From Critical Thinking to Argument: a Portable Guide. fifth ed., Bedford/St. Martins/Macmillan Learning, 2020.
Dewey, John, 1910, How We Think, Boston: D.C. Heath, 1916, Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, New York: Macmillan.
Dewey, John, 1910, How We Think, Boston: D.C. Heath, 1933, How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative Process, Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.
