Teach Critical Thinking

Most of my youtube viewers seem to describe themselves somewhere along the lines of free thinking, independent minded secular humanists. Most of them have gone significantly against the grain at least once in their lives. Reflecting on that, many are so pleased to have shaken free of at least one popular concept that they now see for what it really is, and what they could have become, that they encourage others to analyze the popular opinions they hold as well. So it should come as no surprise that when I speak to that audience about the future of education the most popular terminology they throw around the in the comment section is "critical thinking," and the most popular use of that term involves the proposed magic bullet of curriculum improvement, which of course is to "teach critical thinking."
Mmm doesn't that just feel good to say? Doesn't it feel good to hear? Those three little words just slip off the tongue and dance upon the eardrums of the "free thinking" community. The small, yet fundamental questions that create difficulty with the whole notion are... what the hell is "critical thinking" and how the hell does one "teach it?" Landing on a solid definition for "critical thinking" can be a bit tricky. Here are some different ways that it's been defined according to some different authorities on the matter with references provided.
"Reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do" "Thinking about thinking"
"The intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action." (That sounds a lot like just thinking to me)
"The process of purposeful, self-regulatory judgment, which uses reasoned consideration to evidence, context, conceptualizations, methods, and criteria."
"...[A] commitment to the social and political practice of participatory democracy, willingness to imagine or remain open to considering alternative perspectives, willingness to integrate new or revised perspectives into our ways of thinking and acting, and willingness to foster criticality in others."
This isn't the sort of thing you can directly teach someone, it's something you can hope to achieve through teaching. Telling an educator to just teach critical thinking would be like telling a chef to cook a specific flavor, rather than a dish which provides that flavor. It gets even trickier when you consider the definition of critical thinking to be somewhat subjective, almost like telling a chef to cook deliciousness itself without putting a fine point on what exactly you hope for him or her to achieve.
While we might easily agree that being open minded and analyzing data before accepting it are key elements of critical thought, and that those are instrumental tools in developing a free thinking society, bear in mind the repercussions that that come with that. Different people will champion different levels of critique to be inspired to strike that balance between a lemming mentality and a cynical conspiracy theorist. Sorting through that grey area to nail down an objective classroom curriculum including meaningful lesson plan and a grading scale is much harder to do than it is just say "teach critical thinking."
On top of that, most American parents still raise their children under an authoritarian construct of "you do what I say, not as I do, because I said so." While I agree that raising a child to question the very sources of all its knowledge in the hopes that those sources will have meaningful answers is a good idea, I don't consider most Americans ready for it. Many are already remarkably frustrated by the beautiful curiosity of their own children. That is the crux of the matter.
Teachers can and should challenge their students to be open to being proven wrong, and to seek out multiple sources to confirm or disprove both new and traditional constructs in their minds because that really is the best way to build an accurate knowledge bank. That sort of or encouragement can be worked into preexisting lessons without straying too far from a set state curriculum. However, if we want to see a generation of young people breaking from the sheep mentality of most of their predecessors, the change has to start early. It has to start and be encouraged by the people raising them at home. Unfortunately, most of the people supplying and "raising" the next generation stick with the flock and don't like to stray from the shepherd.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• GrapplingIgnorance
• Teach
• Critical
• thinking
• education
• solution
• thought
• teacher
• lessons
• learn
• students
• school

[Morahg]

Excellent vid. As an ex-teacher I am very pleased you looked at the difficulties faced by educators which is very often glossed over. Heck if I could resub to increase your stats, I would do so!

[CATMAHAT]

Damn you. You just blew one of my favorite icons out of the water. Now I must think ( with my f%#ked up brain ) of a new easy 'solution' that fits into a sound bite that will 'save the world'. You bastard.

[MaherLeary]

when in doubt, employ the Socratic method.

[OrganisedChaos96]

In the UK most colleges offer a 2 year A-level course on 'critical thinking'.Within the course the class is tought how to view different sides of information and present an argument for it accordingly along with many other things.I'm not too sure on what the course truly consist of since I don't plan on taking it myself once i go college however I wouldn't mind giving you some links if you wish to have more information on the matter.

[SomedaysDreamersBC]

"thinking about thinking" LMFAO...

[GrapplingIgnorance]

@WarbladeX1 Your facile understanding of biology renders you impotent in this discussion. If you can't even understand that we're animals with a place in earth's echosystem just like all animals, there's no point in the conversation. Our evolutionary path has made us more dependant on our brains than our bodies for survival, but that doesn't mean we're the only animals who can think. Back to your original point, you're broadened the definition of "critical thinking" to being human. Worthless.

[WarbladeX1]

@GrapplingIgnorance yes, we all have natural instincts but being able to control or shut it off makes the difference between.. ok lets say man and beast, does that sound gooder or do i have to go deeper into explaining myself. all because we both are warm blooded and have a brain does not make us the same as animals. your talking about kingdoms of classification. thats only for science when they file living creatures into categories.

[GrapplingIgnorance]

@WarbladeX1 Wow- you just answered your own question. Those instances you described are products of instinct. Humans have natural instincts too. Often times evolutionary instincts in all animals (including humans) take precedence over careful thought. This is true for all people, not just those of low intelligence. It's why noises in the dark scare us, why mothers will die for their children without "thinking" and a myriad of other examples. Just do some research and LEARN: humans ARE animals.

[WarbladeX1]

@GrapplingIgnorance explain how a pitbull or others dogs maul kids and owners without even agrivating the animal. this is fact and its been known on camera. lots of animals and insects bite because they don't like the smell of someone. its an impulsive action of defensive rage called instinct. meaning action without thinking. now im not saying humans can't act like animals. people with low I.Qs are proof of that. lol

[GrapplingIgnorance]

@WarbladeX1 You can deny it all you want, but humans ARE animals. We are filed into taxonomy just like all other living creatures. Here's where we fall specifically: Domain: Eukarya -> Kingdom: Anamilia -> Phylum: Chordata -> Class: Mammalia-> Order: Primates -> Family: Primates -> Genus: Homo -> Species: Homo Sapiens. Snakes bite their prey, but not their young- thinking. Loyal dogs bite intruders but not their owners- thinking. Their brains recognize distinctions & they act based on thoughts.

[WarbladeX1]

@GrapplingIgnorance a monkey trying to fit a square in a circle is not thinking, its trial and error. snakes do not think twice about bitting, neither does dogs. a human can stop in the process of killing and say, mabe this is a bad idea. thats the difference that we are NOT animals and its called critical thinking.

[GrapplingIgnorance]

@WarbladeX1 You’ve just defined critical thinking as “the process of thinking.” That’s not a very strong definition. I suggest you watch TheCarruth’s video response to this video. As “animals not thinking twice,” that’s ridiculous. Firstly, we ARE animals, and you’ve said we think twice. Many species can be observed in lab environments and their natural habitats reasoning their way through circumstances to solve problems.