Many people will consider ‘critical thinking’ as one way of teaching almost anything in schools due to its reasoning and self-thinking skills that will help you later in life. Now that schools have been teaching less and less based on what they want to teach, but instead of what they must teach for the standardized tests that are taken each year by students. It’s a wonder why they don’t teach critical thinking as often as they should. Should they have a full course on this subject and why haven’t they been teaching this in these modern times?
According to the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, it is “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information” and “is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, good reasons, depth, consistency, [etc]” (Defining).
It is also said to be “self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way” (Defining). Individuals who use critical thinking are living rationally, reasonably, and empathically. It’s no wonder many of us want a course about this and beyond.
How does one teach critical thinking? There are three strategies that teachers use to help their students into this life subject: “Reflection, Reasons, Alternatives (RRA)” (Ennis). Reflection is used to stop and think, instead of
performing a quick judgment or “accepting the first idea;” Having good reasons for their questions and views is used; Alternative is used to “emphasize alertness for alternative hypotheses, conclusion, explanations, sources of evidence, points of views, plants, etc” (Ennis). So, there are plans to teach critical thinking, it’s just not used as often as one would hope.
However, there are college courses that you could take that is critical thinking instructed. Mainly used in majors like Philosophy, Law, and Teaching; they do help students reach their full minded potential. There is even a course labeled “How to Infuse Critical Thinking Into Instruction” and levels into advanced courses (Online). So, it’s important to view critical thinking as the upmost importance in teaching, but in your life as well.
Many schools now have standardized testing which makes them only teach certain things within certain times throughout the year. There is hardly any un-structured creative time within the classroom, which is a big problem among students because they are filled with more stress than ever. To help, they should evaluate the tests and come up with more critical thinking questions so that in return, the classroom can become a more lively, creative, analysis, open-discussion place.
Skills can develop when you have begun to use critical thinking in your everyday life, like Interpretation, Analysis, Inference, Evaluation, Explanation, and Self-Regulation (Tilus). These skills can help you own your way of thinking and problem-solving skills will increase throughout your life, as well as help within your career.
As you can tell, critical thinking is immensely important. There should be at least one mandatory course in high school and then a repeated course that you can take in college, but a more advanced one. Critical thinking helps your reasoning with others, increases problem solving abilities, the ability to connect pieces of information to determine meaning of it, and many other polished skills that can help in your career, general workplace, and life.
References
“Defining Critical Thinking.” The Critical THinking Community, www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766.
Ennis, Robert H. “Twenty-One Strategies and Tactics for Teaching Critical Thinking.” CriticalThinking.NET How to Teach Critical Thinking, Nov. 2013, www.criticalthinking.net/howteach.html.
“Online Courses in Critical Thinking.” Online Courses in Critical Thinking, Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2017, www.criticalthinking.org/pages/online-courses-for-instructors/574/.
Tilus, Grant. “6 Critical Thinking Skills You Need to Master Now.” Rasmussen College – Regionally Accredited College Online and on Campus, 12 Nov. 2012, www.rasmussen.edu/student-life/blogs/main/critical-thinking-skills-you-need-to-master-now/.
