{"id":9783,"date":"2016-10-20T17:46:26","date_gmt":"2016-10-21T00:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dminlgp.com\/?p=9783"},"modified":"2016-10-20T17:46:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T00:46:26","slug":"am-i-thinking-critically-or-just-being-critical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/am-i-thinking-critically-or-just-being-critical\/","title":{"rendered":"Am I thinking critically, or just being critical?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DECISION-2016-LOGO\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maybe I shouldn\u2019t have waited to post until after last night\u2019s presidential debate. I had one post almost completely written yesterday, but had to scrap it and start over after watching the debate. In my original post I mentioned a couple of questions I had about Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools<\/em> by Paul and Elder, and I will get to those here as well, but the presidential debate set my thinking off on a completely different direction relating to this text.<\/p>\n

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My first thought is that this miniature guide should probably be required reading in high school. Heck, let\u2019s write a children\u2019s version and introduce it in kindergarten. I\u2019m not saying that every page would connect well with young thinkers, but there are some pretty important things that could dramatically alter the way children develop into critical thinkers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

I believe that children are innately programmed toward the process of critical thinking, even if they begin from a place where they lack what Paul and Elder call \u201cEssential Intellectual Traits\u201d (14-15). Anyone who spends time with toddlers knows that \u201cwhy?\u201d is a crucial piece of their vocabularies. They want to understand how and why things work, happen, and interact. This somewhat annoying trait eventually gets stifled by repeated but varying versions of, \u201cBecause I said so.\u201d Then we are frustrated when they struggle to learn to think for themselves later in life. Okay, I know that\u2019s an overly simplified account of what happens but, even with allowances for wide variations, it is a general theme that takes place in homes and schools. Children are steeped in sociocentric thinking even if parents perfectly encourage growth through critical thinking (which, I admit, I did not do). When we become adults, fear and anger seem to quickly drive many of us back to that sociocentrism and egocentrism that are harbingers of a lack of critical thinking.<\/p>\n

The statement in Critical Thinking<\/em> that most disturbed me in relation to what is currently happening in our country is this: \u201cSociocentric thinking is the hallmark of an uncritical society. It can be diminished only when replaced by cross-cultural, fairminded thinking \u2013 critical thinking in the strong sense\u201d (22). \u00a0A quick look at social media following the presidential debate gives me at least cursory evidence that we may be living in a predominantly uncritical society. This quick checklist by Paul and Elder concerning critical societies must at least give us pause about where our country falls on the scale:<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical societies will develop only to the extent that:<\/p>\n