The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. ~Albert Einstein
Critical thinking is what defines our perception of the physical and the incognito sub-world, consisting of our mental thought. The failure of many people to develop a critically observant mind has caused a lack of intelligent thought processes throughout the world and most notably America.
But what is critical thinking? It is defined as the mental process of discernment, analysis and evaluation. Critical thinking merges the two forms of judgment, scientific evidence that is discovered though your previous acts of critical thinking, and common sense which is formed from your biased view on the world from your previous influences. Your opinion is formed from a nonlinear process or reason in the subconscious and conscious mind.
Every form of judgment we quantify goes through the same critical thought process. They are first analyzed then considered with knowledge from previous influences, common sense, and then, if necessary, considered with previous knowledge that is acquired through examinations of the past scientific evidence.
The depth of our thought process is determined by the quality and quantity of the question or situation. It is not necessary to galvanize our thinking process all of the time but in the subject of complex situations we need to develop a more dependable way of solving the problem at hand.
In the latter years of life it is hard to reinvent your through process because like so many other beliefs they have been imprinted into your (the frontal cortex ),thus the reason why all new thoughts are especially hard for those in their later years. However, the problem in today’s world is not the lack of critical thinking in the generation in power, average CEO age 50, “Forbes”(1) but the generation coming into the age of economic influence, roughly around thirty when people are coming into the beginning of their career. This age has been defined by the seventies and eighties when the downfall of public schooling started the falling domino’s effect. With this lack of critical thinking in our corporations who run America’s economy, does America stand a chance?
Are We Teaching Critical Thinking?
The most obvious reason behind this is lack of critical teaching in schools and homes. As discussed earlier almost all of our thoughts and actions are representatives of previous influences. The three most dominant influences in an early life are, parents, teaching, and friends. The first two usually paint the picture for who becomes your friends so thus become the most important when talking early influences.
There is no question that schooling in America are at an all time low(2) and the quality of factual education being retained beyond the subconscious level is nothing to boast about. Critical thinking is not a course which should be taught directly, but indirectly with questions which require an essence of thought beyond the users static thinking. Questions should arise that go beyond the text book and the phrase, “teaching to the test” needs to be reformatted to, ” teaching to the infinite” - as in teaching all children as if they were to become the next world leader or powerful figure. In the basic vulcanization of the mind all children and people are the same. If you teach America’s young people to investigate their own thoughts, then undoubtedly they will become tant mieux, or undoubtedly better.
Sadly, the situation in public schools is far worse than contacting the school to persuade them to teach a different curriculum. It will take years of trial and error to adjust the system to refocus on teaching for the future and not the present. The government has tried; organizations have tried; but still there has been little improvement on cognition of critical thinking. I assume with a dull hope that if we keep demanding a new school system it will happen, but this is a dull hope.
Oh, but there is hope yet! You can take control of your own fate and teach yourself to think rationally.
First, to subjugate our personal bias on habitual discernment you must retrain your intuitive thought process of analyzation. Habits have been formed to override your orthodox intellectual thought process. Reconstruct your habits by creating the situations where you are forced to think above your subconscious.
Reevaluate the common beliefs you hold. Question those thoughts held to high truthfulness. Develop a counter argument to your own beliefs and embellish your thoughts in the opposing point of view. Make the effort to stop and think, “Why do I hold this high in my beliefs?” Ask yourself if you find yourself following the populous civilization and be certain that your opinions are that of your own.
The key to critical thinking is questioning. All subjects are open to the opposition of question. Most critical is the questioning of your own habits, beliefs but in its own right question the beliefs of those around you. Don’t hold them hostage to the fact they, too, may be under the deviating form of thinking, but understand their views. As Sun Tzu stated, ” If you know you enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Please, for my sake, don’t view your associates your enemy, but understand their point of view. Ask yourself what would my view on life be if I took upon their beliefs? Everyone around you has a valid opinion and deserves to be the subject of thought. By doing so you not only develop a more critically attuned mind, but understand your associates point of view and can reason with them on a knowledgeable level.
One of the harder, more tedious ways to practice critical thinking is to learn to deliberate when in a suspended judgment. You are constantly doing everyday tasks such as watching television, reading, driving, engaged in dialog. In this period of idle is often when the most interesting subjects are before you. Unless you watch Jeopardy every day, learn Icelandic while driving or are reading Finnegan’s Wake, you most likely are not using this time to engage in a critical thought process. (Yes, reading is a very engaging activity, but the average reader does not read entirely complicated books, nor does he/she evaluate every thought proposed). Abandon the subject of incapable judgment and define your judgment with conscious analyzing.
An intelligent reconciliation of events.
A new awareness towards intuitive thoughts brought up in the community.
An ability to weigh the evidence with the facts, be intuitive of all possible degrees of possibility or probability.
A consciousness about the allegations and a resistance to being influenced by the assertions towards the deemed probability.
An ability to deny previous uncertainties with new reasoning, and resist future dubieties towards the possible suffices.
Go beyond propaganda’s influence, and reaffiliate yourself with the art of judgment. Practice thinking in cognition and become more aware of the simple conscious thought. Put these, not-so-easy, tips to use and overcome the all too common train of uncritical thought.
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