Critical Thinking
More Light And Less Heat
From the left leaning Wikipedia:
Critical thinking is the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments in order to form a judgement by the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluation.[1] The application of critical thinking includes self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective habits of the mind;[2] thus, a critical thinker is a person who practices the skills of critical thinking or has been trained and educated in its disciplines.[3] Philosopher Richard W. Paul said that the mind of a critical thinker engages the person's intellectual abilities and personality traits.[4] Critical thinking presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use in effective communication and problem solving, and a commitment to overcome egocentrism and sociocentrism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
If you watched any political advertisements before the recent election you may have noticed that the ads were high on emotional thinking, lack of specific facts, and generally aimed at working on the emotional and fear related parts of your thinking. In fact it seems that thinking is out much of the time, it's all about bending the emotions of the populace so as to maximize one's chances in the political battlefield.
This trend could be at least partially reversed by fostering training in, and a culture of, critical thinking. Is there a lack of critical thinking in our general populace, and if so is it intentional? You can be sure that those with real power might be disinclined to want the peasants able to truly critique their every move, but then they want competent workers.
Be sure to pick up your hand held calculator whenever numbers are involved. Reporters have a way of spewing out numerically based talking points without bothering with the simplest calculator checking.
Napoleon required his army officers to play chess, and it's said that he often lost when playing them. It's been true of many armies, but I don't have a comprehensive list. (I've read that in the American Civil War the enlisted soldiers played cards while the officers played chess, but I don't think it was required. Any info on this would be appreciated.) Chess requires one to think ahead, and it reminds the player that the enemy has a vote; even a much inferior player might see something you don't and nail your hide to the wall, a lesson to bear in mind when in mortal combat with human foes.
Aside from chess, which is less popular in the U.S. than in may places, how does one go about improving critical thinking skills among the masses? Are we born with it or does it have to be developed?
Sports require chess-like thinking more than some might realize. In baseball one must think ahead and plan a reaction to all possible contingencies, while American football is extremely complex with it's multitudinous pre-planned plays. Is that part of why the Left so often tries to eliminate football?
"Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical." ~ Yogi Berra
Jobs in which people work with their hands tend to develop critical thinking since it's necessary to think ahead and to foresee possible problems. One might argue that as manufacturing jobs have fled overseas much of common sense has gone with it, and a corollary is that one should be reluctant to vote for anyone who has only white collar experience.
Simply having some time to think is helpful. Filling all available time with activity may not allow those wheels in your head to turn as much as would be good. Always have time to read and to think. Reading can be a substitute for life experience, and exposes one to new ideas and facts.
An issue would be to get the people with real power to want the masses to have critical thinking skills. This would have to be a moral battle, that is, do they put their interests above those of the people, and to what extent? Probably the answer is always yes, but maybe we can lower the differential a bit.
"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
We seem to have been on a downhill slide since MLK made that statement.
"Governments don't want a population capable of critical thinking, they want obedient workers, people just smart enough to run the machines and just dumb enough to passively accept their situation.You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own, and control the corporations. They've long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear." ~ George Carlin
Old George here seems a little too over the top cynical here, but he has a point. The thing about the ubiquitous “they” is that “they” are a whole bunch of different “theys,” many of whom are competing with each other and with differing world views and levels of morality. More like different types of predators in a jungle. This is of course my take on it, while many see a unified block running everything. “They” don't control you as much as “they” would like; it comes down to holding on to our American mind set of freedom, and the facets of American culture that support it.
I don't think we can rely on the school system to develop critical thinking in our youth, I think it's up to those around them, not just parents but friends and extended family. Much like the nation should develop a culture of strength the nation should develop a culture of critical thinking. (A purist might insist that developing a culture of strength would of course embody developing a culture of critical thinking as that is a form of strength, but realizing that might stress our critical thinking skills.)
Children raised by parents who act, talk and think with critical thinking skills are probably more likely to learn them as they are raised.
Engaging in debate is a way to improve critical thinking, but even debate teams have been on the wane lately. In addition to bringing them back formal school debate teams we might want have informal in school debates.
"It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well." ~ Rene Descartes
Rene thought, therefore he was.
"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it." ~ Henry Ford
Learning how machinery and everyday appliances work and how to fix things improves thinking, often simply understanding how something works will allow one to repair it. Schools seem to have dropped a lot of shop training in the past few decades, to the detriment of all.
Just making a habit of using a calculator would help. Many political arguments fall apart as soon as one looks at numbers. Everyone should make use of their eighth grade skill level.
Conservative economist Thomas Sowell has related how, in his youth, he was a Marxist. What led to his change was going to graduate school to study economics at the University of Chicago. They demanded facts, numbers and rational thought, opinions wouldn't cut it. Becoming a critical thinker changed his world view.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell
Some of my half baked ideas for public education.
"Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." ~ John F. Kennedy
Too true, too true.
"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." ~ George S. Patton
Old George was very much the thinker's warrior, but he always had to keep up his tough guy image for the sake of the troops.
"The most fundamental attack on freedom is the attack on critical thinking skills." ~ Travis Nichols
Stay Brave, Stay Free
Very good, Sir!
In my never humble opinion, we have, for decades, been executing a very effective program to deliberately 'dumb down' the population. And by outsourcing virtually all productive economic activity, we have eliminated a significant portion of our skill base.
Literacy and numeracy are sinking to third world levels. Useful skills are no longer taught in schools, or in our homes. We can no longer grow our own food, cook our own meals, or build anything, or fix anything.
And most people have absolutely NO idea how things work. ANY things. Like where the water comes from when they turn the tap, or where the sewage goes when they flush, or why the lights come on when the flip the switch. Or where their food comes from. They lack even a basic understanding of economic realities. (Which may be why debt is now calculated in TRILLIONS!) Perhaps the least understood aspect of our lives is government. Even many of the unfortunate souls who labor in the bureaucracies seem confused as to the role of government. Or how it is supposed to work.
We banned the teaching of civics, or history, and associated patriotism with "white supremacism". And made sure everyone understood their "rights" but not their obligations as citizens. We replaced post secondary "education" with indoctrination, and started awarding meaningless degrees in meaningless subjects to functional illiterates.
To survive as a nation, we have to address these issues. With Trump we are, hopefully, off to a good start - but we have been trying to destroy our culture for three quarters of a century. I fear we can't fix it in just four years.
But - you gotta start somewhere.
"If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking." ~ George S. Patton
Patton was homeschooled. (Don't know if he was good enough to beat Napoleon at chess.)
The way to improve critical thinking is to totally rid America of the public school system and, of course, the teachers unions. Set the minds of America's young free.