The value of Critical thinking in the real world
Life – Simplified!
“Thinking is skilled work. It is true that we are naturally endowed with the ability to think but to do so clearly and logically require effort.” (Mandler,1976). As humans, we are innately inclined to think. It is a frequent occurrence and may happen anywhere and at anytime of the day. Critical thinking is a process of utilizing logic and reasoning to separate facts from opinions as well as controlling our minds to better understand the thinking of both ourselves and others. It is an essential tool we can use to evaluate and challenge the thoughts and ideas that occur to us. Thus, Critical thinking is very beneficial to society as it is key for academic success, absolutely necessary in the workplace where it promotes healthy decision making all in an effort to limit the effects of egocentricity in one’s life.
According to Martin Luther King Jr., “Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. The true function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.” In educational institutions, students often lack the quality that would enable them to be critical thinkers. This may be attributed to the fact that most students nowadays are lethargic and heavily rely on the “Internet” to solve any problem that may take too long for them to solve themselves. A recent study by the Association of Educational Psychologists of the United Kingdom has shown that students who were able to express themselves logically were twice as likely to score a 110 or more on their IQ test as compared to those who were more shallow thinkers. This research only further strengthens the theory that academic success does require critical thinking. At tertiary institutions onwards, shallow thinkers may have severe difficulty in courses based on applying theory into real-world scenarios such as Biology, Chemistry and even English. In an
“Thinking is skilled work. It is true that we are naturally endowed with the ability to think but to do so clearly and logically require effort.” (Mandler,1976). As humans, we are innately inclined to think. It is a frequent occurrence and may happen anywhere and at anytime of the day. Critical thinking is a process of utilizing logic and reasoning to separate facts from opinions as well as controlling our minds to better understand the thinking of both ourselves and others. It is an essential tool we can use to evaluate and challenge the thoughts and ideas that occur to us. Thus, Critical thinking is very beneficial to society as it is key for academic success, absolutely necessary in the workplace where it promotes healthy decision making all in an effort to limit the effects of egocentricity in one’s life.
According to Martin Luther King Jr., “Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. The true function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.” In educational institutions, students often lack the quality that would enable them to be critical thinkers. This may be attributed to the fact that most students nowadays are lethargic and heavily rely on the “Internet” to solve any problem that may take too long for them to solve themselves. A recent study by the Association of Educational Psychologists of the United Kingdom has shown that students who were able to express themselves logically were twice as likely to score a 110 or more on their IQ test as compared to those who were more shallow thinkers. This research only further strengthens the theory that academic success does require critical thinking. At tertiary institutions onwards, shallow thinkers may have severe difficulty in courses based on applying theory into real-world scenarios such as Biology, Chemistry and even English. In an
References: Bassham, Gregory, William Irwin, Henry Nardone, James M. Wallace. Critical Thinking: A Student’s Introduction. 4th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2011. Print. Gregory, Irwin et. al. Critical Thinking, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2011, 2008, 2005, 2002.