There are plenty of topics for a
blog in today’s news: the bias of the
top people in Mueller’s investigation; their special treatment of Hillary and
their being instrumental in the initial allegations of Trump’s collusion with
Russia; the use of the FBI by a sitting administration to conduct opposition research
against political opponents; whether the
Mueller investigation has overreached; whether it has any legitimacy at all
given the revelations of the past few days; Time’s choice of the hysteria-driven
and victim-creating #MeToo as its person of the year; recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel;
the hypocrisy of the Democrats outcry against Trump moving the embassy to
Jerusalem when they supported it in the past; Conyer’s retirement and who will
take his place; what SCOTUS will decide about whether a cake artist can be
compelled to create a cake that violates his religious beliefs and whether his
refusal to do so is unlawful discrimination against members of the LGBT
community; the Tax bill; immigration; the actions of the deep state; and on and
on and on.
But, today, this being my 100th
blog posting, I will talk about something else.
Something more important than even the most hysterical hysteria of the
day. Something the lack of which
underlies much of the hysteria and news-as-entertainment we see today. Today I will talk about thinking: deep
thinking, CRITICAL THINKING. This is
something that seems to have been lost in our country, and without it I don’t
see how we can ever stop the daily hysteria and the havoc it causes to our
country and our lives.
Critical thinking is simply the
ability to objectively analyze facts or evidence in order to reach a conclusion
or form a judgment. The key here is the word
“objective” meaning unbiased, unprejudiced, impartial, detached, dispassionate,
and fair. Critical thinking is performed
by the one reaching the judgment or conclusion.
It requires clear and rational thinking.
And, it is sadly lacking today.
Critical thinking means that one
questions everything, even their own beliefs.
One does not accept something just because someone else said it was
true, even if that is a someone whom one respects or with whom one always agrees. And, it means that one is able to distinguish
between people themselves and the positions that they hold. (That is, one may find an individual
repulsive, but that does not mean that the individual’s agenda is also
repulsive).
In the last few days I have heard
from individuals who support Democrat policies that anyone who does not support
those polices is not only wrong, but an idiot as well. I have heard parents ask how to tell their
children that their teacher is “wrong” when the teacher has expressed or
explained a viewpoint that runs counter to the viewpoint of the parents. I have heard people say they will not even
consider reading new or opinion pieces from sources labeled as holding
political views to the right or left of their own. I have heard people explain that it is too
time consuming to read even a full synopsis of an issue or controversy, so they
simply read the highlights as selected by their favorite news source, even if
things such as quotes are distorted or otherwise misleading and taken out of
context. And, I regularly hear people
adopt the conclusions and judgments presented to them by their favored source without
any further inquiry or research.
These are all examples of the
pervasive lack of critical thinking in our society. Let’s look at these in more detail, beginning
with the parent who thinks that he must tell his child that he is right and the
teacher is wrong. Not only is the parent
not exercising critical thinking (not asking for details and context of what
the teacher said), but the parent is not teaching or allowing his child to become
a critical thinker. Placing a child in
an environment where one authority figure is always right does not teach a
child to exercise her own mind and reach her own judgments. A parent who expects a child to adopt all the
parent’s beliefs unquestioned does not teach the child how to make her own
judgments and decisions once the parent is no longer there. In the instance where a parent finds a
teacher or other pushing a viewpoint contrary to that of the parent, the better
approach is to discuss, at an appropriate level for the child, the different ways
of looking at the question. explain why the parents hold the belief they do,
while accepting that others may hold other beliefs. That allows the child to understand that
there is more than one way of looking at something, that there may be a need to
understand context or find further facts or evidence. Even if the child is expected to accept and
follow the parent’s view at that point in her life, it teaches the child about
thinking, about the possibility of other views, and about tolerance of other
views.
Those are some notes for the
parent, but I also have notes about the teachers and our education system. From what I see, very little time is spent on
teaching critical thinking skills.
Teachers seem to have no problem presenting their views and judgments as
fact that the student either must accept, or will accept in order to please the
teacher. Emotional arguments and conclusions
are accepted by teachers with no demand for logic or rational support. Students are encouraged to express their
feelings with little demand that their articulation be clear, organized, or
well thought out. Of course, logic,
developing support, indeed, learning and thinking itself, are hard work. There seems to be an aversion to the idea of
work in school these days. Rather,
teachers want kids to have fun; they seem to seek friendship rather than
respect from their students. And, we have placed upon teachers the burdens of
parenting, social work, and other requirements that are not part of a teacher’s
traditional duties or trained skills.
If we do not teach our children how
to be critical thinkers, then we cannot expect to see critical thinking in our
adult population. If we train our
children to simply accept the judgment of one or another authority figure then
we cannot expect them to do otherwise as adults. Thus, we have people who simply accept whatever
superficial judgment sounds good to them without even seeing a need to do their
own inquiry into the rationality and legitimacy of that position. Looking
more specifically at politics, we have people who support each and every position
of their preferred party, without any thought or investigation. We have people who support or oppose views
simply because they like or do not like the individual who professes those
views. This is especially senseless in
that it confuses an individual with an institution of which that individual is
a part. Every leader as an individual will have a
variety of qualities that will generally be liked or disliked, but that
individual’s administration and its policies should and will eventually be
judged by different standards in the context of history (this assumes of course
that those whose goal it is to erase history will not in the end succeed).
Of course, the problem with all
this is that we end up with two warring camps:
those who blindly accept the view of one side on an issue and those who
blindly accept the opposing view. Arguments
about the issue devolve into calling the other side stupid, idiotic, or similar
names because without critical thinking and its use to arrive at and thus understand
the views one has adopted, one cannot really debate the issues themselves. So, it becomes simply cults of personality
and ad hominem attacks on those holding opposing views.
Sure, it would be easier to have
clear cut right and wrong answers to every one of life’s issues. But, life is far more complex. And, in order to make sound judgments about
the issues that face us as individuals and as society as a whole, we must be
able to critically think about them. We
must take the time to fully learn the relevant facts and to fully educate
ourselves about various and competing viewpoints. We must each of us examine this body of
evidence that relates to each issue upon with we have or would like to take a
stand. We must each arrive at our own
understanding and our own conclusions, based on our own examination; we must
not be content to simply accept that which we are told.
When it comes to politics, our education
must begin with a clear and objective understanding of the history and core
principles of this country. We must read
and understand our Constitution as well as how it has been interpreted and
applied throughout our history. Before
taking a position on a law or regulation we must fully understand if not
entirely read the operative provisions of the rule and must understand the
basis of differing views about the rule.
We must consider not simply the immediate effect or gratification but
also the long-term consequences of what is done or not done. And we must listen to full words and context
when a politician speaks, not be content to have only the particular sound bite
chosen by the nightly news or our preferred Twitter feed.
Yes, this all asks a lot. Making informed decisions takes time and
effort. But no one said that being a
responsible citizen and a responsible adult is an easy task. It is, however, a serious and a critical
task. Without critical thinking we are
governed by emotion alone and our world becomes less rational and more
angry. Teachers and parents together
must insure that children learn the skill and the joy of deep and critical
thinking, and then as adults we must demand of ourselves and of others that we
use those skills in making the important decisions and judgments that affect
all of our lives.
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