Having the ability to think critically is an important skill that many people lack. Critical thinking is the best way to solve problems since it requires looking at an issue from several standpoints before reaching a final decision. In history, both Socrates and Buddha preached about the important role that critical thinking plays in an individual’s ability to reasonably reflect on an issue and subsequently decide what to do or believe.
The Critical Thinking Community is dedicated to enhancing critical thinking. The Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique and the Foundation for Critical Thinking are two sister educational non-profit organizations associated with the critical thinking community. These organizations work closely together to promote educational reform and essential change in education and society through the cultivation of fair-minded critical thinking. Mostly, the organizations promote asking discussion-inducing questions in learning environments.
Philosopher Socrates believed that questioning the world was the best form of teaching. Socratic questioning is a core concept in the development of critical thinking abilities since it helps students distinguish what they believe they know from what they do not know. Socratic questioning asks students what they think about a subject and then questions their reasons for think that way. Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of discussion in learning. Although class discussions are extremely popular in college settings, younger pupils are generally deprived of this benefit in the school system.
Schools are often rigorous and test-obsessed. The curriculums require students to retain enough information to do well on multiple choice tests without actually making them think deeply about the material they are reciting. When discussing literature, current events, politics, and history is it crucial for people to talk about what they feel about the content of the lessons. If we learn to question the world then we subsequently learn how to correct what we find to be wrong or unjust. Hence, the rules and norms in society change over time as people become more enlightened. If it was not for critical and outside-the-box thinking then human kind would still believe the that earth is flat.
Every person thinks differently and therefore interprets information differently. Hence, everyone’s answers to Socratic questions will differ and, based on the specific culture or society one was raised in, “norms” will vary and skew one’s perceptions. However, continuously discussing thought processes and societal systems with others is the key to discovering new ways to fix current problems and enhance future society.
Critical thinkers must take the contexts of every situation into account and think on a multi-level platform in order to come to just conclusions. Homeschoolers have an advantage for learning critical thinking skills because they can largely make their own curriculum and incorporate critical thinking lessons into it—as every educational system should do. Learning how to recite information from textbooks is not going to help a person achieve long-term success. Only when an individual is able to make educated choices on complex matters can they truly be considered intelligent and competent.
