Egyptians live in a very difficult time these days. After Mubarak, the previous Egyptian president, stepped down on February 11, 2011, many Egyptians, especially Christians, the minority in Egypt, seek a new constitution for Egypt because they aim a modern civil state instead of a religious state. At the same time, some Muslims want to keep and activate the second article of Egyptian constitution which states, “Islam is the religion of the state and Arabic its official language, Islamic jurisprudence is the principal source of legislation”. Although many Egyptian scholars, Muslim and Christian, tried to inform people with the danger of keeping the old constitution, the majority of Egyptians voted to keep the old constitution. Many Egyptian people are uncritical thinkers unable to think beyond what has been said in the media by examining the speaker reasoning, assumptions, and biases about old constitution and unable to anticipate the consequences of their decision. Unfortunately, as Facione (2011) argues, “failing to anticipate the consequences of one’s decisions often leads to disastrous results not only for the decision maker, but for many other people as well” (p. 1). The purpose of this paper is to discuss what critical thinking means to me and why it counts.
Critical thinking, as Dewey (1909) argues, is “an active process” in which one thinks, asks questions, searches for relevant information and examines a situation from different perspectives, instead of passively receiving ideas and information from other and passively accepting what other say or believe (as cited in Fisher, 2001). For example, in the classroom setting, a critical thinker student is not that student who sits down and passively follows the teacher’s instruction, waiting to be told what to do and believe; s/he is not that student who records, memorizes, and repeats “four times four is sixteen, the capital of Para is Belem … without perceiving what four times four really means, or realizing the true significance of capital … what Belem means for Para and what Para means for Brazil” (Freire, 2000, p. 71). In contrast, a critical thinker student actively proves a point, interprets what something means, solves a problem, asks questions, uses reasons and offers evidence to convince other students and teacher of his/her claim. That is, success in the contemporary society does not require just following proper procedures for the work assigned by the teacher and routinely use of facts and procedures, rather student success in the contemporary society does require the capacity to organize, analyze, interpret and synthesize information, recognize relationships between various kinds of information, and make decisions (Newmann, Bryk & Nagaoka, 2001).
Critical thinking is about analyzing, interpreting and evaluating assumptions, reasoning, and biases that underlie what we hear, read, and watch. Like Fisher and Scriven (1997), I believe that “Critical thinking is skilled and active interpretation and evaluation of observations and communications, information and argumentation” (as cited in Fisher, 2001, p. 10). This is to say, critical thinking involves identifying the assumptions made in the arguments of others, examining their accuracy and validity, and being aware of how all thoughts and actions are influenced by the specific context in which they take place (Burke, 2003). In other words, a critical thinker is able to think beyond what has been written in a book, described in a movie, or said in a program by examining the author’s reasoning, assumptions, and biases behind what has been written or said in order to make well-reasoned judgments; that is, critical thinking is “about the quality of reasoned judgments” (Bailin, as cited in Wegerif, 2002, p. 6).
Critical thinking involves reflecting, analyzing and evaluating our own knowledge, beliefs and thoughts. According to Facione (2011), critical thinking involves “Self-consciously to monitor one’s cognitive activities … by applying skills in analysis, and evaluation to one’s own inferential judgments with a view toward questioning, confirming, validating, or correcting either one’s reasoning or one’s results” (p. 7). It also involves recognizing the assumptions underlying our beliefs and behaviors (Burke, 2003) in the light of the reasons for believing something and the implications of our beliefs (Dewey, as cited in Fisher, 2001). This is to say that a critical thinker is able to question his/her own assumptions and views on a controversial issue with sensitivity to the possible influences of his/her personal biases or self-interest, able to revise his/her answers in view of the errors s/he discovered in his/her work, able to change his/her conclusion in view of the realization that s/he had misjudged the importance of certain factors when coming to his/her earlier decision (Facione, 2011), and able to discuss the reasoning behind his/her ideas and the evidence s/he uses while reasoning (Kolodner et al. , 2003).
Critical thinking allows us to challenge beliefs, investigate all evidence, think for ourselves on our own and independently make decisions. It is about considering all the facts, and then deciding what is relevant and what is not, and then rendering a thoughtful judgment. It is about thinking clearly and logically, reasoning things, supporting our judgment with reasons and evidence, and select evidence that clearly supports our judgment. As such, critical thinking, as Facione (2011) argues, is a liberating force in education- liberating from dependence on teacher to challenge, question, and dissent; liberating from naïve acceptance of authority to reflective judgment and think critically for ourselves. Thus, critical thinking is a necessary and useful skill for life. I will not exaggerate if I said, as King (2010) argues, that “The ability to think critically is the most important skill for the 21st century person; it’s the equipment anyone can use to navigate a world of ideas that are increasingly unmitigated and available”.
References:
Burke, C. (1988/2003). What is Critical Thinking? Retrieved April 4, 2011, from
Facione, P. (2011). Critical thinking: What it is and why it counts.
Fisher, A. (2001). What is critical thinking and how to improve it. Cambridge University Press.
Retrieved April 5, 2011, from http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0521009847/ref=si3_rdr_ty/104-3248891-6559935#
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New Yourk: Continuum.
King, E. (2010). Critical thinking: What is it? Anyway. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from
http://stayoutofschool.com/2010/06/critical-thinking-what-is-it-anyway/
Kolodner et al. (2003). Problem-based learning meets case-based reasoning in the middle-school
science classroom: putting learning by design™ into practice. The Journal of Learning Sciences, 12(4), 496-547. http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/305006__785041850.pdf
Newmann, F., Bryk, A. & Nagaoka, J. (2001, Jan). Authentic intellectual work and standardized
tests: Conflict or coexistence? Consortium on Chicago School Research. http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/p0a02.pdf
Wegerif, R. (2002). Literature review in thinking skills. Technology and Learning. School of
Education, Open University.
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