teaching critical thinking: practical wisdom

bell hooks (Gloria Jean Watkins) was born in Kentucky from a poor working class family. She's an outspoken feminist, anti-racist and democrat. A central aspect of her work is that she sees discrimination and domination as interconnected.

WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?    (from the text)

- it is being open to different perspectives, accepting evidence that contradicts what you know

- first discovering through experience that who, what, why, when and how of things and utilizing that knowledge in a manner that enables you to determine what matters most, effectively shaping your beliefs. It is analysing and evaluating what you already know in an effort to improve it.

- self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective

- to question information, conclusions and point of views of others as well as your own

- it is an interactive process which requires everyone involved to be engaged

- a radical openness so as to not rule out perspectives besides your own and the willingness to acknowledge that we do not know all

- she encourages the act of asking questions and finding answers through critical thinking and being open to different perspectives but sometimes comes across as quite adamant is asserting her opinions on teaching and the importance of critical thinking in academic settings. this makes her sound contradictory at times but I suppose she's had the time and experiences to be able to form HER own solid opinions based on what she knows. as the reader you have use your own intuition and be scrutinous of her opinion to form your own viewpoint. 

- the notion that children are 'organically predisposed to be critical thinkers" is something that I've never actually thought about and to appreciate it is to realise that that the 'adult' way of thinking isn't very ideal. "A child's passion for learning and free thinking ends when they encounter a world that seeks to condition to conform and be obedient - whether through parents or institutions that that teach that self-awareness, self-determination and independent thinking is not acceptable." This triggers a domino effect in which thinking becomes obsolete and children would grow up to consume meaningless information and regurgitate them at the appropriate moments. I actually find this sentiment scarily true.

- I can always appreciate reading about the experiences of people from different backgrounds who encounter problems that I would never fully be able to understand, so I found it interesting to read about her experiences in school as a black woman. however, her anecdotes could also be seen as emotional manipulation, despite it being generally true that racial discrimination is prevalent, even more so then when she was a child, in society.

- there was a brief mention of deconstructionism (which is a form of literary criticism derived mainly from the works of the french philosopher Jacques Derrida) being a trend (most prominently in the 1980s) which begs the question: is critical thinking just the latest fad? is it all bullshit?

- also, do we even consciously apply critical thinking? it's quite easy to talk about the act of analysing and evaluating information and then forming our opinions, and it's easy to say that it's a natural way of thinking subconsciously perhaps, but is critical thought applicable in everyday life? regarding critical thinking in academic settings, wouldn't it be quite difficult for lessons to have a structure and to teach children if it was applied? 

- critical thinking was previously taught in secondary school but is now no longer recognised by universities as a valid subject, a prime example of the suppression of critical thought. but perhaps this IS necessary in academic settings in order to follow the syllabus and have some form of structure in lessons. people are always free to explore ideas and gain information outside of the classroom anyway.

- her texts sets her apart from many academic writers as you don't really get many written from a personal point of view.

- engaged pedagogy is a teaching strategy that aims to restore a student's will to think, and their will to be fully self actualized.