Linda Elder writes: In 1990, in an open letter to educators, Richard Paul (a preeminent authority on critical thinking) summed up the problem that a robust conception of critical thinking addresses.
“Many college and university professors say they have little time to focus on the students’ thinking because of the need to cover content. These professors fail to see that thinking is the only means by which the mind digests content. They fail to see that undigested content is content unlearnt or mislearnt. They fail to see that all content is embedded in ideas, that ideas have logical connections, that logical connections must be thought through to be grasped… Furthermore, though this problem is ancient, the negative consequences are daily becoming more and more significant. The nature of professional and everyday life increasingly demands critical thinking. Indeed the cost of generating a growing mass of uncritical thinkers as workers and citizens is staggering… Intellectually undisciplined, narrow-minded thinking will not solve increasingly complex, multidimensional problems, let alone provide the basis for democratic decision-making.”
The battle has always been between those who advocate reason and those who advocate force. And historically, force has won. Why? Is it because we fear death more than we fear ignorance? At least death seems final. Living in ignorance is slow and painful torture.
A person who cannot read a map is just as lost as the person who has no map. (posted 8/15/09)
