Using Critical Thinking Skills Creatively

Critical thinking is unfortunately not a path that all students use to become enlightened as to proper behavior outside the classroom, and in this paper I will provide examples of poor judgment by students based on the lack of critical thinking. Basically, critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process in which a person carefully and with skill (based on practice) goes through a process of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation to determine upon deep reflection what is the best thing to do or best plan of action. Critical thinking is not a matter of manipulating ideas to suit a person's pre-designed plans and schemes. It involves taking information, processing that information, having the ability to objectively review in one's mind what the consequences of any action will be.

A Critical Thinking Issue

For myself, I have given a great deal of thinking -- critically evaluating as fairly as I can do -- about the behavior of some fellow college and university students. On a recent weekend, hundreds of university students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California gathered at a property rented by students. They were alerted to the fact that there was a party through social media. The alcohol being consumed (and no doubt some drugs were involved) was no doubt the driver as about 50 students got up on the roof of a garage. Unfortunately the roof collapsed and eight students were injured. Several students were arrested for public drunkenness; others were arrested for urinating on neighbors' property.

The point here is this: how many of these students did some critical thinking about what might take place at a spontaneously arranged keg party in a college housing neighborhood? It is possible that some actually did some serious thinking and decided to go ahead and attend the party. And how many of the students at the University of Oklahoma who were caught on video singing a racist song did some critical thinking before deciding to join in with a song that is deeply offensive to African-Americans? It's quite clear that alcohol was involved in that rant by fraternity students, but that is absolutely no excuse.

Meanwhile, I am a 20-year-old Chinese-Indonesian student from Jakarta, in my sophomore year at Dean College. I have assimilated into the college culture here in Massachusetts and I appreciate this opportunity to gain academically and to experience friendships with students from many cultures and ethnicities.

I was asked in a communication class to relate to the problem of alcohol abuse on campuses, and I did critically review what I was going to say before I recited my position. I carefully, critically thought about the fact that I might insult other students if I took a hard line against drinking at parties. It can lead to a healthier life if a person can avoid over-consumption of alcohol; I was cautious in my narrative because I'm not trying to tell students they shouldn't drink. Rather, I was saying moderation is the best path to take, but even that can sound preachy or pushy because no doubt the majority of students do drink alcohol. So I did not want to rock the boat or seem to be a person who knows all the answers.

What I would do the next time I'm asked to make an oral presentation in class, or am called upon, I will emphasize the basics of critical thinking. Not just for using good sense and adult judgment when it comes to alcohol. But critical thinking is involved in every course I take. In order to think critically, quiet concentration is called upon in many cases; so if a person is in a dorm room or an apartment (or house) with other students perhaps the best plan is to go out to a private spot in a park or in the woods.

For me, that is when I can critically, quietly, intelligently sift through the various possible answers in a history or social science-related class. Looking back on my educational experiences, I can see now that even in high school, I got good grades and learned a lot because I did in fact engage in critical thinking. They didn't call it that, the teachers in my high school talked about "paying attention" and thinking clearly. But upon reflection, I know I was practicing critical thinking when I prepared for my history exams -- and especially when I was writing reports based on quality academic research. I was thinking, what is most important about this date in history; what are the teacher's expectations; what specifically can I do with this research assignment to show my deep thinking skills?

For example, I was asked what I would have done if I were Jewish in Poland -- which, along with many European countries, was taken over by Nazi Germany. I was very aware at that time (while in high school) of the atrocities and unthinkable cruelty that Jews suffered. But first I had to research the issue as to how many Jews were able to escape before the Nazi Storm Troopers came into Poland, France, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Greece, Norway, and Yugoslavia.

It makes me do some critical thinking today how many Jews actually had the time and the presence of mind to think critically about how to escape. There is no accurate number of course, but upon critically evaluating what my options might have been, I know if I had been a rabbi in the Jewish faith I would have been following the news beginning in 1938 when Hitler annexed Austria. The writing was on the wall at that time for alert Jews who could see some very dark days coming in Europe. I would have put my critical thinking skills to good use and seen that Hitler intended to continue gobbling up countries in Europe and killing Jews in the process.