Critical Thinking Is THE Answer
The benefits available to Critical Thinkers are simply STUPENDOUS
Let’s start the New Year by reviewing America’s Number One problem. Although it affects EVERYTHING — it is rarely discussed!
Literally every day we are bombarded by non-sensical words and actions by many of our representatives, our government agencies, the news media, organizations, businesses, celebrities, etc., as well as family and friends! Is it possible that all these people have the same disease? YES, it’s not only possible, it was 100% predictable.
They all have Adult Critical Thinking Deficiency (ACTD), which is infectious (then known as groupthink). So far the FDA, CDC, AMA, Dr. Fauci, Pfizer, etc. have not promoted an ACTD vaccine. As with many medical ailments, the optimal solution is not to get it in the first place. To assure that, there is a K-12 education preventative…
Properly teaching Critical Thinking in K-12, is the single, most impactful societal change that needs to be made. Other than having a reasonable proficiency in the Three Rs, assuring that High School graduates have the ability to do (and interest in) Critical Thinking is the most consequential part of the education process — yet despite a lot of assurances and platitudes, it is NOT being done!
“Education is not learning facts, but training the mind to think” is really about Critical Thinking, and it’s a conclusion from Einstein, not me.
Critical Thinking is a skill set, not something that can be learned and perfected by osmosis. It’s like cooking — with the proper training anyone can be a good cook.
Yet the same state education departments that have special Social Emotional Learning (SEL) emphasis, SEL training for teachers, and weekly SEL classes for students, have nothing remotely similar for the FAR more important Critical Thinking! By and large, the claim that “we are teaching your children how to be critical thinkers” is arguably the biggest con ever inflicted on the American public…
Just some of the numerous personal benefits that K-12 students could profit from by being properly taught Critical Thinking are:
1) Critical Thinking students would learn all of the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) stated objectives — but without the downsides of how SEL is normally taught!,
2) Critical Thinking students would make more informed personal medical decisions,
3) Critical Thinking students are more motivated across the board,
4) Critical Thinking students are more creative (which is a superpower),
5) Critical Thinking students are more independent (a key part of maturity),
6) Critical Thinking students will do much better at managing their time,
7) Critical Thinking students will have better interpersonal relationships,
8) Critical Thinking minorities would have a more level playing field,
9) graduates who went on to college would be less susceptible to propaganda,
10) economically deprived graduates would have the tools to succeed financially,
11) all graduates could easily adapt to rapidly changing employment situations,
12) graduates would more effectively manage their financial resources,
13) graduates would be much better at maintaining their health,
14) graduates would more likely choose a superior spiritual path,
15) graduates would be much better at picking a compatible spouse,
16) graduates would be more effective at parenting their children (per a private communication with parenting guru, John Rosemond),
17) graduates would make more informed voting choices,
18) graduates would be more actively participating citizens and be less likely to have their rights and freedoms extracted by government over-reach,
19) graduates would be less susceptible to being tricked by AI perversions or scams by bad actors,
20) graduates would be happier (e.g., as they have more control over their lives),
Etc.
Additionally, there would be numerous societal benefits from having more Critical Thinking citizens. For example, Critical Thinking has been called “the basis for science and democracy.” Other examples are:
1) more meaningful and productive citizen discussions of societal issues,
2) more cooperation on national issues like energy policy, etc,
3) less societal discord and confrontation,
4) more competent and responsible representatives would be elected,
5) a much better chance of America maintaining its position of leadership,
Etc.
All-in-all, the personal and societal benefits are unparalleled!
Critical Thinking is the Most Powerful, Least Expensive, Widest Impact solution to an extraordinary collection of personal and societal issues — with NO DOWNSIDE!
Some have given up on the public school system, for understandable reasons. One common refrain is: “There are too many problems to fix.” However, astounding improvements can be made to our K-12 system by just properly addressing ONE thing: Critical Thinking.
Another huge benefit is that this is essentially a no-financial-cost solution. Existing K-12 school resources and priorities simply need to be redirected and modified. It can (and should) start immediately.
All that’s needed is a commitment (from educators, legislators, parents, citizens, etc.) to focus on this one phenomenally powerful solution.
What’s stopping us — other than us?
PS - Some sample worthwhile reading on this topic:
— Six Benefits of Critical Thinking and Why They Matter
— What Are Critical Thinking Skills and Why Are They Important?
— Why Is Critical Thinking Important? A Survival Guide
— Developing Your Critical Thinking Skills
— What Is Critical Thinking and Why Do We Need To Teach It?
— Harvard School of Education: Developing Critical Thinking
— Critical thinking in teacher education: where do we stand and where can we go
— Report: The Key to Fixing the US Education System
PPS — To read/download a PDF version of this important information, go here.
Here are other materials by this scientist that you might find interesting:
My Substack Commentaries for 2023 (arranged by topic)
Check out the chronological Archives of my entire Critical Thinking substack.
WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.
C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.
Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.
Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2023 Archives. Please send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time - but why would you?
Thanks for reading Critically Thinking About Select Societal Issues! Please pass a link to this article on to other associates who might benefit. They can subscribe for FREE to receive new posts (typically about once a week).
For some reason, quite a few people send me emails, rather than make comments here. I encourage them to post directly, but... Since I understand that they are busy, I'll repost some examples. The second is from Dr. Will Happer, an esteemed scientist:
John Droz has drawn attention to an age-old problem in human society, the unwillingness, and in some cases the inability of people to think for themselves. In the introduction to his timeless book, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds," first published in 1841, Charles Mackay noted the rarity of critical thinking with his remark: "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."
Groupthink is not a harmless human failing. It has allowed human society to stumble into one catastrophe after another: World War I, Bolshevism and Nazism a century ago; climate fanaticism, wokeness, and dangerously unstable regional wars like those in Ukraine and the Near East today.
With near universal access to information on the internet, one might think that critical thinking would be mopre favored and there would be less incentive to think in herds. But just the opposite may be happening, with Orwellian thought police cleansing the internet of "disinformation."
For some reason, quite a few people send me emails, rather than make comments here. I encourage them to post directly, but... Since I understand that they are busy, I'll repost some examples. The first is from Jerry Egolf:
John, thank you for taking up the banner in this battle regarding the thoughts and minds of people from all walks of life. During a curriculum review, the NC School Board had a chance to change the K-8 curriculum, to include critical thinking, for North Carolina's students when we fought similar battles over Common Core years ago. Politics left us out to dry then and I hope they don't repeat their ineptness in helping our children. I taught critical thinking for almost fifteen years to USMC and DoD classes, mainly for analysis and research but, the one thing that my students kept telling me was how much the critical thinking was helping them in their personal lives.
In today's world, there are so many nonsensical ideas and prejudices floating around and there seems to be more every day. Many of the core principles with critical thinking are recognizing and mitigating biases and prejudices that all of us are either born with or acquire through living our lives. Instead, teachers are encouraging their students to "join the mob", "be a victim", and join whatever group think is popular. They teach false, or fake, information and pretend that it is real. If any of their students knew how to think critically, they would recognize the BS for what it is.
In addition to recognizing the bad information, students would be able to effectively argue an opposing viewpoint. A major part of critical thinking is countering the biases and fallacies that we want to believe are real. Debate has become a lost art due to the lack of being able to construct counterpoints in an argument or discussion.
Finally, the best part of learning and practicing critical thinking is that it soon becomes second nature. It becomes the default way that you think, react, postulate, and interpret. You don't have to consciously do it! It really can make things better in a lot of ways (Hint: I don't usually practice critical thinking when ordering from a menu but . . . ) Again, I applaud your efforts and hope you have much better success than we had years ago. I am at your service.