Job Discussion Forums

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:12 pm Post subject:

Sheikh Radlinrol said

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:21 pm Post subject:

cmp45 · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 1475 Location: KSA

Cleo, since you think the term 'critical thinking' is so silly perhaps you could enlighten us as to why?
... or perhaps give an alternative word that would be more suitable. Are you not an educator? Professional educators are known to use such terms now and again.

Many academic scholars and educators believe it is a valuable and worthy skill necessary to effectively compete within many of today's jobs.

Certainly the ability to effectively solve-problems is more than ever a necessary skill that many people need to succeed in the work place.

What ever word you prefer to use...various apsects related to critical thinking are sorely lacking within the Saudi curriculum.

It is a hot topic not just in Saudi Arabia, but globally.
Since this is the Saudi education form I assume we are discussing Saudis and their education.

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:36 pm Post subject:

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:49 pm Post subject:

Cleo:

I think that you're getting a little sensitive here. I have no understanding of your post to me...it sounds like an attack! If I offended you somehow, I apologize. I feel, just like you, I can have an opinion. Your last post also has that feel of offensiveness/defensiveness. I don't understand this. If I were crass, I'd hazard a guess, but I'm not that kind of person.

Also, the "I have a dream quote wasn't "self congratulations". I am truly amazed and proud of my country for making the choice it did...or did you not see the thread I started right after the election? Question

NCTBA

P.s.- I can't argue most of your assertions as I agree with most of what you said!

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 3:56 pm Post subject:

cmp45 · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 1475 Location: KSA

bje · Joined: 19 Jun 2005 Posts: 527

LOL; 'Critical Thinking' certainly currently enjoys di rigeur buzz-phrase flavour of the month status within UAE tertiary educational circles. Once people tire of this, we will construct something else...

Its rather frenzied use has tended to provoke if not outright laughter, then at the very least a dubious smile.

Moreover, the transition from classroom to staffroom leads one to wonder whether a good many of our students are not capable of more cogent 'thinking' than a proportion of 'western-educated' colleagues. Laughing

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:22 pm Post subject:

cmp45 · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 1475 Location: KSA

Cleopatra · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:28 pm Post subject:

bje · Joined: 19 Jun 2005 Posts: 527

johnslat · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:26 pm Post subject:

Critical thinking - well, I recently taught a course at the local community college called "Critical Reading", and, in the process of preparing my syllabus, I did a fair amount of research on "critical thinking."
Many years ago I took a course at Boston College on logic. And that's pretty much what I discovered critical thinking consists of:

"Critical thinking is an effort to develop reliable, rational evaluations about what is reasonable for us to believe and disbelieve. Critical thinking makes use of the tools of logic and science because it values skepticism over gullibility or dogmatism, reason over faith, science of pseudoscience, and rationality over wishful thinking. Critical thinking does not guarantee that we will arrive at truth, but it does make it much more likely than any of the alternatives do."

The fallacies - how to recognize them, understand them and refute them -play a big part in the critical thinking process, and while I did recall a lot that I'd studied decades ago, I also learned quite a lot, as well.

Marketers, governments, and many/all religions depend on the fact that many/most people don't know how to think critically. And all those seem to be flourishing quite well. So, my conclusion would be that they're correct in their assessment of many/most people's critical thinking abilities. In fact, I suspect that even a well-educated, relatively intelligent individual (such as, say, myself, for example) could use a lot more training in how to think critically. And I believe that most of us, if we take a good, hard look at those around us and at the news, would likely arrive at the conclusion that critical thinking seems to be conspicuous mainly by its absence in the world.

Regards,
John

sheikh radlinrol · Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 1222 Location: Spain

John
Let's shake their windows and rattle their walls, for the times ''they are a changing''. Bobby Fitzimmons (AKA Bob Dylan) knew this 40 years ago. As did Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. But, has it got better? Crying or Very sad

johnslat · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 11:52 pm Post subject:

Dear Sheik,
Perhaps I'm being too optimistic, but I'd say yes - it has gotten better and it will continue to do so. The problem, as NCTBA has already pointed out, is that the "getting better" happens at such a glacial pace that we short-lived observers can scarcely perceive it, if at all.
But when you look at history, I think it's impossible to deny it.
Regards,
John