Ignorance abounds on critical thinking

No more “truth “ has ever been told, but is rudder aware of the extent of the ignorance of the very concept of critical thinking and what it entails, among the vast majority of the population and even among the many “educators” among us? For many, critical thinking is still a glorified English course no different from O-Level and A-Level English with absolutely no understanding of the specific skills associated with interrogating a subject, applying reasoning and logic and arriving at an informed conclusion as a result.

There is little sense, especally among our educators, that such skills are teachable as part of a structured programme, and if applied across the board, from elementary into tertiary, can have the long-term effect of producing a nation of citizens naturally inclined to ask questions about the what they do and what they say and, in general, of the world in which they live, allowing them to make informed choices. A critical thinker is a multidimensional rather than a one-dimensional thinker. And in academia this trait becomes quickly evident with students so exposed moving away from the traditional orientation of content accumulation for examination purposes to engaging in inquiry about the subject, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the material, allowing in turn for a more informed position on it.

With humility, I experienced this first hand for, in delivering a programme in critical thinking to first degree students at the Caribbean Academy of Fashion and Design at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, Port-of-Spain, 2009-2015, I saw how students were transformed from merely accepting information about fashion/design into querying
the suitability of such design in terms of locale, colour and general aesthetic, inter alia, making adjustments as a result of such intellectual interrogation and bolstering their own creativity in the process.

Today the academy can boast of many young and flourishing designers who would have never been if they had merely accepted the stereotypes of fashion that their lecturers would have imparted to them. the product of that experience at the academy is a book on critical thinking titled Critical thinking for tertiary Level: A self-Instructional Course but it lies wasting away in my possession and in the bookstores, for my numbers made me dispensable at UTT, with no consideration from the authorities that maybe I had something to offer as other academics abroad who serve way past their numbers.

But they are not to be blamed, for the value of critical thinking in shaping a society is lost on the educators of this country. After my departure from UTT, I offered my services to all the local tertiary institutions but to no avail, probably because of the same reason, for I am eminently qualified for the job. But there is comfort in rudder’s letter for I know that I am not alone.

DR ERROl BENJAMIN ebenjamin522@hotmail.com