Critical Thinking: How We Read, How We Think

Leslie JewkesEnglish 101

We are taught in school to read when we are just children. The focus in reading class in elementary school is to read quickly and correctly. A "good" reader is evaluated on how well they can pronounce the words and how quickly and smoothly they can read aloud. If an individual can read aloud smoothly, quickly, and cleanly then assumptions are made regarding intelligence. If you read aloud well you are smart; if you read aloud poorly you are stupid. Hence, all children try to read quickly and smoothly all throughout their schooling, and the habit is carried forward into adulthood.

The problem with this is that we take those habits and thinking prejudices with us. The thought that it is better to read quickly and cleanly is perpetuated, and critical thinking takes a back seat in a very long bus of scholarly learning attributes. Our tendencies as adult readers are to quickly skim through reading and finish in a short period of time. The cost of this learned behavior is the following:

We read a passage quickly and when we are done we cannot say at any depth what the passage said, nor can we tell the listeners (sometimes the listener is just ourself as we read for class assignments et cetera) what topic the passage addressed, or whether or not we had any thoughts/contemplations regarding the material presented. We did not contemplate the innuendoes and hidden agenda behind the words, nor did we stop and question whether we believed to be true what the written words had to say.

It is our job, now, as adults and "critical thinkers" to weed out this bad habit early on in our advanced scholarly endeavors. We MUST start to THINK about the ideas and concepts posted to us in both the educational setting and social settings in our lives. It is difficult to eradicate this thought process, especially as it is perpetuated by entertainment venues in our culture.

Take, for instance, the simple act of watching television. When some people watch television the object is to disengage the brain and to "relax." All thinking is put aside and a person engages in the "suspension of reality" as they view the shows aired on television. Television watching is an activity in which the average American engages for at least one hour a day (conservatively speaking). The cost of this activity is we teach ourselves to disengage critical thinking every day for an hour; yet we don't spend equal time teaching our psyche to engage in critical thinking for the same amount of time. Thus the cost is a long term teaching/learning that the suspension of reality is a preferred method of thinking in today's society/culture.

A student in a higher education setting MUST learn to engage in critical thinking every time reading and learning is presented to them. Questioning the material, evaluating truth, weight, and veracity is a skill which sets apart the student of higher learning from the rest of her/his peers. Once critical thinking is engaged, it is possible to wade into the discussion happening all around them-the discussion of the scholarly domain.

With the above stated, I ask you to contemplate the following statements from the Introduction to Eric Schlossers Fast Food Nation (Do you agree? Disagree? What does the passage make you question? Do you have any thoughts regarding the statements? If you wonder at all about any part of the passage does it lead you to do research? Does it lead you to find out about the ramifications and implications of what is being said?):

Future archaeologists may find other clues to the nature of our civilization Big King wrappers, hardened crusts of cheesy bread, Barbeque Wing bones, and the red, white, and blue of a Dominos pizza box.Every night a Dominos deliveryman winds his way to the lonely Cheyenne Mountain Road, past Deadly Force Authorized signs, past security points, heavily armed guards, drops off the pizza and collects his tip.

Also mentioned are the following:

The inhabitants of Cheyenne Mountain have the capability to be self-sustaining for a month. There are underground reservoirs which hold millions of gallons of water.There is a fitness center, medical clinic, dentist office, and a barbershop.

Contemplate these phrases, along with any others that pique your interest, and jot down your thoughts. Do some research as to whether or not you agree. Do you think it is possible for an entire nation to be summarized in the detritus bed (look this term up-see what it means) of leftover fast food wrappers?

Once you have thought about this, and done some research, and thought some more, boil these thoughts down to their most pure form and put your thoughts together in a concise and clearly laid out manner-then post your thoughts in a well-organized and clear paragraph in the Discussion Board as a thread. Wait a day after you have posted, and go back in to reply to what others have said. In this manner we will hold a discussion of higher learning (we will wade together) into the land of scholarly domain.