Study history; we need more critical thinking
because the critical-thinking skills to be gained from studying these liberal arts subjects are more needed than ever in making sense of today’s world.
Critical thinking emphasizes context, weighing both sides of an argument and overcoming one’s inherent prejudices to reach a more objective conclusion. That leads to improved comprehension, better problem-solving and often to creativity.
In the fast-moving global knowledge economy, critical-thinking skills are both the ticket to career success and our best defense against manipulation at a time when the forces of propaganda seem more numerous and insidious than ever.
Critical-thinking skills also are the foundation of a strong democratic society in which citizens can make informed judgments about issues and the proper role of governments and institutions.
Perhaps the most compelling example of the need for better critical thinking skills may be in interpreting the difference between real and “fake” news.
According to a recent Stanford University study, 82 percent of teens surveyed could not distinguish between an ad labeled “sponsored content” and a legitimate news story.
The growth of “fake news” accelerated under ratingsdriven ranters on talk radio shows in the 1980s and 1990s and later via the rise of the internet and cable TV channels with “personality journalists” offering opinions supported by selectively chosen or distorted facts to loyal viewers who wanted to believe. By fostering narrower partisan viewpoints, these purveyors of emotion-focused content drove the rise of factionalism in American life and undermined the viewpoint of previous generations who grew up with a single shared set of facts provided by newsreaders from the mainstream media.
As we have become more an anything-goes society in which facts often are sacrificed to emotional content, it’s not surprising that our ability to perceive the truth has become forfeited to entertainment values. Today, we have become a split nation of citizens with two sets of facts gleaned from their favorite sources.
What took decades to develop can’t be corrected overnight. However, applying more critical thinking to key influences in our lives is the best place to start.
• American universities and colleges, which generally de-emphasized a traditional core curriculum and created more narrowly focused majors in recent decades, can strengthen their focus on critical thinking by reinstituting once-required courses in western and world civilization, American history and the great works of literature and philosophy. Requiring a course in debate would enable students to defend their ideas in a forum that also would develop presentational skills.
• To become more objectively informed citizens, we must broaden our sources of news, favoring fact-checked wire service stories over those offered by talking heads on cable channels or content from biased websites. One can also can verify purported facts by accessing sites including Politifact, Snopes and Factcheck.org.
• As an open mind is a precondition for critical thinking, we can be more receptive to new ideas and different perspectives by asking open-ended questions and listening attentively. Parents can foster the development of these skills in their children by taking this approach at the dinner table when discussing current events. They also can require their children to read books and articles that will challenge them to think more critically.
With important midterm elections bringing a smear season of attack ads on the horizon, there’s no better time to apply critical-thinking skills than now.