IT is my sincere belief that the previous submissions on the art of interpretation have helped you a lot as you started your examinations.
This article is meant to cement your critical analytical skills as you wade through your examinations. I wish to conclude this journey by exploring features of critical thinking, showing this faculty is important not just for exams but for life skills as well. Critical thinking is essentially a questioning, challenging approach to knowledge and perceived wisdom.
It involves examining ideas and information from an objective position and questioning this information in the light of one’s values, attitudes and personal philosophy.
It is essential that within the process of critical thinking the student substantiates the stance they have taken by providing evidence about the issue they are discussing in such a way that their judgments are seen as secure and verified.
Put differently, critical thinking is all about thinking outside the box. Critical thinking is the ability to think about your own thinking in such a way as to recognise its strengths and weaknesses and consequently represent the thinking in an improved form.
This is not what our current curricula teach our children. They have not taught our children to question what they read. They have taught them to accept, record and remember the provisions of syllabuses; and so how do you expect them to think outside the box?
Thinking outside the box begins with a willingness to question your views and the views of those we interact with. It is a practice of independence. A critical thinker is open-minded to the ideas and views of others, and is always mindful that just because something is in print, it does not mean it is true.
A critical thinker is able to give both positive and negative judgments; able to explore the implications of the evidence/literature; is self-confident enough to explore the evidence presented; is honest in facing own biases/prejudices; is flexible in considering alternatives and opinions; and is willing to reconsider and revise views where honest reflection suggests that change is warranted.
Only then can a thinker see gaps in existing knowledge and proceed to work towards producing more knowledge to better people’s lives. That is the mark of educator-producer as opposed to educator-parrot.
The starting point to critical thinking is positive scepticism. Faced with a “why” a critical student asks “why not”?
There is always need to be wary and even sceptical of statements that are given as absolute ‘facts’, of unsubstantiated comments; unbalanced arguments; bias (whether political, personal or professional); anecdotal evidence; and credibility of sources.
A great deal of what is taught in academic environments is theory and not fact. Although based on factual evidence, the majority of thinking manifests conclusions that writers and researchers have drawn from their analysis of relevant data. Writers and researchers suggest ideas about what is going on in the world and then research evidence to support or challenge these ideas.
In fact, academic debate is founded on an exchange of ideas or theories. If one person puts forward an idea or theory, other people will often put forward alternatives.
When you as a student writer/researcher enter a debate, you become part of this on-going discussion contributing to the body of knowledge surrounding the issue under discussion.
Argument here does not mean disagreement or quarrelling; it simply means presenting a strong case to support a point of view.
Good critical writing means using reason and evidence to support your point. However, essential to any analysis is the ability to be honest about your own biases and prejudices, flexible in considering alternatives and opinions, and willing to reconsider and revise views where honest reflection suggests that change is warranted.
Two common problems can lead to confusion when thinking critically about a subject: ambiguity and subjectivity. A word is ambiguous if it has several different meanings.
‘Partnership’, for example, might specifically refer to a legally binding collaboration between two or more people.
More generally, it may mean co-operation between interested stakeholders in a particular project. In education it can be interpreted as regarding parents as co-educators of their children.
In a broader sense it can be understood as a partnership between investors in the education system, such as national government, local government and perhaps even business.
So collaboration can be a partnership in one of these senses but not in another. Consulting with parents during evenings and providing information to those parents could be seen by some as a partnership and by others as paying lip service to that partnership.
The word ‘partnership’ on its own could refer to any of these types of partnerships. Therefore, unless the context makes it clear which meaning is intended, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between them.
Problems of subjectivity arise when, even once all ambiguity has been removed from a term, people still disagree about its meaning. The concept of a partnership with parents, for example, is a very subjective one.
Two people may agree precisely about what that partnership is (e.g. they may agree that it is dialogue between teachers and parents), but disagree about the depth of involvement both parties should have.
The depth of the involvement will be influenced by personal philosophy and values. For example, one person may see parents as the initial educators of their children and people who have a legitimate stake in their children’s future, whereas another person may disagree, believing the ‘professionals’ are the people with the information which has to be shared with the other interested partners.
These examples show that even when a concept is clearly understood and agreed by all parties, there are differences in the application of the concept due to its subjective nature.
At the heart of critical thinking (and, indeed, critical reading and writing) is the notion of ‘objectivity’. Being objective means that you read, write and think without bias, take into account all the facts and possible explanations and draw on available evidence.
Expressing personal opinions, on the other hand, is a subjective endeavour. However, personal opinions can become more objective if you subject them to rigorous questioning.
Finally, critical analysis is the key feature tutors/lecturers are looking for in your assignments.
It involves thinking about issues and evaluating them. It is sometimes interpreted by students as the opposite of just describing something, but it is much more than that.
Instead of describing, offer objective explanations, evidence and evaluation for why certain things are said or done.
It is also important that you relate theory to practice both as a trainee teacher and as a student of education. Critical analysis is derived from two words: ‘kriticos’ (Gk), meaning to discern and separate [the issues] ‘analyser’ (Fr), meaning to undo. Objectivity means standing back and weighing the evidence even if you disagree with something.