First, let’s find out what critical thinking is. It’s a state when you understand the logic behind ideas and thoughts and are able to analyze them clearly. For example, if you are looking at some news and readily believe everything you’re told, you are not much of a critical thinker. On the other hand, if you watch the news and are able to analyze it on your own and ask questions that validate or overrule the news, you can think critically.

Critical thinking isn’t something recent. Early Greek philosophers like Plato and Socrates had ample debate on the subject, however, the idea has taken much attention recently as an aftermath of information overload.

In today’s era, it’s crucial to teach critical thinking skills to students from an early age so that they are able to decide on their own instead of just accepting social and religious dogma. Interestingly, there is no exact definition of critical thinking — it’s open to every kind of interpretations. One simple approach that all can agree about is that it could be accepted as an ability to think clearly, rationally, and independently, so a person is able to come up with his or her own opinion and draw conclusions.

There are few strategies that could be applied to arouse critical thinking in oneself or among students; start by asking these questions:

• Do you readily believe everything?

Stop taking things for their face value. There is a famous phrase that things are not what they seem, and it’s time to start believing that too. Begin by listening closely and then evaluate the information heard — it will not only prevent from wasting time on unnecessary gossips but also give some solid reasons not to believe untruthful or baseless news.

Same goes for reading. Start questioning whether what you have read is true, and for that, have a little bit of background knowledge. You cannot question anything unless widen your world of information and basic general knowledge. This practice will arouse critical thinking as reading and listening will not only enlighten but also make question some of the old practices that have been part of your whole life.

Start with simple questions:

• What is the basic problem?
• What could be a solution?
• What are the up and downsides of it?
• Who benefits from it?
• Who will lose more and who will gain the major profit?

Once you start inquiring, you will evaluate things differently and are likely to make better choices.

• Do you understand the motive?

Everything we hear or see has its deeper roots in something else; only we are unaware of that. Let’s acknowledge, we all realize that today’s media only give us as much information as we need to know, while the real story remains uncovered most of the time. Some of the biggest news gave rise to the biggest conspiracy theories like Kennedy’s murder, The Twin Towers attack, some celebrity’s death or others like these. All the conspiracy theories regarding such news were made up by those who were able to assess the situation critically and present counter-arguments.

However, it doesn’t necessarily mean every piece of news is a blatant lie, but chances it serves someone’s special purpose are high. For example, a cellular service providing amazingly cheap plans should make you wonder what they are getting out of it because it’s a profit organization first, not some charity fund that exists only to make you happy.

The source of information is crucial and may be the key to critical thinking. Internet, electronic and print media provide you with information, and it’s up to you to react accordingly.

• Do you research?

The amount of informational flow today is overwhelming. To be a critical thinker is to know which sources to trust and which to discard. Remember, one specific source may not be reliable for all kind of news and most likely will have its agenda, too.

Let’s say, you hear a famous analyst who asks all the right questions about some news on the Internet, but only when you quit “just hearing” business and start questioning his own analysis, you may rest assured it’s the exact moment your critical thinking is born.

What you always need to remember when you’re researching is to remain unbiased because some information might not correspond to what you already know or believe and thus can make you uncomfortable.

• Do you hesitate?

In order to be a critical thinker, you need to be confident and ask questions, even if they are all wrong. How else can you find out if you’re right? It’s like during classes, you know the answer but you’re too shy to bring it out, and when someone else answers that question, all you feel is regret. The one who doesn’t ask hardly learns anything new. Ask and discover a whole new perspective, a whole new angle of something that you never knew.

Share ideas with friends and see what they have to say about them. They may completely rule out your perspective but fear not. It doesn’t matter; people don’t have to agree with your every point. Agreeing to disagree is the sign of maturity, and once you reach it, you will be more open to new ideas and debates.

If you feel uncomfortable, hop online and join some forums — you’ll be amazed by how many like-minded people are there. However, don’t get carried away by those online discussions; they could easily waste a lot of your time.

• Are you open-minded?

To achieve critical thinking, you need to exercise several things that are not easy, and one of them is accepting that your approach might be wrong. The desire to be right is quite natural, however, it requires real maturity and open-mindedness to acknowledge that you are not. Taking other people’s perspectives into consideration and genuinely comparing them to yours form the basis of critical thinking. It’s amazing sometimes how one small detail you neglected can make your arguments completely pointless. Relax, it’s not about competition but your personal development. Cool mind will help speed up the process.

Today’s world requires and appreciates critical thinking, which is not an easy task. It requires you to let go of what you already believe in, realize that the ideas you've been holding dear for so long are imperfect. But as you step out of your comfort zone, you will appreciate a whole new world of deeper impartial information that opens new horizons of infinite probabilities and will little by little take you closer to the truth.

Bio
My name is Erica Fleming. I support the effective adoption of new technologies or ways of working within writing by communicating complex information in an informative and inspiring way. My works you can here at freebooksummary.com.