By David Barr
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One of the things that's continually
amazed (amused?) me over the years is that the complete absence
of critical thinking skill(s) does not deter anyone from voicing
their opinion (often quite loudly).
Of course I'm not suggesting
that only certain people are allowed to have opinions or voice
them, but in the presence of someone who knows far more than
us about something it's usually best to shut up, listen, and
learn. We can still disagree, but it's important to understand
when we have the inferior position.
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What's interesting about this, is
that vociferous nonsense occurs so often from people with no critical
thinking ability precisely because they can't think critically!
That is, the very lack of skill required to assess problems is the
same that prevents them from understanding that they don't possess
the skill to do so!
In other words, if one can't think
critically, then they'll never be able to understand that they can't.
Now bear with me on this following
point. Critical thinking is a skill at which I often excel (depending
on the context), and have developed at a very early age. Far from
pretense, I write this with the same pragmatic candor as with the
fact that I have exceptionally poor mechanical intelligence (you
DO NOT want to see me deal with Saran Wrap or even try to fold a
newspaper).
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Now this is where the paradox
rears its head once again. It's great that I can reason
that I have well-developed critical thinking skills, BUT
this assessment may be wrong, and it may be due to an inability
to think critically. Stated differently, I may possess poor
critical thinking skills, and because of this, my inferior
analytical ability could be leading me to believe otherwise!
So it seems as though there's
really no subjective method of assessing one's ability to
think critically. Could there be an objective assessment?
Perhaps it must be measured in a relative context. But even
then the paradox functions, because again, an inability
to think critically would skew one's perception of that
ability in others.
I don't have an answer, and
have a feeling that I'll have a few more sleepless nights
because of it.
Raise your expectations. Raise
The Barr!
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About The Author
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