Self Improvement

Critical thinking skills are at an all time low in the US. In public and private a huge segment of our population seems incapable of logically and intelligently thinking thru an issue or problem. What exactly is critical thinking? While definitions of critical thinking can vary slightly, a good basic definition is the ability to use reason, experience and intelligence to evaluate and solve an issue. Also to evaluate the quality of your information and to arrive at a logical, common sense solution.

Imagine you have a student about to learn about the American Civil War. One teacher tells the student that the war started in 1861 and ended in 1865. The South had slaves, the North didn't. The war was fought to keep the Union together and also to free the slaves. At the end of the war over 600,000 thousand men had died. The teacher then tells the student to memorize these facts for a test. A different teacher tells a student about the preamble leading up to the war, maybe focusing on the problem of adding free states and slave states to the Union. In addition they might talk about the rights that states possessed to succeed, and that most states would never have agreed to enter the Union without this ability to leave. This teacher might also add that freeing the slaves didn't enter the picture until after the war had already started. Then after giving the student this information, and the opportunity to get more on their own, they would tell the student to give it an honest, thoughtful evaluation and arrive at their own conclusion. The first teacher is pushing propaganda and the second is trying to instill critical thinking in the student.

Unfortunately our culture in the US has bred a citizenry that is happy with sound bite news, shallow analysis and superficial concern. A lack of critical thinking and understanding of issues naturally leads to an easily lead and manipulated population. Too many people passively accept information being dumped on them with absolutely no serious or thoughtful analysis. The so-called Elites are more interested in maintaining power then they are in any specific ideology. That is why people of both sides of the political spectrum need to fight to make sure they keep all of their Liberties and have unfettered access to information (this does not include reasonable National Security secrets). Controlling the availability and dissemination of information is how the busybody elitists keep control and maintain their power. This is why a limited government and more local government is so important. The less government is involved in peoples lives and the closer it is to home, the more people can affect change. As a consequence people will be using their critical thinking skills more often and the resulting thoughtful and reasoned decisions will make for a more informed and stronger country.

Effortlessly program your mind for success! Click Here Now to find out more.

Are you tired of being reticent or timid about discussing current events or history? To improve your critical thinking and knowledge visit here! Never again fear joining the conversation, your opinion is valid so express it!