Saturday, July 17, 2021

Thinking About Critical Thinking

Why is fair-minded critical thinking necessary in multicultural teaching?


Becoming a fair-minded critical thinker is not something that happens overnight. Instead, it is something that requires dedication and perseverance, much like an art or a craft. It involves the growth and development of the mind, the fibers of what makes us who we are. They say a thought turned into an action becomes a habit which directly leads to who you are. With this being said, I have learned in the lectures that there is a list of what are known as intellectual traits that dictate or, rather, define how we live our lives. Therefore, it is so vital to be in touch with our intellectual character for this very reason. I work on my mind and soul on a daily basis, and it is one of the greatest pleasures I personally have in life is growth and development in these key aspects. From the interactions we have with others to the interactions we have within ourselves, our intellectual standards are key to being a fair minded critical thinking. For instance, being clear, accurate, relevant, and logical are all ways to ensure you are thinking critically and not letting irrational judgements cloud your mind. Moreover good critical thinkers use fair-mindedness and reasonability to dictate their actions/beliefs. Developing our intellectual character involves the habits and traits that make us who we are, such as intellectual integrity. This involves holding ourselves to the same standards to which we hold others. It is simply unreasonable to expect people to respect you if you do not show respect, and this is one of the values I carry highest with me is to show everyone the respect I believe I deserve. In addition, intellectual empathy involves understanding another person's viewpoints thoroughly. Understanding is to the soul what oxygen is to the lungs. This is especially helpful for diffusing arguments, especially unfounded ones as listening is twice as important as speaking when it comes to understanding. I feel as though being empathetic comes natural for some while it is something that others, like selfish critical thinkers, lack. This is a separate issue, although one I would like to touch on very briefly in this blog post. It is impossible for a self centered thinker to understand the thoughts and emotions of others, leaving them limited in understanding. Additionally, other short comings surrounding this self centeredness include: people who claim to know more than they do know, also known as intellectual arrogance; giving up quickly when faced with a challenge rather than intellectually persevering and working through complexity and frustration


2 comments:

  1. Afternoon Andrew. I want to start off by saying I agree with you in the sense that it is important to be in touch with oneself spiritually and in the mind. But you also made a great point that these intellectual and mindful traits DEFINE how we live as humans on a day to day basis. I 1000% agree mainly because of what you said later on in your post. Being clear minded, accurate, thinking logically are all traits to ensure thinking critically and fairly. i also respect the way you seem to carry yourself when it comes to showing respect. "Understanding is to the soul what oxygen is to the lungs." That quote you said is very deep and resonates with me. Your site post has really made me going beneath the surface and take a deeper look at myself intellectually.

    What stuck with me most from this post is your breakdown on what comes with being a critical/fair-minded thinker. Not something that happens overnight.

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  2. Andrew,

    Your blog post was great, entertaining to read and very relatable. Something that also makes me extremely happy on a daily basis is working on my mind and soul, as I believe truly it is one of the greatest ways to increase our ability to think fairly and critically. I agree with you in that being able to communicate in a clear, accurate, relevant and logical way is essential to critical thinking, and allows our irrational judgements to fade away. Your post was great!

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