The following message is posted on behalf of Steve Kaufmann. Please read
on...Jackie Taylor

 

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From: Steve Kaufmann [mailto:steve at thelinguist.com] 
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 3:08 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: Re: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2186] from Kim,Re: Introductions
and Questions:Student Involvement and CriticalThinking


My name is Steve Kaufmann and I have an online language learning system
called LingQ. This afternoon I am meeting with a high school boy 16
years old. His parents run a local Chinese restaurant. His mom says that
their son gets good marks in school but has a block when it comes to
writing. I will meet with the boy to see what I can do for him.

I believe that the ability to think critically is influenced by a
variety of factors.

1)Our exposure to ideas: What is the range of opinions we have been
exposed to, aurally or in writing. I.e. how much do we read and discuss
things.
2) Our culture: Some cultures, like ours, are linear, and need things
need to be logically set out, one observation at a time, with obvious
logical connections between them. Certain cultures favour a more
general, mood or emotion based way of communicating, which takes
advantage of shared values and shared assumptions.
3) Our personality: Are we prepared to challenge ideas and have our
ideas challenged?
4) Technique: We can acquire a technique for setting out our ideas. The
five part essay in North America is one. The balanced expose that I
learned at University in France is another. The techniques of
traditional classical rhetoric is yet another. In forcing our ideas to
conform to such formulas, we start to analyse ideas and search for
relevance, justification and logical connections. 

One word of caution. I do not think that critical thinking should be
confused with any kind of social activism. We cannot promote an
ideology, however exalted, and at the same time encourage critical
thinking. Surely critical thinking requires people to form their own
opinions and to learn how to present them effectively and yet deal with
contrary opinions. 

Steve 

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