Critical Thinker Needs

Throughout the past weeks at the University of Texas I have really enjoyed taking the UGS class, Critical Thinking into the 21st Century. I specifically like how we can interact with one another in groups and voice our own opinions on various topics in class. I also like learning and listening to other peoples’ views on illegal immigration because it is a topic that is highly controversial. Some things I dislike about the class include: only talking about illegal immigration and not broadening our topics and briefly discussing what we learn in lecture. I would like the opportunity to learn and discuss more about the various issues mentioned in lecture. One change I would make to the class are to do more group projects and incorporate different

Over the course of the last six weeks, I have come to realize that critical thinking is an important asset as I continue my journey in life. I have found this course to be both challenging and rewarding. Most importantly, I find myself viewing problems and conversations in a completely different light. While I would not consider myself an expert at critical thinking, I would assess myself in as a Beginner Thinker. Paul and Elder point out in the beginning thinker stage an individual actively begins to take command of their thinking process across multiple facets of their life (Paul and Elder, 2012). Furthermore, we recognize that there are problems in the way we think and begin to consciously attempt to better understand we can improve our thinking.

2. In the 21st century exposure to media is an everyday event for most of us. Even at the grocery store, we see magazines and newspapers with eye-catching headings that may not be true. Also, the news is everywhere, and with technology on the rise, we even get news alerts on our phones. The media has taken over society. Most of the stories we read about seem to be true but in reality, are they giving a true insight of what is actually happening? Some of the stories cause people to become blindfolded from reality. This is because the stories that people read or see have a profound impact on shaping our reality rather they are true or not. We see the news about events that are going on in the world; rather they are catastrophic events or devastating events that were done by humans.

Self- esteem is used to describe a person's overall sense of self- worth or personal value.

Critical Thinking is becoming more understanding to me. I have always been an open minded thinker, whenever it came to looking at different point of views on whatever is in front of me .My mom always told me that I challenged everything she gave me to do, or told me to do. She told me I was very stubborn. If I asked a question and she gave me a answer, I would always question her why! I never knew it was a trait of, what I know now as being a Critical Thinker. Looking at Fair-Minded Thinkers, I possess the quality of having courage. The Courage to question what I was taught growing up, to seek truth and logic in beliefs and everything I knew at this point in my life. I was always taught that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Not saying I don’t believe in god, but I questioned that after reading about Egyptian history. After about 6 months of reading and research I found some very uneasy things that needed some attention.

In a modern society of 21st century, we live in a “free world”, but talking much about freedom. We consider ourselves as individuals, yet the conception of the word “individual” becomes cloudier than with every day. While we are proudly saying, “I decide for myself, I’m an individual”, some of us do not even recognize that most of our own ideas and principles depend on influence of the society on us. Our behavior is often depends on if we are in a large group or by our own. Our principles and are often come out of imitation of ideas of people who surround us.

Critical thinking is the analyzing and evaluating of information in order to form a judgment or decision. This paper will use the techniques outlined in “Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking” by Browne and Keeley (2015) to analyze a business memo written October 10, 2014 by Anil Ravaswami, Vice President of Human Resources, of Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa (CHCM). These techniques outlined will help develop critical thinking by showing how to ask questions in order to analyze and process the information in the memo. By utilizing these techniques, managers will be able to assess relevant information in order to solve complex issues and be able to communicate effectively.

Martin Luther King Jr. stated that “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” This quote well represents my educational philosophy and why I am a good candidate for Chadwick International. The quote points to the idea that the real value of education comes from not only to accumulate content knowledge but also to experience community and social living.

Each day we are faced with new problems and issues that requires us to use our critical thinking skills. No matter how small or big the issue is, you always have to think and analyze the situation and come up with the best method that will help solve the problem. Sometimes critical thinking can seem like a hard goal to achieve but in fact, it is not. According to Vincent Ryan Ruggiero, in order to be a successful problem solver you must have factual knowledge and expertise in thinking (Ruggiero). I have not always been a good critical thinker, and there has been times where I did not know where to start to solve a problem. I would get frustrated and just give up on whatever it was that I could not solve, which was an example of a poor thinker.

Developing critical thinking and communication skills can be learned by doing many activities. Some not as fun as others, such as a research paper. In my History class at the beginning of the year, our professor broke the bad news of writing a research paper that would be due near the end of the semester. That small anxiety attack hits you, but quickly vanishes after you realize you have plenty of time. Then the time comes closer and the professor begins to urge you to begin selecting a topic for your paper. What I have learned when selecting a research topic is to choose something that is interesting to you or something you are passionate about. I used this when choosing my topic. Like most research papers or scholarly papers, you are required

Imagine you’re driving home from a long and trying day at the office, when all of a sudden a car comes zooming into your lane, nearly sending you crashing off the road. Natural instinct might cause you to honk your horn, shout out a series of profanities, or even chase the vehicle down to directly give the driver a piece of your mind.

One of the primary challenges of becoming a critical thinker in a contemporary world is the actual speed of change and its complexity (Paul, Elder, Chartrand, Emery, Hall, Ishikawa, Maketa, & Gunther, 2012). Though technology is a great tool which helps in the process, it is also used by other individuals to subjectively filter information making it difficult to trust information that is received. Since we are a money-driven society, one must ask and question motive, making it difficult for humans to think critically because of the subjective opinions or emotions which interferes with the clarity of the process.

The intellectual purpose of education is “to develop knowledgeable and informed critical thinkers” (POE). The information presented will build the cognitive foundations for the students to work with. To develop as critical thinkers, students need to be shown how to take the ‘literacy and numeracy’ information presented and use it to perform higher order thinking. Higher order thinking includes, but is not limited to: divergent thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and synthesis. In addition to this knowledge, students need help to develop the skills (knows how) and dispositions (such as enthusiasm and promptness) needed to help them be successful throughout life. Additionally, students need to be empowered “to be informed and active

Critical thinking is meaningful and beneficial in many ways. It is not about the criticizing, instead, it is the thinking about the thinking process. It reflects our own thoughts and perceptions towards certain situation. In my personal experience, by practicing thinking critically, gives me the chance to build up my skills on thinking objectively, and non-judgmentally. It also reminds me of analyzing the situation from different perspectives. And this helps me to be more empathetic about client’s struggles. I have learned not to draw conclusion too fast before I fully assess the situation. By practicing the critical thinking, I am able to understand more about where the clients come from and meet the clients at where they are at. When

The ability to think critically, is one of the most important skills learned during anybody’s higher education experience. Critical Thinking is something we all must learn, and are constantly improving upon. One of the most basic definitions of critical thinking is forming a decision based on logical thought, which(which or that?) was carefully considered before forming said decision. In recent years, critical thinking has become a popular teaching subject in academia. This is because educators believe by teaching critical thinking, they can improve a student’s ability to succeed, not only in the class room, but in all their endeavors. Critical thinking is important, because it becomes one of the greatest tools we can utilize, as we continue