THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT CRITICAL THINKING

"Every real thought about every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other." 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table. (1858), 5

There are more than 16,000 school districts in the United States. And nearly all of them boast that they develop ‘critical thinking.’ Click on any of their mission statements and you will find affirmations such as this from the Lordstown Ohio School District: “We believe in the development of critical thinking skills.”  

But what would happen if critical thinking skills actually were effectively taught? Suppose at least some of the youngsters begin skillfully scrutinizing things that really matter. Things like common customs, moral principles, and religious beliefs. Imagine they critically examine the values that direct our lives and define the good, the true, the beautiful? They would certainly be thinking critically. But would educators who encouraged this receive hearty congratulations? Or would they have to flee a rampaging mob of angry, torch-wielding villagers?

Critical thinking is not mere logic chopping. "These are the premises” and “this is a conclusion,” sort of thing. That kind of ‘critical thinking’ is largely toothless. Real critical thinking involves systematically considering those deep assumptions that the vast majority take utterly for granted. And real critical thought also carefully considers basic written authorities, such as the Bible, the Torah and the Constitution.  

It would also question the bona fides of the authorities charged with interpreting them. Priests, preachers rabbis, and judges for instance. Are they biased? Are they accurately informed? Are they morally corrupt? Are they of sound mind?  Such considerations really matter because such authorities commonly interpret written authority for the rest of us.

Some argue it isn't necessary to tackle sensitive issues. They say that by making youngsters more aware of crucial thinking skills, they will, sooner or later, bring these tools to bear on the deep assumptions and basic authorities that govern their lives. But there are ample reasons to think they won't. Not usually. Too many things, such as the psychological and emotional turmoil, as well as fear, that critical thought provokes, blocks this transfer of learning. If you want students to really think critically, you must provide them with direct and well focused and vitally important opportunities to do so. 

The trouble is, if educators were to do this, they had better be prepared to find another job. And we're assuming  teachers are actually capable of critical thought themselves, much less communicate it to students. Most probably aren't.

Plus there are real problems when it comes to parents. How tolerant are they going to be when their kids come home asking unsettling questions? Consider what it takes to qualify for parenthood. Getting pregnant, or making some female pregnant, and a resultant birth. That's about it. With such bare bones qualifications it's quite obvious that there must be plenty of parents who are dumb as rocks, need the emotional reassurance of true belief untroubled by thought, and so forth. And a half-baked complaint from a  group of aroused parents, even those of obviously limited intellect, can and does result in book banning and/or a teacher firings. All it takes is a spineless or true believing superintendent and/or some opportunistic or closed minded politicians on the school board.

Keep in mind, many politicians will say or do nearly anything to get elected. And that ultimately results in some ridiculous school-related legislation. In some states, for instance, classroom consideration of a topic that could theoretically distress a student, possibly make them feel guilty for, say, being white, is now legally verboten. And this style of thought-policing is popular with right wing elements of the broad masses and politicians who push it in order to benefit at the polls. Of course the  left-wing "woke" crowd has their own list of topics that must not be critically considered.

Let's face it, in a society as diverse as ours it's nearly impossible to critically consider a wide range of topics in school. Teachers can't possibly encourage critical thinking about anything that matters without it being seriously upsetting to at least some parents. Serious thought is, by its very nature, unsettling. That's the price we must pay for actually growing up. But far too many Americans have never paid that price and have never grown up. In consequence, they will vehemently discourage teaching anything resembling real critical thinking. So, while most school districts boast that they do teach critical thinking, the relative absence of school-related turmoil testifies that they don't.

 

SCHOOLHOUSE, FUNHOUSE, MADHOUSE

Some schools more closely resemble funhouses, or madhouses, than schoolhouses. Supplies are scarce, texts are tattered, buildings are are often still polluted with asbestos, fountains might spew leaded drinking water, bullies rule the hallways, teachers are at continual risk of assault, principals take the side of the kids in any conflict with teachers; and a whole bunch of youngsters who should be in school, aren't. For instance, the public schools in Philadelphia have a district-wide daily absentee rate of 33%. Yep, one third of them are missing on any given day. Many who do show up are an hour or more late. And some of them can be seen loitering just outside the school — a few openly smoking joints.

It is plainly nuts to hold teachers accountable for failing to teach kids who aren't there. Nevertheless, it happens every time high stakes standardized tests are given. Plus many kids who are physically present, are emotionally and/or intellectually absent. Instead of focusing on learning, they focus on where their next meal is coming from, if they will end up homeless, if their putative father is in prison again, if Mom will be "entertaining" still another guy tonight, if she will get dangerously high, if she will pass out drunk in her own puke, or will end up beaten half to death by an abusive "boyfriend." 

Other kids are so petrified of being assaulted, even killed, by a gang, they can't think straight — much less study. Even more are too depressed and/or angry  to give the slightest damn about school. Still others make far too much money standing sentinel for drug dealers, or peddling drugs themselves, to regard school as anything other than a place to go to raise disruptive hell or take refuge from bad weather. Are we surprised, then, that sixty five percent of these Philadelphia "students" fail to achieve proficiency on the Commonwealth's high stakes tests? Let's hope we're not.

Of course educators are typically blamed when kids score this badly. Opportunistic politicians even demand that teachers stop leaving kids behind? In the Bush II era, federal politicians even passed a law they hypocritically titled "No Child Left Behind." This is where the funhouse kicks in.  Demanding that teachers leave no child behind is as realistic as demanding that physicians leave no patient unwell.

In the funhouse/madhouse schools of this "other America," things are so chaotic that learning and teaching always teeter on the edge of impossible. And this is especially true when administrators cravenly fail to back teachers in matters of order and discipline. That's when schools really degenerate into truly scary places. Especially for any small, sensitive, smart youngster who really wants to learn. In fact, very few, no matter how smart or determined, can teach, or learn, in the midst of the chaos that then ensues. Yet school "management" typically still fosters the pretense that teaching and learning are taking place. Worse, teachers are expected, even coerced, to join the charade. Should they resist and demand the truth, the administration will almost certainly decide they are at fault.

Engulfed in chaos, kids who want to learn, are demoralized, disheartened and eventually give up. But a surprising number of teachers continue to put up with the chaos and try to teach. Why? Some are close to retirement. Others are so demoralized they've assumed the prone position. A few have bought the teacher "accountability" nonsense and blame themselves. Then there are all those divorced women who desperately need the income. There are a lot of reasons why these folks tolerate the intolerable. But holding their feet to the fire while simultaneously ignoring anything and everything that makes teaching impossible, is damnable.   

It's not as if these impediments to learning are invisible. Most of the impediments that make these schools madhouses could not be more obvious. Yet few, if any allowances are made for the teachers. Instead our politicians piously and pusillanimously demand that teachers produce positive results. Remember the "Every Student Succeeds Act?" That's the preposterous nonsense that followed the equally farcical "No Child Left Behind Act." Such nonsensical legislation blithely ignores the most elemental reality. 

Educators should never be held accountable for things beyond their control.  As my life-hardened Granny used to put it, "Ya can't pick boogers with gloves on." There is no surer way to demoralize and embitter a caring teacher than to expect them to pick boogers in the mittens circumstances require them to wear. Indeed, there is no better way to quickly drive the best and the brightest completely out of teaching. And that is precisely what is happening.

Where does this leave us? With an acute shortage of qualified teachers, that's where. Instead, we fill the ranks with whatever cannon fodder can be dredged up. And many of them will also be gone in no time. This is no way to prepare America for tomorrow. But our political "leaders" are so busy posturing, lying, quarreling, playing "gotcha' and biting each other in the ass, that this looks like be the best we can do. If so, shame on us!