THE HURON EMERY | ISSUE 6: JUNE 3 | OPINION
The Young Scientist
Why critical thinking is more important now than ever
ERIC HENG COLUMNIST
Generating over a billion hits on Google alone, critical thinking has become a buzzword in the fields of academia, business and the job market. Businesses want to see it in their workers. Teachers want to instill it in their students. But at the same time, if you ask anyone what critical thinking is, most would hesitate to give a concrete answer. So what is critical thinking really? To find out, I talked to Dr. Anna Edmonds, the instructor of the University of Michigan’s undergraduate Critical Reasoning class, to understand why it is so critical to think critically. Edmonds described critical thinking as “best heard as just thinking well.” At first, this seems like a vague answer to an already hard question. After all, who wouldn’t want to think well? However, in reality, this speaks to the broad functionalities of thinking critically. Thinking critically is extremely hard, which involves taking the information we already know, and constantly refining and updating that knowledge to acquire a set of information that is most likely to be correct. This requires especialThe value and importance of critical thinking in the job market is rising. ORIG-
ly paying attention to the beliefs we already have and being ready to challenge them if enough information contradicts it. Why is critical thinking important? The truth is, though we might like to think humans are rational creatures, in the end, they are not. In fact, Edmonds points out that, “much of the time, we arrive at conclusions that make us feel better.” This mental shortcut, known in philosophy as a heuristic, is often employed in daily life, because it is more convenient and less time-consuming. This can often lead to quick-fire judgements that are not necessarily accurate. Edmonds explains this through Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman’s theory about the brain’s two modes of thought: system one and system two. “System one processes are evolutionarily, much older and we share that with some of our mammalian ancestors,” Emonds said. “System two is associated with much more careful reading reasoning kinds of outputs that are a lot more time and resource intensive.” System one is involved in many of the heuristics I described. Unfortunately, since system one is very much de-
pendent on your scope is an even harder skill to of knowledge, it can very teach, because instead of quickly fall trap to logical teaching a set of facts, you fallacies due to ingrained have to teach a new mindbias. Meanwhile, employset. According to Edmonds, ing system two allows the “Becoming better reasoners inspection of each fact is actually forming the habbefore we believe in it. This its that make us want to do can filter out misleading better. I’m understanding or blatantly false inforthe kinds of mental attimation. This is succinctly tudes that we have, where put in Kahneman’s book we actually come to develop describing these two sysa goal of being accurate.” tems “Thinking, Fast and Thus, to practice critical Slow.” thinking on a Of daily scale, one course, just must not only knowing be willing to how to do new inThe truth is, though we learn something formation but is an entire- might like to think of hu- challenge one’s ly different mans as rational creatures, own beliefs. battle from Why is implement- in the end, they are not.” critical thinking a way ing important of thinking. now? How do we keep our minds The explosion of in a system two oriented access to information in the manner? In an interview 21st century has changed with NPR’s Hidden Mind how we get our information, Podcast, Kanheman himself and platforms such as social said this, “Delay intuition. media have connected peoDon’t give it up unnecessarple like never before. ily - delay it. And the results In the current social are just better when you do climate, where conspiracy things that way.” Realizing theorists run rampant, from that your intuition, or the flat-earthers to COVID-19 quickfire decisions of system denialists, critical thinking one, are fallible, and therecan be an important tool to fore, consciously shift your evaluate novel information. mind to system two. This is Dr. Edmonds says that this how you think critically. involves an important shift Just learning critical in mindset: “Somebody thinking however, is just who indicates that they’re half the battle. Critical listening carefully tries to learning track the thing that we’re disagreeing about to figure out in a positive, cooperative way what reasons we have to think
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INAL PHOTO COURTESY OF MOHAMED HASSAN
about what you know is true.” The ability to approach every argument like a learning experience instead of a battleground also has the added benefit of making different perspectives more accessible, also key to challenging one’s beliefs and biases. Kahneman also explains how some ideas, such as global warming, can have so much evidence supporting it, yet continue to have large portions of the population ignore that evidence. In the same interview, he states, “If you were to design a problem that the mind is not equipped to deal with, climate change would fit the bill. It’s distance. It’s abstract. It’s contested. And it doesn’t take much. If it’s contested, it’s 50-50 for many people immediately.” The abstraction of climate change makes it unintuitive for many people to follow and believe. When most people present a judgement, they forgo a rational line of thinking, defaulting to system one. The increasing importance of critical thinking in the job market is also of note. In the World Economic Forum’s newest 2020 jobs report, employers cited critical thinking as the most important skill in the modern workplace. In our high school education, almost everything we learn is with near 100 percent certainty, which gives us an illusion that critical thinking is not needed. Edmonds argues for more earlier teaching of critical thinking. As high school students, teachers and parents fostering critical thinking should be a top priority, whether for academics, work or simply navigating life in a more objective, well-in- formed manner.
When the pandemic goes, mask culture should not go with it elderly or immunocomStaff Editorial: Masks are effective and important, even beyond a pandemic the promised, wearing a mask is Before vaccines, we had two relatively primitive ways to personally avoid COVID-19 and stop the spread of the disease: social distancing and wearing
masks. Social distancing is In fact, they can prevent not going to stay; in fact, it any disease spread through was pretty unpopular when droplets, which means there it was required. Masks will is a much lower chance of still have a benefit long after seemingly everyone you the pandemic stops ruling know catching the common our lives. cold at the same time each First off, masks, unyear. like vaccines, are not Sure, anti-mask specific to COVID-19. sentiment is rampant in 67 percent of students the U.S., even during the think that mask culture pandemic. But masks have should continue accord- always been popular — and ing to a Huron Emery even fashionable — in placInstagram poll with 215 es like Japan, South Korea responses. GRAPHIC BY and Hong Kong. They proVISH GONDESI tect faces from cold or dry
air, and there’s something to be said for the social comfort of having half of one’s face covered. Masks can certainly be inconvenient sometimes. You can’t eat or drink with them (though we’re sure most of us have accidentally tried) and your speech is often muffled to the point of annoyance. They also could be a security risk when it’s important to see your face for identification. But on crowded public transport, in hospitals and when visiting
the best way to spare yourself and the people around you from, if not COVID-19, a week of Kleenexes and misery. No one is forcing you to wear a mask at all times after you’re vaccinated. But maybe save a little awareness and compassion for after the pandemic passes. America’s public health movements are few and far between, but if we keep up the habits that save lives, we can be more prepared for another crisis.
