A500.5.1.RB Critical Thinking about critical thinking

 

What have I learned?  What is the are aspects of critical thinking that I have learned?  How have my critical thinking skills improved? In this course?

I recently read in an article, in the Washington Post (2012), that in Texas the Department of Education did not want to teach critical thinking in schools, because it wrongfully proposed that it challenged traditional methods of student learning.  This article made me think, before this class would I have understood both sides of the opinion, would I have understood what is meant by critical thinking and its true purpose.  Would I have even understood why Texas did not want to teach these skills?  Could I have used my core competencies that I learned about reasoning and change my life for the better?  My story of leadership continues today as I took a vital step in becoming a better, mentor and leader.  I embarked on new a journey to actually learn new skills and way to look at problems through reasoning. 

I started this course with my own personal view on, with what I thought was the truth of critical skills. Right or wrong I believed that critical thinking meant to criticize others for the production of a non-reflective hypothesis.  I believed that written word, even peer reviewed work was never questioned.  This was not hard, so what was the fuss about critical thinking all about, most humans do it all the time.  We judge and criticize all the time.  We judge and criticize the Sunday night game and latest athlete caught in a drunken scandal.  My old way of “critical” thinking seemed to completely ignore all of the essential elements of reasoning, instead my behavior focused on my own opinions and points of views. For example, years ago, I held truth that my Southern Baptist was the only way to think about God and that Catholics are persecutors of the truth about Christianity.  This heated argument almost destroyed my marriage, as I was not open-minded to even active listen.  I criticized and summarized Catholic denomination from the Holy Father to my fiancé without looking at consequences or all of the information, or the purpose of the argument.  This problem took me years to work out and to understand that I was wrong for thinking like that.  Looking back on this example, with the tools of reasoning that I have found in this text, things would have turned out so much different. 

This is old way of thinking was nothing more that bully tactics and sometimes caused irreversible damage because of non-reflective judgment; which is not critical thinking at all. It was a personality trait that could have been at times a little, egocentric in all the wrong directions.  For example, the latest athletic scandal at the Olympics, I judged that athlete from the get go.  Immediately the media and myself demonized the athlete, calling him all sorts of names, the athlete was treated like a common criminal, nothing more than a thug.  The athlete behavior is not a reflection of his intelligence, meaning he is not an idiot (okay maybe), but there are other questions to ask: what are his points of views, what is the actual problem that needs to be addressed here, what are the implications and consequences if he does not get help for these problems, what background information can we discover to get the proper help…and so on.

Critical thinking is about reasoning not rationalizing.  Reasoning through the athlete behavior, or the other point of view about the origins of Christianity.  The 8+ elements of reasoning provide tools to seek an understanding of the material and the author, through a more reflective lens.  This is why critical thinking begins.  It requires practice and time to be good at using the elements.  The elements do not presume to remove emotions but regulate them, it does not presume to criticize the author or the research but instead focus on reflection of the data and the deeper level of the author.  The long lasting impact of understanding the elements of reasoning will help me understanding critical thinking on a deeper level, it will not only help me at work but at my home as well.  I hope to learn more about this skill over my next few years in this degree program.  I wish that this skill was taught to me at an earlier age, maybe in secondary school?

Reference

Valerie Strauss (2012) Texas GOP Rejects Critical Thinking Really. Washington Post. Retrieved   from https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects  critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html

A500.4.3 Ballet or Slippers (the American Choice)

Cajun Cultural choices. 

My narrative is as a unique story and continues with my choices made today.  As previously mentioned, the cultural norms of South Louisiana, Cajuns are vastly different from the many parts of the rest of Louisiana, the traditional south, and the United States. The language, the music and the food can be found nowhere else in the world.  This dying cultural assumption builds me into the leader that I am today. I agree with Dr. Lyengar impression (right or wrong) of the fallacies of the American assumptions of choice (2010). To elaborate on working on Dr. Lyengar assumptions of choices and applying this to my Cajun story, my story is atypical of my colleagues, and peer groups because of the isolated community.  I have learned different aspects of leadership through my culture and my story continues as I learn more about observing the differences in American assumptions.   

Exploring the typical American assumption choice is the “locust of the individual (2010).”  This is not the case in Acadiana (a collective of parishes where Cajun cultural is most present); the choice is the family, neighbors, the and collective.  This choice in the culture can amplified and was taught to me at a young age.  Growing up in a hurricane targeting area, my family experienced many floods and storms over my lifetime. After most storms we took our boat up and down the bayou’s checking on our neighbors first before we even looked at our own home. This was demonstrated again in the recent floods, a group of volunteers gathered to help their neighbors and the entire flood stricken area, even calling themselves the Cajun Navy.  Another example is the Cajun (French word), boucherie.  This is a tradition that butchers a hog, and no part is left not used.  While most of my adult friends would find this greatly disgusting, this unique process takes time and it usually done by traditionalist. The difference in the cultural assumption is that all the food is shared and distributed to local families, everyone.  This butchering is for the people not for the individual, the farmer is making the choice to share (sometimes for months) with his bounty.  It is during this example where I learned the assumptions that I have today.  The choice to help others outweighs the individual.  My leadership today is based in this value, many times over the past few years I have gotten up in the middle of the night to help my organization, my troops, or even take up missions abroad so that no one else had too for the benefit of the collective.    

The second assumption that she discusses is the choice that more decisions presented one has the likely choose the better choice.  I will never forget my first week in basic training, in the chow line.  I did not understand the choices presented, what was this food, and what do you mean I get to choose what I wanted?  I was so confused.  While my drill instructor was yelling at me at breakfast, I was trying to engage in a conversation with the cooks to understand the choices and the implications that I faced by making simple decisions.  What is “white” gravy, what was the differences in biscuits, what was a flat sausage patty, what was the differences in milk?  This funny story illustrates the cultural differences in choices, all these choices overwhelmed me, during my years in Cajun culture I did not have those choices and simply did not know what to do when presented with things I had never seen before. In my current job, I have to face major requirement choices every day and the wrong choice can end up with a flying Albatross, that barely gets out of the water.  As companies compete for the next government multi-billion-dollar contract, choices are made and sent up the chain of command. During my decision/choice matrix I go back to the first day of basic training, was the choice about the differences in milk or was the choice really was I going to eat that morning.  In my leadership technique of choice, I choose to focus on the larger problem instead of every details and ever underlying choice, if this is not done I will never leave the chow line.    

Dr. Lyengar third assumption is the ability to say no to choice.  She writes that “American’s are given the right to choice and that the world is limitless,” she then elaborates that this is not always true and goes on to say that “American could benefit by incorporating new perspectives in their own narrative (2010)".  This again I turn to my Cajun culture.  The Cajun food, its music, its festivals, the reviling, the lifestyle is a melting pot of cultures from the 1700’s.  It is a combination of Spanish, French, Native-American and African influences.  I was raised with this understanding, and brought up with a mixture of all of cultures in the small isolated community.  Take for example, in my public school, white was the minority and French was the dominate language taught, while track was the dominate sport and catholic was the religion.  I grew up in a part of the south were racism rarely existed in part, because the culture for hundreds of years was influenced by a melting pot of sub-cultures.  In my military career, I have learned that this is not the case everywhere and that not every sub-culture shares in these poor, rural, mixed culture of Acadiana.  When faced with these choices, I look back to those boucheires, where it did not matter who, or what religion you practiced, you are part of the family and the food will be shared to everyone.     

References 

Shenna Lyengar (2010) The art of Choosing [video file] retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing/transcript?language=en#t-584979