Critical Thinking-Steven D. Schfersman

I agree with Steven D. Schfersman about the importance of critical thinking in modern education. It is true that we get all the basic education from school, such as numbers, grammar, and scientific facts that we need to survive in this life. Most of the teachers forget the most valuable lesson that they should have though the students: critical thinking. Basic education provides us basic education to survive, but critical thinking gives us better life.

At school we learn how to do math, thus we can do business in our real life because we know math. Imagine what will happen in business if we don’t know how to calculate number. Maybe we still live in a cave and only do barter for our needs. Once we know math, we know how to do business. In fact we want to have a better life. We do not satisfy with our simple business, for we want to make money and retire soon. Then critical thinking plays an important rule here. In order to achieve the dream, one has to plan how to make more money today and retire tomorrow.

Imagine a world would be if Eistein did not wonder why apple fall from the tree. If he only looked at it as a natural phenomenon, we would not have our modern technology today. Luckily, he did it. He learned about the critical thinking, thus he did more research to find the answer. Finally, here we are today with all of his contribution to make our life better.

It is sad to know that US education system is declining. We are a big nation, yet we fail in teaching our next generation. Well, if we look at the education today, it is clearly show that we only require memorizing all the terminologies and facts. One of my personal experiences is mathematic. It is surprise me when I look at the calculus text book. I have a funny feeling when reading pages by pages just to learn one math concept. At the end of the chapter, we do the numeric calculation. Even though there is a small section in the book that content critical thinking skill, but it is just an enhancement that is rarely covered in the class. So, what is the main purpose of studying math if we do not know how to put it in use in out daily life? Shouldn’t we been thought about the real math usage instead of adding or multiplying numbers which can be easily done if we know the formula?