The Art of Thinking Critically

inherent skill needed for critical thinking—asking questions. We need to be able to ask questions, sometimes very difficult ones that cause the personal evaluation of values

Questions lead us to make crucial developments in a variety of fields. They're at the heart of all human knowledge, because if we never asked questions, we would never find the answers

Thinking is not powered by the answers we're given, but by the questions we ask

Every statement in a textbook, in fact, is an answer to a question, but we never think about textbooks this way. Why? Because teachers often like to teach as much material as possible, as opposed to training students to thoughtfully engage with the things they learn

When thinking about what questions to pose a critical thinker, balanced thinking is key. If you only consider one side of an issue, you may only find supporting evidence to sway your opinion or reasoning in the direction supporting that side’s view. It is important to carefully consider arguments and evidence for and against a particular position or viewpoint

Regardless of how much I may like or dislike a piece of writing, I have learned something from all of them

Before a learner can even take the leap toward self-education, they must have a strong foundation, and that foundation is confidence. As mentioned previously, one of the disadvantages of traditional education is fear. Nearly all people have a fear of failure, and even more so, failure in front of peers