The Art of Critical Thinking - Personal Statement Example

Reflective Essay How I overcame initial hurdles and mastered the art of critical thinking and study skills Introduction In any form of academic exploit the most important ingredient is surely an ability to read critically. In simple terms, “critical reading” means reading with an unwavering attention and an analytical eye, taking in the minutest details and processing written information so very carefully as to prevent any form of inadvertent omissions and misinterpretations. Such a critical approach to reading is most certainly related to an attempt by the reader to convincingly demonstrate that his or her understanding of the written document is superior to someone else’s. Thus it seems someone who comes from a student-centric training exercise will have an obvious advantage in the sphere of “critical reading” but in reality it is not necessarily so. Critical reading is a distinct technique that begins with the reader needing to have a clear understanding of the viewpoint of the author and if possible some previous knowledge of the topic that the reader will now read about. But in reality none of the readers have either the time or the intention to be ready for critical reading and the most pragmatic and optimal approach for the reader would be to identify how far the reader should proceed to critically evaluate a written piece. This of course would depend on how important the text is to the reader’s pursuit of knowledge and what specific goals of the reader would be satisfied by reading the text. Once these coordinates are specified, it becomes easier for the reader to critically approach a written matter. Reading is, after all, done for a reason, and having a clear notion of what those reasons are makes critical reading that much easier. (Wallace and Wray 2006) Problems faced on embarking with the current course The thinking process of an individual, especially if the individual is a student, depends on the courses that are pursued by the individual and within a very short time the individual’s thought process gets modified to suit ones preferred stream of study. Thus, it is often found that the way an engineer perceives a problem is radically different from the way an accountant may look at it. Stella Cottrell, another path breaker in unconventional methods of critical reading and thinking has ventured beyond the academic and well documented zone and incorporated in her repertoire of critical thinking such concepts as lateral thinking, reflection, logical reasoning and some other revolutionary concepts that go a long way in motivating relevant individuals to try their hand at critical thinking and writing. Persons who have for years been trained to respond in a particular way have found courage to think laterally and perceive a problem from a different perspective than what normally comes to their mind after becoming acquainted with Stella Cottrell’s unconventional and often rather unusual methods of thinking critically. (Cottrell 2005) I have been especially benefitted from Stella Cottrell’s unconventional methods as, though it might sound rather peculiar, her tendency to break away from the conventional and venture into territories hitherto uncharted has given me the courage that was absolutely necessary for me to break away from the mental blockade that I had created for myself when I enrolled for the MBA course. I had qualified as a computer engineer back in India before I came over to the United Kingdom. Engineering in general and computer engineering in particular needs very little linguistic skill as most of the communication revolves around terse programming language and all literature in this field of study are written in language that is very technical. So, the first problem that I faced was an inability to properly comprehend the text that often was, if not repetitive, but surely looked at an issue from several perspectives. This was especially evident in Marketing and Human Resource Management studies. Initially I felt confused and was going in circles in trying to locate the core issue as I had never earlier faced a situation where the solution to a problem was not unique but a plethora of possibilities. But both Marketing and Human Resource Management, though having a formidable array of theories and mathematical analyses, essentially deal with human beings and, as we all know, human beings can never be slotted in neat categories or pigeon holes as say one could do with silicon chips or other components that formed the innards of a computer. Thus any solution in Marketing or Human Resource Management came along with a host of associated assumptions and conditions and more often than not the final outcome of a rigorous analysis was an array of possibilities that might occur with respect to alterations in parameters. When I ventured into economics the ceteris paribus condition was something that became rather difficult to digest as being a person from computer background I refused to accept a situation where a data continuously swung between two extremes of being a parameter and a variable. How could, my mind would rebel, a parameter become a variable and the other way round depending on what we were testing – this was something that never ever occurred in computer engineering. There all those that were parameters remained parameters all through and all those that were variable continuously varied irrespective of circumstances in which the machine or the software operated. The situation became even more critical as we completed Microeconomics and stepped into Macroeconomics. Study of Microeconomics assumes that micro variables remain constant, e.g., it is assumed that the aggregate output is given while we are studying determination of output and price of an individual firm or industry. Study of Macroeconomics, on the other hand, assumes that micro variables remain constant, e.g., it is assumed that distribution of income remains constant when we are studying the determination of aggregate output and income level. Now all these issues seem pretty obvious but in the initial stages it indeed seemed like a conundrum that would swallow me before I get a chance to escape. Finance was not a brighter story either. The very concept that business is a juristic person having a legal identity of its own separate from the promoters or the owners of the business took quite some time to settle down in my mind. When the course ventured to cash flows and fund flows it became even more precarious. Who would have ever thought that a firm earning massive profits might actually not have enough money to pay the electricity bills and workers might receive their weekly payments much later than the usual payment date. How I gradually overcame those hurdles It took a lot of unlearning and conditioning of the mind to accept ideas and concepts that are often at variance to what I knew to be inviolable. A new attempt to consciously undertake critical thinking helped me to overcome these initial intellectual hurdles. Critical thinking is nothing more than an attempt to think rationally and try to implement such a rational attitude in actions and decisions. (Ennis 1981) Such a rational approach helps in solving problems and logically choosing between alternatives and making judgement that seemed logical and rational and what is most important, optimal under the given circumstances. (Beyer 1995) Good judgement as one would surely agree depends on good reasoning skills which again depend on competent inquiry, concept-formation, and translation skills. (Hitchock 1983) Critical thinking is thus not only a set of skills that need to be learned like say one would learn how to operate a pneumatic drill but a set of skills that should always be accompanied by a corresponding sets of acceptable behaviours in order to make such fully effective and potent. (Lipman 1988) Thus it requires a constant attempt to think critically in daily life, monitoring and thinking about ones own thought processes, and acting congruently with ones critical thinking. (Norris 1985) I could very keenly appreciate the need to master critical thinking skills as they are sorely needed to deal with the increasing complexities of real-life problems. This became increasingly apparent to me as I knew that being a management student I needed to analyze decision-making scenarios, understand the needs of the different stakeholders, manage the interactions between the stakeholders, identify alternatives, and identify suitable criteria to evaluate these alternatives. On this basis, as a student I needed to recognize and understand the tradeoffs and compromises needed in real decision-making scenarios. All these activities demand critical thinking from them. Bloom had set down a category of objectives known as cognitive objectives. (Bloom 1956) These objectives try to evaluate whether a student is able to perform in certain desirable ways after instruction and at a later date Guillemette constructed six major subcategories of these cognitive objectives. The subcategories in increasing order of complexity include (a) knowledge, (b) comprehension, (c) application, (d) analysis, (e) synthesis, and (f) evaluation. Knowledge involves recall of information. Comprehension involves the lowest level of understanding where the reader knows what is being communicated and can use it in its immediate context. Application consists of the use of ideas, principles, and theories in a particular context. (Guillemette 1991) Once I understood the composition of cognition I consciously tried to work my way upwards the cognition ladder. The activities of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation are generally treated as higher order thinking skills. Analysis involves the separation of parts of a communication or problem into distinct elements. Some examples of analysis include (a) categorizing items, (b) comparing items, (c) disassembling a product, (d) examining a specimen, (e) distinguishing patterns, and (f) recognizing patterns. Synthesis is a process that puts parts together to form a new structure. Some examples of synthesis include (a) writing a new communication, (b) developing a plan, (c) designing a product, (d) proposing a strategy, and assembling a product. Evaluation means making a judgment on the basis of explicit and relatively complex criteria as opposed to making a judgment on the basis of inherent likes and dislikes. Judgments may be quantitative or qualitative. Some examples of evaluation include (a) comparing proposals, (b) ranking projects, (c) recommending candidates, and (d) appraising market values of homes. (Page and Mukherjee 2007) Instructors gave us sufficient assignments to work out at home and provided enough case studies that offered real life instances of how critical thinking by those that mattered helped organisation to thrive and prosper even when competitors found it hard to survive. Participation in classroom negotiation role-plays and successful completion of one-on-one negotiation also helped me to sharpen my skills of critical thinking and finally I could get a firm handle on management subjects. Though not very frequently but I did refer to the textbook by Lewicki, Saunders, Barry, and Minton once in a while. (Lewicki, et al. 2004) Conclusion Though it was indeed tough sailing in the first year, as I was completely at a loss to get a firm handle on either management or accountancy or economics due to lack of familiarity with the epistemological structure of commercial subjects, I got over it through active implementation of critical thinking techniques under able guidance of my instructors. Bibliography Beyer, B.K. Critical Thinking. Bloomington, Indiana: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995. Bloom, B. S. "Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of education goals." In Handbook 1. Cognitive Domain. New York: McKay, 1956. Cottrell, Stella. Critical Thinking Skills: Developing Effective Analysis and Argument (Palgrave Study Guides). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Ennis, R. H. "Rational thinking and educational practice." In Philosophy of Education (volume 1), by J. F. Soltis (Ed.). Chicago, Illinois: The National Society for the Study of Education, 1981. Guillemette, R. A. "Domains of educational objectives: An information systems perspective." Journal of Computer Information Systems 31(4), 1991: 18-25. Hitchock, D. Critical Thinking: A Guide to Evaluating Information . Toronto: Methuen, 1983. Lewicki, R. J., D. M. Saunders, B Barry, and J. W. Minton. Essentials of Negotiation. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2004. Lipman, M. "Critical Thinking - What Can It Be?" Educational Leadership, 46, 1, 1988: 38-43. Norris, S.P. "Synthesis of Research on Critical Thinking." Educational Leadership, 42, 8, 1985: 40-45. Page, Diana, and Arup Mukherjee. "Promoting critical-thinking skills by using negotiation exercises." Journal of Education for Buisness, 2007. Wallace, Mike, and Alison Wray. Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates. London: Sage Publications Limited, 2006. Read More