Academic Success Skills for Non-Traditional Students: Critical Thinking

August 12, 2008 by Christine

Returning to college as an adult can certainly be overwhelming!

Being back in a classroom will force you to use some mental “muscles” that you might not have used in a long time. You’ll also need to develop some other skills that might not have even existed when you were in school!

Over the next several days, this will be a series of Top Success Skills for Non-Traditional students.

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CRITICAL THINKING

Recently, my local newspaper printed an article about the pollution dangers of burning wood pellets for heat. The first sentence of the article reads:

A study conducted for Maine’s oil dealers concludes air quality could worsen if thousands of homeowners switch from oil heat to wood pellet stoves.

Now before you make any rash decisions about how you’ll heat your home this coming winter, read the above sentence again.

Then ask yourself: Why would the Maine oil dealers commission a study on this topic? Well, the article goes on to say:

It takes aim at a draft recommendation of the Governor’s Wood-to-Energy Task Force, which has set a goal of having 10 percent of homes heat with pellets.

Well, if 10 percent of the homes in Maine switch to wood heat, the oil companies stand to lose over 50,000 customers! (In 2000, there were 518,200 households in Maine. Source: US Census Bureau) Could that loss of income be the underlying motivation? Do you think there’s even the slightest chance that the findings of the study might be biased in favor of oil heat?

Further on in the article, a gentleman accuses the oil dealers of “using selective information to mislead people”. That may very well be true, but…

“They’re trying to protect their turf, protect their pocketbook, so people will continue to burn oil,” said Otten, who has launched a business, Maine Energy Systems, that’s promoting and selling high-efficiency, European pellet boilers.

Wait a minute. He’s in the business of selling wood stoves. If ten percent of Mainers switch from oil to wood, he’ll have 50,000+ potential customers! When he stands to make a lot of money himself, isn’t it a little hypocritical for him to say the oil dealers are trying to “protect their pocketbook”?

It’s okay to sigh at this point. I don’t blame you one bit.

Modern life– and our media– can be confusing.

Every minute of every day, we are bombarded by sometimes baffling information.

Experts and pundits dispute each others’ claims.
Marketing and advertising demand our attention (and our wallets).
Statistics often make no sense.
The results of studies and surveys on the same subject contradict each other!

Seemingly at every turn, you encounter groups and individuals pushing their agendas, stirring up controversy, promoting their causes!

This is why critical thinking has never been more crucial than it is today.

Critical thinking is the ability to step back and analyze information, and then make a good judgment as to whether the information is reasonable and logical.

Sure, it’s much easier to just blindly accept what you hear and read. “A major study shows that 98% of all heart attack patients had brushed their teeth within the previous 48 hours. Therefore, this proves that toothpaste causes heart attacks.” I just made that up, but if that “fact” appeared on the evening news, a lot of people would panic! Think about it, though: most healthy people have also brushed their teeth in the past 48 hours! A lot of the information you come across won’t be as obviously ridiculous.

But how can you know for sure a “fact” or a “statistic” or a “truth” is correct or not?

Critical thinking requires you to have a healthy skepticism towards much of what you see and hear in the media. In college, you’ll be expected to do a lot of research. Your instructors will expect you to use credible sources (books, journals, websites and other resources that are known to be reliable), rather than questionable sources. When researching information for a term paper, you will need to be able to evaluate whether or not a website or article is a credible source: is this information a proven fact, based on solid evidence… or just someone’s personal opinion?

Opinions are fine; we all have them. It’s when personal opinions are presented as fact that there’s a problem.

Critical Thinking as an Academic Skill

Learning about critical thinking is an incredibly valuable part of your education. I know for sure these ideas were never taught in my education up through high school. My school’s beginning philosophy course, “PHI 101- Critical Thinking” was an absolute revelation to me when I took it last fall. Your college may offer such a course, most likely an offering of the Philosophy (or Humanities) Department. It might be called “Critical Thinking” or “Logic”. Check with your advisor, or your school’s Philosophy department.

College is no place for mental laziness.

In your college school work, you’ll be forced to really THINK about things. You could say that high school work gives an overview of a topic, focusing on details and facts and figures. College work takes those details, facts, and figures… and analyzes them, looking for connections and patterns. In college, you’ll be looking for deeper meaning, the big picture that connects the facts.

Learning about logic and the structure of arguments will help you immensely in your other classes, especially with essays and other papers. Being able to put together a solid argument (a statement supported by evidence) will help you organize your thoughts and create a well-written paper.

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks

It’s often said that adults of a certain age are “set in their ways”. This may or may not be true, but in college, you’ll come across many new ideas and perspectives. Many of those ideas will challenge your beliefs, and this could be very uncomfortable at times. But this is why you are in college- to learn, to broaden your understanding of the world.

I’m not saying you necessarily have to change your mind or abandon your values. Many of your beliefs and opinions are hard-won, the result of life experience. But how many of your most cherished beliefs were handed down to you from your family, or picked up somewhere along the way without really questioning them? Refusing to question your own beliefs can be scary, and some people see it as a sign of weakness or lack of faith. However, it can be very satisfying to investigate other points of view with an open mind… and eventually decide that your own ideas still stand up to close scrutiny.

Keep an open mind… but not so open that your brain falls out!

It seems like a total contradiction, but learning requires both an open mind… and skepticism.

The key is to neither blindly accept nor flatly dismiss new information. Check it out. Investigate it. Do some research. And THEN made a judgment.

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Helpful Critical Thinking Resources:

Critical Thinking Skills

Critical Thinking Articles for Students

Identifying the Argument of an Essay (great tutorial!)

Critical Thinking Basics

A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking

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ACADEMIC SUCCESS SKILLS FOR NONTRADITIONAL STUDENTS SERIES