I work in academic support during the school year and one of our emphases is helping students develop critical thinking skills. My interest in this life skill has grown tremendously since I have been in higher education - both as a professional and as a grad student. Two of my colleagues teach a critical thinking course each spring semester, so we often discuss current events that might be useful to address in their courses illustrating the need for critical thinking. We are frequently sent complimentary copies of critical thinking textbooks to review. My supervisor (and friend/mentor) gave me the most recent text so that I could review it and provide feedback. This was an eye-opening experience!!!
Textbooks, my friends, are not what they used to be.... This particular book is entitled THINK: Critical Thinking and Logic Skills for Everyday Life. It looks really cool - soft cover, full color pictures throughout, interactive, very aesthetically pleasing - I love books!
This is a university-level textbook focused on critical thinking. The author's definition of critical thinking is: "A collection of skills we use every day that are necessary for our full intellectual and personal development" (Boss, 2010). Are you kidding me??? On a scale of Kindergarten through graduate school, this definition is at about a 3rd grade level - maybe.... In a previous post, I defined critical thinking based on Paul and Elder's (2006) definition:
"Critical thinking is the process of analyzing and assessing thinking with a view to improving it. Critical thinking presupposes knowledge of the most basic structures in thinking (elements of thought) and the most basic intellectual standards for thinking (universal intellectual standards). The key to the creative side of critical thinking (the actual improving of thought) is in restructuring thinking as a result of analyzing and effectively assessing it" (Paul & Elder, 2006, p. 6).
Paul and Elder go on to write: "Fairminded critical thinkers are intellectually humble and intellectually empathic. They have confidence in reason and intellectual integrity. They display intellectual courage and intellectual autonomy" (p. 6).
Even beyond the superficial definition of the very subject it intends to instruct, the textbook is awful! By that, I mean it is incredibly politically driven and extremely biased - AND IT IS A CRITICAL THINKING TEXTBOOK! Can you tell I am a bit worked up about this??? I could give you numerous examples, but I will stick to the one that struck me as the most ludicrous.
In discussing obstacles to critical thinking, the author presents several points of narrow-mindedness. One type of narrow-mindedness is anthropocentrism. If you don't need a dictionary for that word, I applaud you and would hate to play against you in the game of Balderdash.
Our dear friend, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, provides this information:
- an·thro·po·cen·tric
- Pronunciation:
- \ˌan(t)-thrə-pə-ˈsen-trik\
- Function:
- adjective
- Date:
- 1863
1 : considering human beings as the most significant entity of the universe 2 : interpreting or regarding the world in terms of human values and experiences
— an·thro·po·cen·tri·cal·ly adverb
— an·thro·po·cen·trism noun
Boss (2010) postulates that view of humans as beings created in the image of God is a hindrance to critical thinking. Really? I wonder when the last time Boss had an intellectual discussion with her dog. Don't get me wrong - I have a dog, and I truly love her; but if given the choice to save my dog or my son, my son will win by a landslide EVERY time! Similarly, when given the opportunity to choose an issue to stake my life on, issues of human life will win by a landslide EVERY time (by the way, there is more than just one human life issue) . According to Boss (2010), this belief hinders my ability to critically think; it makes me narrow-minded. I respectfully disagree.To place human values over that of the environment is Biblical, for the Christian. But what about for the person who does not value the Bible? To this person, humans are equal to, or lesser than any other entity of the universe. What exactly does that look like? Even in the plant and animal world, there is a hierarchy. Shame on those plants and animals - it is just so... unequal. If I had a garden (which I don't), to model equality among my plants, I should not destroy the weeds. Yet, if I do not pluck the weeds by their very roots, then the weeds will destroy my vegetable plants (which, by the way, would be terribly anthropocentric of me to actually eat).
This illustration is not so different from the environmentalist agenda. I recently watched a news report where farms were sitting in a dead state because some environmentalists shut down the irrigation system in order to protect some kind of minnow. The outcomes are: no crops for the farmers, significant job loss for the farmers and the farm workers, higher prices for consumers (some with significantly less income due to job loss), and a need to import crops from other countries. Seems a bit illogical to me... just to save a minnow, but, oops! I am showing my anthropocentric tendencies. Sorry about that!
The other extreme is humans taking advantage of the environment to the point of devastating it - which is clearly the motivation of my many green friends. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to be green! I value the environment, and I live a fairly simple lifestyle. However, my motivation is less for green purposes, and more for the joy of simplicity; the joy of creation; and the joy of living life to the fullest - though I really value air-conditioning, washing machines, vehicles, and modern medicine, too.
At least one bottom line here is that all people have some sort of foundational system upon which we base life. To say one does not, or that it is all relative, is just not true - one can not live from day to day, and make any kind of decision without some belief system to base one's decisions on. Call me anthropocentric, but my belief system is staked on being created in the image of God. I am separate from nature (and even above it), yet I am responsible to respect nature as God would. However, human life will always be prioritized in my belief system - unless my critical thinking endeavors, under the teachings of the Holy Spirit, lead me otherwise.
Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
References
Boss, J.A. (2010). Think: Critical thinking and logic skills for everyday life. New York: McGraw Hill.
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). A guide for educators to critical thinking competency standards: Standards, principles, performance indicators, and outcomes with a critical thinking master rubric. Dillon Beach, CA: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.
