Critical thinking and reflection: why is it important?

Yesterday I went to a talk at U.Mass, Amherst, by an amazing South African psychologist, Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela. I have heard Pumla talk before (also in Boston...why is it that I connect with more South Africans when I'm in the US than at home?!!) and have read her book about her experience on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, A Human Being Died that Night. Her experience is definitely worth reading about, whether you're South African or not.

At the end of her talk last night she said something thought-provoking. In essence, she said that the most important thing we can put our efforts and resources into, in terms of helping societies move forward after trauma/upheaval, is to teach children to think critically. Really? Yup! You mean, not send in teams of psychologists, lawyers, find retribution or amnesty or whatever? It lies in education? The focus should be on the ones who were not even directly affected by it?

Interesting.

I have thought about this issue of critical thinking and reflection in the Zimbabwean context. After my several years there, I came to believe that many of the problems in that country were largely because of the schooling system and its teaching methodology, and that critical thinking is discouraged at a school and national level. But I've shied away from thinking critically about solutions to South Africa's problems. Frankly, to me, South Africa's problems seem too large, too intractable. And I have such mixed feelings, emotions, about what it means to be South African, that it's been more comfortable for me to leave South Africa's problems to....oh, those South Africans actually living in South Africa.

Last night felt like a personal challenge to me. Here I am, enjoying an incredible education at the University of Massachusetts. Why and how? Largely because I benefited from an excellent education in South Africa, and an undergraduate degree that cost me almost nothing due to South African state funding. I largely enjoyed those privileges for no reason of my own causation: because I happened to be born white, and, in then-apartheid South Africa, that meant privileged. Access to education, space, healthcare, everything really. So as a beneficiary of that privilege, does that leave me with some sort of responsibility to the country of my birth?

I have hedged that question for years, largely by going to Zimbabwe and spending time working there and allowing myself to feel like I was contributing to the region of my birth.

Taking this issue apart, breaking it into small pieces that I can look at, reflect on, then, hopefully, act on, is what I consider critical thinking: looking at an issue from multiple angles and reflecting on the consequences of multiple courses of action. So why is this important? And how should we teach it?

Why it is important is because for too long whole populations have followed orders, often without either the opportunity or the capacity to question it. And when they have questioned it has been in an instinctive manner rather than a calculated, reasoned one -- and often this has led to bloodshed and more. I strongly believe that for society to move forward in a progressive way, we need to learn how to not only trust our instincts, but also to trust our thought patterns. And we need to learn ways to train our thinking in ways that we can see or "mentalize" issues from different perspectives from our own. When we consider the effect of our action on other people and try to put ourselves in their shoes, that is when we will be making progress.

How do we teach it? Well, that's why I'm at school -- I'm trying to figure that one out!

A "new start" or a continuation?

Yesterday I started grad school. A Masters in International Education at the University of Amherst. It's been very intimidating making that shift from conducting a class to receiving instruction; switching from instructor to student. I haven't been on the receiving end for almost 10 years! (oof, I feel a little old when I write that!!!) But the past few days have really got me thinking about my next steps. And what it is that keeps us growing as human beings. We go through this life being givers and takers of information. Hopefully we strike a balance between the two. I've really experienced the feeling of living and growing during the past 48 hours, in a way that I haven't for a while. So I guess it's time to learn.

So the next question I've been asking myself is this: Is this a new beginning for me or is it a continuation? I've decided that perhaps it's a bit of both. I thought it was a new beginning. I have a new home, a new zipcode, a new car (well, used, but new for me!), am no longer working fulltime, am studying, new friends, new grocery shops, new everything. But is it? Since starting classes less than 48 hours ago, I've discovered that life is a funny thing: we're actually learning all the time. Today I went to an international education policy class, thinking I knew absolutely nothing about it. But throughout the class realized that I have been affected by education policy since I can remember -- and have a wealth of experience simply through living! So while I may be in a new place, yes, and I may be making new friends...this next chapter is simply that: a new chapter. Not necessarily a new beginning of the story. Just an opportunity to expand my borders.

Yippee for expansion!