What is a Critical Thinker?

All throughout school we have been asked to use our critical thinking skills for various
assignments. We have been tested on our critical thinking skills on our SATs and state tests as
well, but did we ever really know what we were being tested for? The answer to that question is
probably no. Most of us have never given a second thought to the term or what it actually means.
Critical thinking is a term that we have all taken for granted. Now it is time to ask; What exactly
is a critical thinker?
Many believe that a good critical thinker is one who is able to respond to a question or
situation with an abundance of facts. However, this is not true. A critical thinker is not one who
simply has the ability to memorize information, they are much more than that. In order to think
critically, one must be able to separate reason from emotion and formulate a clear response that
is based on a mixture of logic and reasoning techniques. That means that they will discover the
relativity and importance of ideas and base their responses off of reason and evidence rather than
off of a bias personal opinion. A critical thinker is also always open to hearing the opposing side
and willing to take it into consideration. Participant #3 demonstrated many of these characteris-
tics. When she was provided with views against having a pit bull as a family pet she was willing
to listen to the reasons why this would not be a good idea, analyze the information, and give a
clear and reasonable response without interrupting the debater.
This is very different from Participant #4 who provided examples of what a critical think-
er would not do. She was not very engaged in the debate and seemed be preoccupied with her-
self. She was hesitant when considering the opposing side and her reasons were bias based off
media exploitations yet she claimed she had never met a vicious pitbull. Overall, she had no solid
reasoning behind her responses. An individual who is not a critical thinker will not be concerned
with where their evidence is coming from and will not consider whether it is correct or not. The
participant could only refer to a story she had seen in the news to support her opinion against
owning a pitbull, and then contradicted herself by saying she had a friend who owned a pit bull
and it was a nice dog. A critical thinker would be able to weigh out these differences and provide
a clear response that incorporated both pieces of evidence instead of contradicting themselves.
Not everyone is a critical thinker, however every individual has the ability to adopt criti-
cal thinking skills simply by learning to control their mind and thought processes. Patience, the
will to learn, logic, and reason will guide anyone to the beginning of a healthier way to think.

~ Ashley Stanfield