Without Critical Thinking Skills, We Can Easily Be Misled

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I have frequently taught Research Methods and Design to college students at several institutions where I have worked. I love teaching this course. One reason, of course, is that I spent several decades of my life in full-time research, and I enjoy thinking about research methodology and sharing it with others. The other reason I love teaching this course, however, is the obvious impact that it has on students. Every semester, one (if not more) student tells me how taking this course has affected them: “I used to just read articles and believe what they said, but now I find myself asking ‘Is this true? How do they know? Was this a well-designed study?’” That encompasses my goals for the students in this course: to learn to think critically and read analytically.

Dorothy Sayers on the nature of propaganda

This brings to mind something written by Dorothy L Sayers. Dorothy Sayers is one of my favorite authors. One of her books, The Lost Tools of Learning, speaks to Sayers’ thoughts on education and propaganda. This book was written in 1948, and Sayers was very mindful of propaganda and its effects during World War II and was concerned about the implications for the future of society. She wrote:

"For we let our young men and women go out unarmed, in a day when armour was never so necessary. By teaching them all to read, we have left them at the mercy of the printed word. By the invention of the film and the radio, we have made certain that no aversion to reading shall secure them from the incessant battery of words, words, words. They do not know what the words mean; they do not know how to ward them off or blunt their edge or fling them back; they are prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects. We who were scandalized in 1940 when men were sent to fight armoured tanks with rifles, are not scandalized when young men and women are sent into the world to fight massed propaganda with a smattering of “subjects”; and when whole classes and whole nations become hypnotized by the arts of the spellbinder, we have the impudence to be astonished."

We are well past the 1940s, but her observation is still relevant. Dorothy Sayers' point is well taken. In the world of 24-hour news and social media that often resembles the Wild West, the ability to evaluate has never been more critical.

The gift of critical thinking

It is a given that we all filter facts through the lens of our understanding. However, these filters can distort or obscure the truth. In order to resist the distortions with which we are constantly bombarded in the media, as well as to be able to present a persuasive argument, we must be able to reason well, think critically, and craft our words effectively.

This is not something with which we are born or develop merely because we acquire language. This takes effort, study, and sometimes a struggle to understand and analyze an argument.

When my students begin the Research Methods and Design course, they are generally not happy with the prospect of reading all those research articles I assign and trying to critique them to my satisfaction. Inevitably, however, by the end of the course, they are excited about their new capacities to think critically and analyze what they read.

This is my gift to them: They are not facing armored tanks with rifles anymore. They have armored tanks of their own. My hope is that we all are concerned with developing the critical thinking skills we need to not only resist the bombardment but also mount a positive argument for the truth.