Critical thinking 101

[BradStevens]

So basically I was one of those kids who was bored in kindergarten because I already knew how to read and write when I started. It helped that I was born in October so I was older than everyone else, but a big part of it was my dad thought literacy was by far the most important part of any education, so he put in the work to get me there.

Anyway, I was reading children's lit on my own in first grade, and Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in second. The summer before third grade, he gave me The Hobbit. The next summer, LOTR. I read my first Michener novel the summer before fifth.

Dad was a huge fiction buff. I inherited his collection of novels, and I haven't bothered to count them, but they number in the multiples of thousands. I have no idea if he read them all, but he was a truck driver who taught himself how to speed read, so he'd finish several novels every week he was on the road.

Anyway, as I was finishing elementary school, he implemented the next phase of his plan. Since I had learned how to read admirably, he started giving me the more difficult nonfiction he thought was important. I actually remember the first nonfiction essay I ever read, because it was so important to him: Thoreau's essay on civil disobedience. After that, Walden (this one's actually kind of boring, he warned me, but finish it, anyway). He started sprinkling in classic American poetry, especially Frost. This man's entire higher education was a GED and a two-year business management program that HoJo's paid for, but somehow he had made himself a man of letters by sheer force, and I think he would have considered it a failure as a parent not to pass all that on.

For the record, those times where my writing seems obtuse and high-minded, even snobbish, that's not because of him. His lack of formal training allowed him to give me the experience without the academic airs. When I slip into that kind of asshole, that's all grad school talking. I've been trying hard for years to unlearn those bad habits.

Long story short: my dad loved language the way he loved music - it touched him in his soul. And he put all the effort he could muster into passing that love down to me.

Did you talk about them afterwards? Did he make you write up your thoughts on the piece?

 

[TheOriginalHappyGoat]

Did you talk about them afterwards? Did he make you write up your thoughts on the piece?

We discussed them, but no essays were required.

 

[zeke4ahs]

So basically I was one of those kids who was bored in kindergarten because I already knew how to read and write when I started. It helped that I was born in October so I was older than everyone else, but a big part of it was my dad thought literacy was by far the most important part of any education, so he put in the work to get me there.

Anyway, I was reading children's lit on my own in first grade, and Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew in second. The summer before third grade, he gave me The Hobbit. The next summer, LOTR. I read my first Michener novel the summer before fifth.

Dad was a huge fiction buff. I inherited his collection of novels, and I haven't bothered to count them, but they number in the multiples of thousands. I have no idea if he read them all, but he was a truck driver who taught himself how to speed read, so he'd finish several novels every week he was on the road.

Anyway, as I was finishing elementary school, he implemented the next phase of his plan. Since I had learned how to read admirably, he started giving me the more difficult nonfiction he thought was important. I actually remember the first nonfiction essay I ever read, because it was so important to him: Thoreau's essay on civil disobedience. After that, Walden (this one's actually kind of boring, he warned me, but finish it, anyway). He started sprinkling in classic American poetry, especially Frost. This man's entire higher education was a GED and a two-year business management program that HoJo's paid for, but somehow he had made himself a man of letters by sheer force, and I think he would have considered it a failure as a parent not to pass all that on.

For the record, those times where my writing seems obtuse and high-minded, even snobbish, that's not because of him. His lack of formal training allowed him to give me the experience without the academic airs. When I slip into that kind of asshole, that's all grad school talking. I've been trying hard for years to unlearn those bad habits.

Long story short: my dad loved language the way he loved music - it touched him in his soul. And he put all the effort he could muster into passing that love down to me.

That’s a great story. I got my love of reading from my mom and was reading Nancy Drew in second grade. I can only remember two times my mom intervened witha teacher for me. Once was in second when the librarian told me I couldn’t have a Nancy Drew book because it was too hard for me. I should have told the teacher, as she would have intervened I’m sure, but I was scared. The other was when I was in fifth grade I think and I was reading a nonfiction about the Sylvia Likens torture and murder. ( I’ve always liked gory books) My teacher asked me if my mom knew I was reading it and when I said yes ( she had read it first) he took it from me and said she had to come pick it up. She did. I was reading Harold Robbins in sixth grade ( sex! ). We didn’t read many classics until I got older and was assigned them. I didn’t start Michener until probably 8th grade. When I got older we’d spend summers at our lake place in MIchigan and the very first day I’d go to the library and put a couple dozen books on reserve for us for the summer. Librarians there and at home knew our names. We didn’t read nearly the educational and wide variety of books that you and your dad did, but it did create a very special bond. I still miss my mom when I’m reading a good book and wish I could share with her.

 

[JamieDimonsBalls]

When I slip into that kind of asshole, that's all grad school talking.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

Sounds plausible, but I'd need data.

Trial advocacy books and the chapter on opening statements.

 

[hoot1]

A brilliant example of Socratic teaching. Note how the teacher disposes of group think out of the box.

Why cant all liberal arts education be like this?

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Agree, but why limit the critical thinking exercises to Liberal Arts students ?

Those STEM graduates could benefit as well by learning the art of critical thinking, or we Liberal Arts folks will eventually climb higher on the ladder of success thanks to critical thinking .