ASU defines "critical thinking"

it isn't what you think it is

Are you a critical thinker? Teaching “critical thinking” is a buzzword/phrase in education. Everyone says they do it. But what does it mean? A new article at ASU News tells us how ASU defines it.

In the article, we are told critical thinking is the number 1 skill (in a set of three) for career success. And that skill is . . .

Looking for bias when analyzing data. Critical thinking means looking for bias. And what do you do when you’ve found it? You apply diversity, equity, and inclusion (plus belonging).

This is what students at ASU are taught will be their number 1 skill in the workplace and for their career. Imagine the next generation of ASU graduates entering the workplace, all equipped to find bias everywhere they look.

As a logic professor, I teach actual critical thinking. To think critically means to identify our assumptions and analyze them for meaning. Analyze assumptions or find bias. Vastly different.

What we need to do is teach students to think critically about the political messages they are getting in ASU News and in ASU classrooms. They need to know how to critically examine the assumptions about “bias” that are a regular part of ASU’s message.