Is Critical Thinking at Risk of Extinction?
Issue 191, December 19, 2024
We are tackling a topic that is a recurring theme in everything we write, including our book, The Truth About Transformation. Critical thinking is becoming an endangered skill along with practical know-how, common sense problem-solving and basic thinking skills. These tools are more important than ever for all of us caught in the crossfire of global geopolitical, geo-economic and cultural asynchronies.
We have largely defaulted to thinking on the surface distracted by social media noise, news clutter and barraged by information most of us have not been educated nor trained to understand. The disappearance of critical thinking is surely connected our surface immersion. Just review last week’s issue on Brain Rot for more confirmation. If our attention spans are now so very limited, how do we take the time we need to critically think and assess?
What Is Critical Thinking?
It’s important not to misunderstand critical thinking as being skeptical or negative. Critical thinking demonstrates that we are using our minds to recognize patterns, dependencies, inter-relationships, influential factors and variables. It also facilitates connecting data, information and events that on the surface may not seem important but could be links to fundamental shifts or changes in a society and a market.
Critical thinking may sound like criticism because it asks questions from an objective perspective. This viewpoint removes us from our day-to-day embedded biases and enables us to see, analyze and determine solutions (even innovations) to problems. Consider our piece on Courage (we even included it as a chapter in our book — sneak peek, it is the last chapter) as the ability to embrace and accept criticism and why it is so very important to change, transformation, quality leadership, management and moving an organization forward with a shared purpose. Need a primer? Take a dive into our issue that promotes tactics and approaches to practicing critical thinking.
Falling Behind
So, what happened?
In a disturbing report from the Wall Street Journal, “According to a global test of adult know-how, which measures job readiness and problem-solving among workers in industrialized countries. The results largely show that the least-educated American workers between the ages of 16 and 65 are less able to make inferences from a section of text, manipulate fractions or apply spatial reasoning—even as the most-educated are getting smarter.”
What is going on here?
Psychology Today amplifies the issue stating that thinking deeply is not easy and requires practice. It adds, “Young people find themselves stuck in practical or survival thinking as a result of the pandemic.” Coupled with higher levels of anxiety and mental health issues among younger workers, the luxury of higher-level thinking, being reflective and having a good grasp on analytical skills is just that, a luxury. Short-term survival skills win out over longer-term, high-level thinking about unintended consequences, collateral damage and problem-solving fault lines.
This validates even more fundamentally the need for active listening and lifelong learning, two strategies to strengthen critical thinking. Without the ability and enthusiasm to consider how macro trends and issues play into actionable planning, we are restrained by looking at work and problem-solving at face value.
The WSJ adds that American students have been trying to regain lost ground from the pandemic with “math scores taking a bigger hit from the pandemic than for their peers overseas.” It continues, “During the pandemic, the gap between the skills employers need and those that workers have, grew wider. Among the approximately 40,000 candidates taking the Fundamentals of Engineering exam for work as professional engineers, scores fell by about 10%. Test scores also fell in college entrance exams, military assessments and nursing exams, according to nonprofits and other organizations who administer the tests.” This has serious implications for the future of our workforce. Employers may have a hard time finding employees capable of basic critical thinking.
Is AI Our Salvation?
More and more schools are testing the use of AI as instructors. This sets up a basic conundrum. Is AI our salvation to automated logic and clear thinking or will it just bypass developing critical skills with speed and efficiency? As we know, AI can only churn back what it has been programmed to do. Innovation, creativity, imagination and critical thinking are outside its skill set … for the moment. That said, it is too tempting not to use LLM tools to write papers, articles, reports and business plans. The Achilles Heel is that it is unable to use imagination and deep thinking to solve problems. It is, for the moment, operable on the surface and based on memorization, not linking and connecting different information sets into a networked whole.
Endangered Skill
Let’s face it. “Critical thinking is often not practiced because it can be uncomfortable to challenge one’s own beliefs, requires effort to analyze information thoroughly, and is sometimes not explicitly taught in educational systems, leading to a lack of understanding about how to implement it effectively,” according to search sources. There are some basic reasons that prevent critical thinking.
Cognitive disharmony leads to discomfort when confronted with information that contradicts existing beliefs.
Lack of critical thinking training in educational systems that favor memorization over analysis and evaluation.
Information overload drowns the mind with rapid, incoming information resulting in a paradox of choice. Often, we revert to passive acceptance.
Confirmation bias is intoxicating, leading us to seek out information that confirms existing beliefs and disregards contradictory evidence.
Social pressure defeats critical thinking and questioning information critically.
Mental laziness is more common than not and by nature, we seek the easiest, least stressful solution to a problem.
Changing the Pattern
We are not suggesting that transforming two young generations into critical thinkers is going to be easy. It is in the best interests of organizations to step up and train workers to transcend living in the moment under a cloud of uncertainty and learn how to think critically. Our newsletter on reflective decision-making explored how to catalyze deep thinking using critical thinking. It takes exercise and commitment to filter the constant deluge of information to glean what is important (or inconsequential).
Psychology Today has a six-step playbook to strengthen analytical skills, which we have augmented. These critical thinking lessons can be taught with exercises, in workshops and role playing. And what is most important of all is role modeling among leadership. Whatever strategy you adopt, ensure that the training is free of judgment and conducted in a safe social and mental space.
Avoid the urgency trap. Making decisions under pressure defaults to short-term problem-solving that sits on the surface. Pause and take a moment to reflect, analyze and deliberate on the best path forward.
Engage in reflective thinking. If you take the time to reflect on your own thoughts, experiences, and biases, you may come out on the other side with a more honest, expansive and inclusive understanding of the problem and solution.
Practice active listening. As we have said, walk in someone else’s shoes to understand their viewpoints and perspectives. Don’t just perfect hearing but learn to listen actively to see a more balanced, empathetic perspective.
Solve problems systemically. We will always go to the mat advocating the power of systems thinking and seeing any situation holistically. How do all the interconnected and interdependent parts fit together? Break down the silos, even in your thinking, to embrace a multidimensional outlook.
Embrace curiosity and lifelong learning. You can get smarter and more capable over a lifetime enhanced by learning, being curious and practicing an authentic interest in people, places and problems.
Practice critical thinking. Keep your mind at high-performance levels by challenging your abilities. Use role-playing, case studies and workshops to bridge theory to practice. You can also sharpen your mental skills with any number of puzzles, games and brain teaser exercises.
The American Dream
America is built on the backbone of grit, determination and optimism. These characteristics have served us well until the era of AI. Understanding how to navigate a highly technological marketplace has become hierarchical and stratified. The elite, well-educated tech entrepreneurs live in a different universe from most of the working world. Lorraine Jobs (Steve Jobs’ widow, CEO of Emerson Collective, wrote in her year-end letter, “Creators and builders are the light-makers, and their illuminations never cease. They deserve our honor and support because they put the substance in our hope. They give us reason not to fear the future, but to create it. They are the custodians of humanity’s capabilities. And they are proof that good work is happening everywhere. At Emerson Collective, we are honored to invest in entrepreneurs and innovators who are working to create a world of abundance for future generations.”
Her optimistic message ends, “Let us remember that humans have never stopped proving, in good times and bad, that we possess the abilities and the skills to carry the world forward. What our imaginations can picture, our minds can create. What is innovation, after all, if not creativity? And what is creativity, if not the refusal to surrender to limits? It is a privilege to work in this community of scientists and engineers, educators and entrepreneurs, artists and creators, all, who push beyond their limits, on a mission to leave their mark. There is so much good, hard work to do. I am grateful that we get to do it together, guided by constellations of opportunity.”
Of course, we applaud Jobs and the fine work her organization spearheads. But critical thinking cracks open the Pandora’s Box of the haves and the have-nots. If, as the WSJ reports, “The number of U.S. test-takers whose mathematics skills didn’t surpass those expected of a primary-school student rose to 34% of the population from 29% in 2017, the last time the test was administered. Problem-solving scores were also weaker than in 2017, with the U.S. average score below the international average,” then we have a long way to go to mobilize a nation of problem solvers. “In the latest test, the U.S. ranked 14th in literacy, 15th in adaptive problem solving and 24th in numeracy. The same eight countries were tops in all three categories: Finland, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium and Denmark,” reports the WSJ.
Optimists by nature and problem solvers by instinct, we don’t want to end this on a down note. In keeping with the spirit of the season, the greatest gift organizations can give their employees is ongoing training to strengthen critical thinking, active listening and ongoing learning. It will power your shared purpose and build the trust, empathy and intelligence that makes an organization great.
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