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Shulammite Lin
Professor M. Ogbara
English 1A
21 September 2015
Response to Prompt One The Erosion of Critical Thinking in Schools
To the public eye, the education system promoted today has been perfected over
centuries. With an increase in resources, studies, and teaching instruments, the world of learning
has never been so approachable. There has been, however, an unforeseen complication in the
practice of education. Due to the structure and standards of learning progressively, students have
forgotten the need for thinking critically. Critical thinking is defined as the process of using
reason, evidence, and experience to produce more than what is initially observed; however, due
to the the imbalanced nature of present-day instruction, and the contributions scholarly teachings
have made towards the opposition of critical thinking skills, students are unknowingly being
discouraged from exercising their reasoning skills to make decisions. Rather, the education
standards today seem to only call for their capabilities in temporarily memorizing information.
Referencing Critical Thinking by activist and author bell hooks and Thinking in Education
by philosopher John Dewey, this paper will examine the faults of the current schooling system.
To children, the world is full of possibilities new words, new colors, and new
adventures. Under the eyes of any matured adult, children should be motivated to exercise their
thinking caps, to explore the world with the feeling of being new Einsteins and Columbuses.
However, it is a shame that these very same encouraging adults have already forgotten the joy of
being discoverers; rather, they have decided to let go of their potential and to settle in for
mediocre, but expected positions. Hooks states that children are naturally predisposed critical

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thinkers; however, due to the world's education system which aims for conformity, this desire for
knowledge regrettably ends. In Critical Thinking hooks writes, ...most children in our nation
learn to suppress the memory of thinking as a passionate, pleasurable activity. (Hooks 1)
Though learning is unceasing in school atmospheres, the thinking character in each human being
is often sacrificed for the sake of surviving in this so-called educational environment. The format
of instruction seldom encourages growth, as opposed to imitation, and students are pushed to
reference all resources but themselves, causing degradation of their capabilities to being anything
more than researchers and memorizers. From the educators' standpoints, there may be reasons
behind these methods, whether they be easier grading or more time for content overview,
however, students are rarely moved by these efforts, as they are not learning with the intention of
processing the subject matter, but rather with the aim to temporarily hold information prior to
regurgitating knowledge back to their instructors. It is all about the promotion, the diploma, and
the better GPA - nothing is digested, and nothing is absorbed. Each student is passively observing
all forms of sensory stimuli with no appetite for fertilization. It is a shame that education, which
is the base of all growth and improvement, has become such a cause to discourage the hopes of
all growth and improvement.
This problem simply lies in the common agenda that undependable thoughts are
unprofitable thoughts. The world has certainly not become too small for questions, but students
have just become discouraged from questioning. Dewey writes that a routine of habits has been
established in the education system, and whether intentional or unintentional, the educational
hierarchy, the expectations put upon students, and the question of where the flaws lie in the
process have been swept under the rug for extensive periods of time. In Thinking in Education
Dewey writes, Thinking is the method of intelligent learning, of learning that employs and

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rewards mind. (Dewey 1) However, students no longer desire to think. Thinking, in the short
run, is simply not rewarded. And while they reasonably aim to grow in respectable status, their
inward growth is thus minimal. Up close, it seems that these students who do not care to
mobilize their minds are harmless. However, due to the great trend that has been established for
so many years, this tendency for passive learning has reduced the potential of society's growth
exponentially. Imagine the worldly opportunities that have been passed due to society's fear of
itself. Students are taught to fit into this world, not to build upon it; this is dangerous and harmful
to their sense of purpose and self-expression. It is upsetting to know that creating and composing
are no longer considered worthy unless audiences evaluate them as being so. Due to this, great
minds such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Vincent van Gogh whose works were constantly
suppressed by narrow-minded viewers, were unable to ever reap the full greatness of their
creations, since recognition came only when their lives had long gone. Works which were
considered definite failures were eventually praised as being masterpieces, not because they were
modified in between, but because critiquing audiences were no longer blinded by their love for
suppressing the artist, rather than the work. It seems that this enjoyment of close-mindedness has
only grown significantly, thus originality is so difficult to find today.
Educators who fail to motivate their students are also contributing to the decrease of selfexpression. Students are taught to rely only on authoritative and dependable sources of
information while this idea that there is an hierarchy to the minds of the world is completely
flawed. Neither one's grasp on content nor one's mental capabilities can be measured by any test
or degree, and depriving the expression of anyone's timely thoughts due to their lack of worldly
qualifications is absurd. There are no awards given for inward turmoils or the battling of disease,
and yet individuals who go through such things are more than qualified to create real and crucial

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stories. How unfortunate is it that we live in a free-sharing world, yet school environments refuse
to promote free thought? Thinking students often stay silent not because they cannot speak, but
because they are not given opportunities to share their ideas on a friendly scale. To avoid this
suppression of expression, it seems that there should be a push for a grand opening of minds in
schools, encouraging all with creative capabilities to create, and all with ideas to build upon the
world to share. The world is constantly searching for new answers to new questions, and more
perspectives could only push society forward. Though it is true that one must be skeptical
towards all information in order to find a definition in their own stance, it is important that all
reasoning be void of any person-based assumptions, and only focused on the topic at hand. This
reasoning should be based off of evidence from research and self-findings. When anything
unrelated to the subject matter becomes a factor in ones reasoning, it may cloud the thinkers
judgment and become a veil in his or her pursuit for progressive thought. Ideas are not
dangerous, however, the limitation of ideas definitely is. Societies all throughout history have
consistently, yet mistakenly thought the same thing: that the world they knew was the world that
existed. However, with a handful of critical thinkers, ages were soon turned and new worlds of
potential soon came to be. There are no shortages of worlds to be explored, however, the
educating forces today must strongly encourage young thinkers to discover them. Students must
understand that the world is not a place to only understand known information, but it is also a
place to create new ideas.
In conclusion, the education system must take responsibility for the lack of critical
thinking being exercised today. It is evident in the adult world that there is an unfortunate
limitation over the growth of societies made by societies themselves. To outrun this, schooling
systems should reinforce the practice of critical thinking, rather than the practice of passive

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memorization. Educators should not objectify a students potential, let alone undermine their
abilities in any way, and questions should not be treated with close-ended answers, regardless of
the ease educators might find in the grading process. Critical thinking should be encouraged and
exercised in all classrooms - whether they be concerning the sciences, the histories, or the
language arts, and there should be no shortage of participation. Standards and tests cannot
measure a students capabilities to reason and create new material with their minds, thus
educators should focus less on test-taking skills, and focus more on encouraging the exchange of
ideas in learning atmospheres. There should be a push for Socratic discussions and free
expression in order to create more independent thinkers for the future of societies. Instead of
reducing the creativity in the minds of children, schools should detach students from the
traditional views of conformity in order that they would be able to pursue more innovative
material without the fear of being reprimanded for imperfection, which is natural. It is important
that the love for learning never dies and the encouragement of questions never ends. Voices must
not be silenced and all opposition must be reasonable - aimed to reveal issues and to perfect new
ideas. It would be a wonder to see children never lose their natural excitement and motivation to
explore new ideas, to connect the world around them, and to create something previously
unobserved - something original and amazing.