Employers Worried About Critical Thinking Skills

Nerval's Lobster writes: Every company needs employees who can analyze information effectively, discarding what's unnecessary and digging down into what's actually useful. But employers are getting a little bit worried that U.S. schools aren't teaching students the necessary critical-thinking skills to actually succeed once they hit the open marketplace. The Wall Street Journal talked with several companies about how they judge critical-thinking skills, a few of which ask candidates to submit to written tests to judge their problem-solving abilities. But that sidesteps the larger question: do schools need to shift their focus onto different teaching methods (i.e., downplaying the need for students to memorize lots of information), or is our educational pipeline just fine, thank you very much?

Comments

Here's one reason

[Anonymous Coward]

Republicans reject teaching critical thinking skills...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html

Different issue

[Anonymous Coward]

What liberals call critical thinking isn't critical thinking.

Irony: I'm asked "not to" when I use such skills

[Bomarc]

As a Software Test professional -- I continually ask questions that that others find embarrassing (and shouldn't). In my present job -- I am currently run two test systems. The company recently let about 10% of its staff go and extra hardware is not an issue (as confirmed by the help desk). My manager wants me to get rid of one system. Here at work, we need to keep on inventory many different configurations and many different languages. A friend GAVE me a 1TB drive to bring to work. I was going to bring it in to help with my VM (Virtual Machine) library. I went to my manager to let ‘em know - I couldn't even finish the question – and the response was “if you are running out of disc space, split the VM’s with the other testers” Here – thinking is not rewarded.

Re:What is critical thinking?

[ShanghaiBill]

Actual critical thinking is trickier to define.

One nice thing about "critical thinking" is that there are SO MANY definitions to choose from. The Wikipedia Page contains nine different definitions, many of them mutually incompatible. My favorite is that critical thinking is "the commitment to the social and political practice of participatory democracy". What does that even mean? Is it really something that our schools should be teaching?

Whatever "critical thinking" is, it is clear that the people calling for more of it, without first figuring out what it is, probably aren't using it.

Re:What is critical thinking?

[Oligonicella]

Critical thinking would preclude using quotes on a highly doctored phrase. The actual follows:

"We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the studentâ(TM)s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

In other words, they don't mean what you attempted to portray them to mean.

Re:What is critical thinking?

[meta-monkey]

If you read the actual document from the Texas Repubs, they were against a specific program called "Higher-Order Thinking Skills" which teaches "critical thinking skills" for some value of "critical thinking skills."

I don't know anything about the program itself, but one could just as easily name an initiative to dump raw sewage into the reservoir the "Protecting Kittens, Puppies and Small Children Act" and when someone opposes it call them a monster for being against kittens, puppies and small children.

I have no love of the Texas Republican party, but this is a straw man.

Re:What is critical thinking?

[Carewolf]

IMO, the fact that the establishment is the establishment should be reason enough to subject them to constant questioning and criticism. Nobody in authority should be able to do so much as fart on the job being expected to justify their actions -- in front of a jury if necessary.

Yeah, that kind of logic is what anti-science thrives on.

Comprehension fail

[TapeCutter]

Critical thinking would preclude using quotes on a highly doctored phrase.

Nope, good grammar does that, he just failed to state he was paraphrasing.

In other words, they don't mean what you attempted to portray them to mean.

The actual meaning of the quote was NOT lost. ie: it explicitly states they oppose CT because they believe it will lead children to doubt their parents or as they put it "undermining parental authority", the wording also strongly implies they don't want the "authority" of fixed beliefs "undermined". The subtext of the quote is that parents and fixed beliefs are infallible and should not be questioned.

In simpler words the policy as you have quoted it says - We don't want educated children, we want obedient children.