Critical thinking is somewhat new to me. I have heard of it for a while now, but I had never really gotten into it until last semester. I have always been the type of person who never really looks at what is behind the scenes. I decided to take the easy way in life, and never thought twice of what I was being told. I would swallow everything up, almost like a fish. A fish does not see the hook behind the worm, and ultimately proceeds to his death. This is how I used to think, just like the fish. I would be easily tricked by any fancy sounding news anchor, or car salesman. But then I took a class, an English 101 class. Okay you might think, “What’s the big deal? You just learn to write in an English class.” Well now you’re wrong, because that’s not all you learn. At least in my class, not sure about the rest. My teacher wanted us to specialize in critical thinking, so that we would not be fooled by so many false advertisements, claims, and things like Bigfoot or Jesus appearing on people’s tortillas. Which, in all honesty, is just ridiculous.
I order to think critically, my professor taught me that I must break what is being sold to me or said, into pieces. I must verify each part of the statement in order to check for validity, before I make my decision, but I must admit I do not do this all the time. I try my hardest to analyze things, but I usually forget and just go with whatever sounds good to me at the moment. I really need to work on that, because when I have used my critical thinking skills, every has turned out much better than when I don’t. What I do tend to think critically about is books, movies, and on occasion, late night infomercials. I usually like to keep my distance from politics, because I feel it can cause a lot of strife if I get too involved. I have very liberal friends and very conservative friends, so if I were to think critically about their favorite politicians I’m more than certain I could find some fault in their policy, but at what cost? I wouldn’t like to lose the friends I’ve made over some policy that could or could not help the country. I value my friendships way too much to ever let a thing like that tear us apart. Now when it comes to books, movies, and art I love to analyze. When I see a painting, I try my best to think about that work of art. I take into consideration the time period, the medium that the artist used, if possible where the painter was, and try to make sense of what is in front of me. I try to know what this person is telling me with this work of art through the use of my critical thinking skills.
Now this semester I am taking a English 103 class, which will further hone my critical thinking skills. I really hope that I will learn new techniques and tricks when it comes to thinking. I only know a few, so if I were to learn some new techniques that would be amazing. Plus if I am constantly being asked to think critically about things it might become habitual. I tend to forget to think critically, so if I were to practice it I think I might remember to apply it to everything. As the saying goes “practice makes perfect”. These are my goals in taking this class, oh and getting 3 units towards getting my AA and being able transfer, but that’s besides the point.
-Absalom "Der Schriftsteller" Ayala
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