The American Blooms closing brings out two types of openness that each has several effects to the students. There is openness of indifference. In this Bloom argues that there should be humility in order to become what you want to be. Elimination of intellectual pride is being humble and this leads students to achieve their goals in life. We have seen that, from progressivism theory of education that education should be life itself and not a way of preparing to live. Therefore a lot of effort including eliminating intellectual pride should be put in order for the students to achieve their objectives.
The desire of students includes self-discovery. This is possible by making every endeavour to be of equal value. Openness of indifference also, as argued by Bloom, makes students to forsake their need to study languages and instead study philosophy of science. He also puts across that openness of indifference makes students to improve the love for them or in other words it is called self-esteem. This is based on the opinions of other people. It makes students to think critically on every subject of discussion. It teaches them to leave interpretation of documents based on all it depends. He argues that this form of openness makes students to doubt about almost everything they hear or come across with. These are the good qualities of a critical thinker. Everything should be doubted that the students should live in the world of uncertainties. Every matter should be put into enough reasoning. It should then be analysed and be evaluated with alternatives before arriving at a particular conclusion. This is how critical thinkers handle several issues.
Another form of openness as argued by Bloom is the openness to the quest for knowledge and certitude. It focuses mostly on history and qualitative examples. It gives the students the desire to know about history. They are interested in knowing what history holds that is good for their lives and education. They also try to find out several issues about culture and then identify what is best for them. In this they are trying to find out what will make them happy from historical and cultural values. This form of openness also boosts their amour-soi. That is it improves their self-esteem. It makes the love for them healthy and natural. It also gives them a sense of independence in their thinking and evaluating the views of other students or other people in general.
This openness helps students to have a closer understanding of the laws of the government. This is possible since they are able to closely interpret arguments and several ideas. It teaches the students the importance of the closeness of mind to everything that make them be okay with their present lives. This makes people believe that it is not actually necessary for one to attend class in order to become a critical thinker. Bloom gives a reader one warning. That is the students should refrain from treating text books like bank dollars i.e. acquiring as many books as possible should not be their aim.
The main objective is to put emphasis on the reading and asking questions that the students come across during their intensive reading. He argues that the most important thing is the process of reading and not the amount of books one reads. The professors in class tell the students that the historical reading was a waste time and mere historical interests. They suggested that it suited humanities courses and not the sciences. Bloom argues that teachers should have two perspectives while in class. They should assess the natures of their students and also look into the future targets of the human completeness. In page 20 he argues that the teacher is not to make the life of a student but rather to assist them in discovering themselves and the goals in life. This can be achieved by teachers posing important question to students.
Bloom sees that one form of openness contributes to the American closeness of mind. He puts across that in order to re-invigorate the college curriculum the study of great books and classical authors should be considered. This really makes students believe in something. This makes students to study fully the authors and their original works. Therefore after believing in what they have read in the books, they will learn to question and evaluate the beliefs of these original authors. This is a form of self evidence to them. He argues that one first has to have that experience of believing. Then later they can have a sense of liberation. This collectively leads to what is called liberal education. Bloom says that instead of revolution in the lives of student we need evolution. This means that students must study wholes of classical works and not just bits and parts of it. They should read original works in order to acquire a vital and living comprehension of the matters that makes the background of the world we live in. Understanding of the issues contributes to the students’ future success. It also makes them the critical thinkers we need today.
According to Elder and Paul, critical thinking is the art of asking essential questions. The learner should be able to figure out the type of questions they are supposed to ask. Students should also know whether to question the answers to the questions they ask. Students should also be able to know whether some questions are better asked than others among the possible question. This involves looking at various alternatives and evaluating them to find out the best question to ask. They should be able to differentiate useful questions from helpful ones. Students should consider whether they can be able to come out with the answers to the several questions they need to ask. Thinking normally takes place in one mind and then a question is formulated after the thinking process.
There are certain tips which enable one to think critically. The first issue is to have a description of the subject matter. That is to state what it is in question. Then analysing the subject by breaking it down into understandable parts should also be performed. The different parts should be identified by naming them. Relationship between the name parts should then be identified. Then what possible problems are there in these relationships. Alternatives should also be identified and evaluate the same way. In order to ask good searching questions several issues should be considered. Assumptions should be checked. Another issue is that one should not ask two questions at a time. Questions should be asked one by one in order to get a clear understanding of the subject matter. In some cases one question can answer other questions.
Questions help to discover the roots of a certain problem. They give a clear comprehension of a certain topic. This is possible since every bit of detail is explored by answering the different question arising. The questions asked should always be front ended. In order to be good critical thinkers students should always ensure they ask relevant questions. This helps them to have a deep understanding and clear perspective of the subject in discussion. Elder and Paul argues that t5he learning method for students in college is to use questions. The students should ask essential questions that are relevant to the topic of discussion in class. An interactive class is a class that has a question asking time whereby the students raises questions to be answered by the tutor or their fellow students.
The tutors should first give a chance the students to answer a question before they give their final answer. Students will therefore become more aware of what is happening and they have a chance to evaluate several ideas before they come up with some conclusions. The most desired virtue of a critical thinker is the ability to identify and ask essential questions. There are five types of questions. There are open questions which do not necessarily ask for an answer. The instead open up a discussion and it gives a wide range of alternative answers. Another type of questions is closed questions. These are specific questions which need either a yes or no answer. Fact finding questions is also another type. These are questions with the aim of getting information on a certain topic. The fourth type is follow-up questions which are aimed at getting more information on a certain subject as the name suggests. The last type is feedback questions. These questions are intended to find out the difference that makes the difference.
According to Lozo we treat people differently. We always try to solve problems by analyzing the state of affairs and diligent planning actions to be taken. When solving problems we should always think rationally and not think with emotions. We should always be logical when construction of decisions. Problem resolution comprises substantial and interpersonal world. For example when solving problems that involve physical world, the school head must come to a decision of various managerial skills is suitable. The teachers would work together with minimal supervision and makes sure work is accomplished appropriately and students taught well.
We should be able to understand ourselves better because we are enemies’ number one to ourselves. People need to learn from each other in order to know what we are going through as human beings. We should be good friends with another in order to help others in solving problems. Everybody in the community is bound to have problems in one way or the other. Those people whom we feel they are our enemies should never be neglected because they are our enemies at the present but come the next day they are our best friends. Some neighbours in the community are people who cannot be trusted hence there are no opportunities in an environment that is full of mistrust. People should to trust one another and develop trust-worth virtue in order to cop well with others in the society. A good leadership style should be applied appropriately in order to march it with the environment full of mistrust. People should always embrace the virtue of learning and able to memorize well in the process of learning.
Lozo however came up with checklists used for evaluating their thinking during moments of tension and a means for students to be fancy utilizes of effective reasoning practices. Teachers may find that students straight away start to act more mature for the reason that of the apprehension that their peers have a regular body of understanding about ethics and personality qualities and checklist to determine the behaviours of others. These behaviours at the moment can be suited to a teachable manner. The students already develop interest in discussion of various topics which help them learn better.
This presentation unlocks the way logical thinking is taken into account. Some of the fallacies evident include the Argument to the man fallacy. This means attacking the person rather than the argument given by the person. This is based on the appearance of the person e.g. the type of clothing. Another one is needling which made an effort of creating the other person angry without concentrating on the argument in question. This is also a delaying tactic. This explains that if you insult a certain person then you also insult his argument. There is also the fallacy of special pleading that shows that the argument that supports ones opinion. Burden of proof is yet another fallacy. It claims that whatever has been proved false is taken to be true. This discussion explores the different views of critical thinking.