Importance in the Classroom
Critical thinking is defined as the focused and logical capacity to develop helpful ideas in life. In the classroom, critical thinking skills are important in achieving success.
One of the positive effects that result from critical thinking is the ability to develop excellent writing skills. The ability to approach problems from different angles is enhanced by appropriate application of critical thinking skills. Critical thinking also helps students to evaluate and organize arguments through logical and guided interpretation of various contexts.
There are different types of reasoning in critical thinking. There is deductive reasoning, which derives several concepts and uses them to make a conclusion. By use of type of critical thinking, the student has the ability to analyze and evaluate different concepts to come up with the best solution. Inductive reasoning is another category, which enables an individual to develop a convincing solution to a particular problem. These types of reasoning also enable students to make logical and informed decisions in class (Moore 66).
Critical thinking skills save a lot of time in class, as students find the shortest and most effective ways of dealing with the problems they encounter in class. Evaluation of alternatives is another benefit that students gain when they apply critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking skills also help in doing away with ambiguity and enhancing effectiveness (Ellis and Toft 279). Using comparison models in critical thinking, students use past events to project their expectations. Critical thinkers are able to differentiate between emotional and rational ideas. This attribute helps them to enhance the precision and accuracy of their arguments.
Rationality and logic help the students to improve their problem-solving skills and enhance the ability to solve classroom problems (Moore 61). Critical thinking skills enhance students’ communication skills, writing skills and learning skills, and as a result they become more confident and excellent in everything they do.
Importance in the Outside World
In the outside world, application of critical thinking skills is equally essential. At the workplace, critical thinking enhances the capacity and capability to make important decisions related to particular tasks. Taking my current work of a massage therapist as an example, critical thinking helps me appreciate the fact that every customer has his/her own preferences. Based on past activities, critical thinking skills help me to understand the needs of each client, without him telling me what to do.
These skills also help me in resolving and substantiating ambiguous issues that arise at the workplace. Rational thinking is another benefit of critical thinking skills that I use at the workplace. Critical thinking has enabled me to avoid being emotional and irrational, ensuring that a good relationship exists between the clients and the massage therapists has always remained my top priority.
Application of deductive and inductive reasoning skills in real life situations helps individuals to come up with informed decisions (Ellis and Toft 344). The ability to derive different ideas and weigh them to get the most credible enhances trust and loyalty among my clients. As a massage therapist, I apply efficient and cost-effective strategies to maintain good returns.
I am also able to narrow down to the best massage techniques that are not only time saving, but also satisfying to my clients. Critical thinking skills help me in saving time and creating more opportunities to earn money. Communication skills and job ethics are also enhanced through the application of critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking skills help an individual to derive new and surprising techniques that make the clients satisfied and loyal to the business. The skills are therefore very important in establishing a business culture that is both accommodative and sensitive to all the customers’ needs.
Realizing customers’ expectations and understanding the corporate world helps in developing the best strategy to deal with failure (Ellis 170). The skills are therefore very important in separating work and personal issues. Without critical thinking skills, one may apply personal feelings at the workplace and this has adverse effects on the business.
Works Cited
Ellis, Dave and Doug Toft. Becoming a Master Student. 13th ed. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin 2009. Print.
Ellis, Dave. Becoming a Master Student: Concise. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Moore, David T. Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2010. Print.