A500.2.3.RB - Tell Your Story

“[C]ritical thinking is thinking that is done well. It is thinking that meets high standards of thinking” (Nosich, 2012, pp. 133). These intellectual standards include clearness, accuracy, importance/relevance, sufficiency, depth, breadth, and precision (Nosich, 2012, p. 133). While all of these standards are important in my life, I will focus on just a few that I find myself using many times each day.

Accuracy is an important standard (Nosich, 2012, pp. 138-141) in my life. I hate being wrong or made to look a fool. In this same vein, I don’t want to make others look a fool and would hope that they don’t like being wrong either. For example, if I tell my coworker that all tasks for the day have been completed when they actually haven’t been fully completed, the trust he or she has in me can be damaged. This bond of trust works the other way as well. Say, for example, a friend points me to a website with claims of questionable validity. If I spend time looking through a news report that has no merit or is flat out wrong, I feel like my time has been wasted. Nowadays, with the prevalence of smart devices and social media as a means of communicating or getting news, it’s easy to fall victim to stories of intrigue where something sounds true or plausible but may turn out to be highly inaccurate.

Other standards important to me include depth and breadth (Nosich, 2012, pp. 147-151). If I need to settle an issue, I consider what options are available, then inquire further into several of them to decide which one is the best solution. If I want to move to some other city, I might look at a map to see what places might pique my interest. I then start digging deeper to see what these communities may offer in the way of wages to support my needs and activities that suit my interests to help narrow my choices.

It isn’t entirely clear to me when I became aware of the concepts of accuracy, breadth, and depth. But, they became more important when I joined the military where it was essential to think about whether or not orders were properly followed. As I gained more responsibilities, I then had to be certain that I was giving reasonable consideration to alternative solutions and passing along accurate information for those troops under my leadership as well as to the leadership above me. Applying intellectual standards to elements of reasoning apply not only to my professional life but also my personal life.

References

Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the curriculum (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.