Colleen's Critical Thinking Part Two

I have found this critical thinking exercise beneficial on a variety of levels. First, in our initial blog posting which required us to reflect on three personal experiences where critical thinking enveloped the course of our learning. The activity required me to analyze my past experiences and by using the critical thinking competency I was able to choose experiences in which I felt my peers would establish their own connections. Second, after reading my fellow classmates' blogs I found myself critically thinking about their critical thinking (haha sounds like a mouthful.) Yet, reading other's experiences enabled me to connect to similar critical thinking experiences of my own. For instance, reading Jessica's response to her thinking about 9/11 and how the events drastically altered the way she valued life, placed me back to that day. I feel all of us can agree that day has shaped every day since. I too, witnessed friends frantically try to get ahold of parents working in the pentagon, and will never think of life the same way.

Another response which I was able to connect to was Raquel's connection to the text Nickel and Dimed. I read the book a couple years ago, and after reading Raquel's response remembered how enlightening it was to read about Barbara Ehrenreich’s experiences. I reflected on how Ehrenreich placed herself into the life of a "working class," individual and how truly challenging and basically impossible it is for a person to survive on minimum wage. I feel that there are so many societal issues that people do not give a second thought to unless it directly affects their personal lives. One important point this book stresses is the need for people to critically analyze the social issues of our country. If we, as a nation, were stronger in the critical thinking competency, I believe our society would tackle these problems in a more sufficient manner.

Overall, I noticed a strong connection between each person's non-written critical thinking experiences. I found these particular ones most interesting as I was able to connect and apply them to some of my own experiences. Although we generally believe critical thinking is best employed in academic environments, it is evident that some of the most beneficial critical thinking experiences have occured for us when we have been able to utilize those skills in events outside the classroom.