June 14, 2024

In Praise of Critical Thinking

Developing the faculty of Critical Thinking among students is at the heart of the Liberal Arts tradition. That tradition is the jewel in the crown of the American Higher Education model and the one factor widely credited with its success all over the world. It is thus no wonder that it continues to receive wide attention in higher education circles.

Broadly understood, Critical Thinking is a learning outcome presumably obtained from a certain approach to higher education. This approach underscores the cultivation of an edu-cultural horizon at the undergraduate level through carefully selected courses covering great debates, seminal books, and major landmarks in humanity’s intellectual legacy. 

This is supplemented by a parallel set of courses focusing on contemporary priorities like the environment, SDGs, the impact of technology, and major challenges facing humankind, that serves as a foundation for specialized training in professional schools later on. It often takes the form of “distribution requirements” that apply to all university students irrespective of their major. This, however, is one of several options as Liberal Arts courses can just as easily be parceled into parallel micro qualifications, parts of other courses, or through co-curricular platforms.

The primary drive behind the Liberal Arts emphasis is the argument that a university graduate should be intellectually enabled above and beyond a narrow specialization. Besides technical skills in medicine, engineering, computer science or business, an educated person should also be versed in moral virtues, intellectual history, developments in sciences, major philosophical concepts, and hot contemporary issues. 

Also required of that person is the ability for self-discipline, responsible citizenship, lifelong learning, and commitment to community welfare. All this is expected as the latent output of a university education on top of the technical courses we acquire through specialization.

The Liberal Arts Factor

Proponents of the Liberal Arts tradition on which major American universities are built credit it with producing “critical thinkers” who can reason, discern, and analyze rather than buy into preconceived stereotypes, closed dogmas, and untested biases. Critical thinkers, they argue, through their free minds and inquisitive intellects make the world a better place. This happens by spreading understanding, enlightenment, tolerance, open-mindedness, and an evidence-based approach to discourse at all levels and in all areas.

What enables the products of Liberal Arts to do all this is their capacity for “critical thinking.” Through this acquired capacity nurtured during their college years, they develop a special approach to knowledge acquisition. This approach based on comprehension, weighing against evidence, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and judgment, will offer them immunity against the “tunnel vision” syndrome and the dogmatization of their worldview.

The Challenge

University curricula today are not as easy to manage as they used to be, mostly due to increasing compliance requirements from regulatory bodies and accreditation agencies at institutional and program levels. The curriculum tends to be parceled into required courses in the major, required courses outside the major, electives within majors, electives outside majors, etc. It is not unusual to find little or no room for Liberal Arts courses, or most of them. To this should be added the trend away from the humanities and social sciences in recent years toward more employment-lucrative majors in engineering, business, and IT. Several humanities departments were the first victims of cost-cutting and experienced either major downsizing or outright closure.

This is a challenge we must find ingenious ways to get around. Our students need and want the Liberal Arts/Critical Thinking edge and we need to provide them with this opportunity.

The LAU Centennial Pledge

For one hundred years, LAU has been a keen advocate of the Liberal Arts model. We did that when we were a two-year post-secondary girls’ college, and we continued with it at every other stage in our institutional evolution. Even as we turned into a comprehensive research university with seven schools, six of which are professional, we maintained our adherence to the Liberal Arts model. Our physicians, engineers and computer scientists cross the gate with keen appreciation for the Liberal Arts model and the Critical Thinking faculty they have developed on campus.

Critical Thinking Reinforced

As LAU turns the corner on its first century, it takes along on its journey to the future the same core values and educational philosophy where Liberal Arts and Critical Thinking are central.

It is our hope that Critical Thinking will receive massive reinforcement through:

1. LAU insignia courses (distribution courses).

2. LAU co-curricular tracks.

3. LAU specialized institutes and centers: AIW, CePA, and a number of school institutes.

4. Micro qualifications involving certificates and diplomas that are currently being planned. 

The objective is for LAU graduates to distinguish themselves not only by being career-ready but also adept for the complex, rapidly changing, incredibly uncertain, and excessively turbulent world they will live in. They should be able to lead in any environment, excel in what they do, and set an example of good citizenship. The key to this is Critical Thinking, which will be more needed than ever in light of bombardment with information.

The making of critical minds is what distinguished LAU during its first century and will surely continue to do so in its second.