Critical&Creative Thinking

If I were to mention critical & creative thinking, my first thought would be the two articles I studied in BIS300, Allen Bloom's “The Closing of the American Mind” and Freire's “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, the core of Freire's message being the idea that traditional “bank-style” education is the most important thing in the world. “and Freire's “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”.

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At the core of Freire's message is the idea that the traditional “banking” system of education is oppressive because it places students in the role of passive recipients of knowledge and reinforces existing power structures. Allan Bloom, in The Closing of the American Spirit, conveys the central idea that the failure of higher education to effectively empower students with clear values and purpose in life has led to a decline in the quality of American democracy. In education, we should find our own way of learning and being a questioner.These two articles made me learn for the first time seriously how to have a Critical Thinking, and with that I think as an academic we should think about things with a critical thinking.

 

One of the pieces that made me use critical thinking the most was this poster for group work. particularly concerned with the behavior of Japan's past and the perceptions of modern Japanese. The poster questions whether current generations should be held accountable for the wrongdoings of their ancestors and highlights the harmful effects of “toxic patriotism.” By examining psychological concepts such as collective guilt and intergroup emotions, the poster emphasizes how these emotions lead to identity threat and the perpetuation of negative stereotypes. The poster encourages people to reevaluate expressions of patriotism and promotes the idea of loving one's country without hating others.People should revisit history and use critical thinking to urge people to reject hatred and discrimination as a way of expressing national pride.