It is always a joy to take time out of my hectic life for a museum visit. This time I headed to the Columbus Museum of Art to learn about critical thinking with BLF’s junior cohort. We began by brainstorming what critical thinking is. The consensus was that critical thinking is an intentional and thoughtful process. I agree – critical thinking is often times more methodological than let’s say ‘day dreaming’. Critical thinking also yields knowledge in a way non-critical thinking cannot. Next, we outlined a process that captured the critical thinking process. The process begins by stating the obvious. For example, if I were to talk about the table in front of me, the first step would be to talk about a brown rectangle with four legs protruding from each corner; I should refrain from referring to what’s in front of me as a table. It is important to distinguish observation from description. Describing involves assigning attributes to what we observe. In regard to the example of the table, I could describe the object in front of me as a mahogany table. This exercise was particularly important because it is easy to skip right over the first step in the critical thinking process and I learned the value of breaking things down to their elementary parts before jumping right to describing. Although it seems silly to talk about a table in terms of its pieces, to avoid assumption making, we must start at the beginning where nothing can be overlooked. This accounts for being thorough.
After we spent some time exploring the museum and having critical discussions about select works of art, we concluded with connecting critical thinking and leadership. One point of discussion that I found remarkable was how critical thinking applies to others’ perception of us as leaders. Entering into a diverse workforce, we are going to work in teams and lead others who have had drastically different upbringings that we have had. Leadership style in one culture may starkly contrast what another employee is used to depending on where they are from. This might lead you to be perceived in a different manner than you ever intended. In this scenario, critical thinking helps one to react and respond appropriately. If an employee wasn’t responding to my leadership style, the right thing to do would be to think about where that person comes from. There might be a cultural value that is the mediating factor as to why we have had some misunderstandings. A leader that didn’t think critically about their employee might respond without understanding the issue and consequently never work efficiently or cooperatively together. I have come to realize that many of us have not practiced critical thinking as it pertains to their everyday interactions with others. Diversity can be beneficial but only if we think critically about others. If we don’t think critically about those we interact with we won’t unlock the potential of learning from others.
Finally, we ended with stating one word that summed up our experience. My word was patience. Critical thinking requires patience if we are to do justice to the process. While I was abroad, I kept a journal to reflect on what I was experiencing. One day I reflected on the process of reflecting. It was astounding how deeply I thought about things while I was abroad because I could afford the time to do so. This reminds me of Virginia Wolfe’s “A Room of One’s Own”, her thesis being that one needs to create an environment conducive to thinking and writing. The quiet time during my days in Spain allowed me to think a lot and without interruption in a way that I can never do during a busy day at Ohio State. The BLF program asks us to be critical thinkers in our every day lives. I contest that we all need ’emptier’ lives. Our lives are so full that our days are occupied with everything but thinking of solutions to problems. I feel as though I move from one activity to the next in order to be accountable to teachers, advisers, friends etc. However, if we had designated ‘thinking time’ the way preschoolers have nap time, perhaps I would spend this time thinking of an innovative youth development program in Columbus for young women. This is something I have always thought about doing but I haven’t had the quiet time or space to think critically about what need for this is and where to begin.