_ Critical Thinking Is Not Welcome

Can millions of people really live unexamined lives and consider it normal? Only if we are properly trained to do so socially and academically. In society, we are conditioned to accept without question. In schools, we memorize concepts  instead of understanding them. And to complicate it further, we circulate unverified claims with confidence. We believe that if it is familiar, it is bound to be true. 

Believing things rather than testing them with evidence is reinforced from the earliest years of schooling, where learning is reduced to neatly copying the textbooks in our notebooks. Schools still rely heavily on self-devised pedagogy of untrained teachers and exam-oriented lessons. The outdated syllabi and insufficient teacher training are both root causes and logical outcomes of this environment. As a result, students end up in a constrained learning environment, lacking problem‑solving scenarios and inquiry-based lessons. Analytical reasoning and critical thinking are deliberately expelled from every classroom.

Outside the classrooms, our beliefs are inherited, repeated and defended without scrutiny. We belong if we readily agree with the social norms and family expectations. Our questions or doubts can cause discomfort for us and others at varying levels. Mostly, our resistance runs out sooner or later in the face of authority or the popularity of ideas. Not only because we lack the courage to stand for our ideas, but also because we lack the substance and foundation to support them. We haven’t independently verified or tested concepts through logical thinking or evidence.

As a society, we struggle to analyze or verify. We fail to recognize contradictions and to decide for ourselves. Our unexamined views, without taking time for reflection, have hardened into rigid beliefs and  superficial thoughts. and the absence of critical thinking makes us ever more reactive, shallow, and ill-prepared, while the fast-paced world around us demands nuance,  clarity, and the courage to evaluate the unknown or to embrace the unfamiliar. 

References:

1.Critical Thinking in the Classroom: Challenges and Prospects of Curriculum Reform in Pakistan

2.  Effects of Public Perceptions and Social Conformity on Behaviour and Mental Wellbeing of Young Adults in Pakistan

3. An Analysis of the Role of Higher Education in Promoting Critical Thinking and Problem‑Solving Skills Among Pakistani Students

4. Impact of Critical Thinking on Decision‑Making Among Adults; Mediating Effect of Cognitive Flexibility

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Critical Thinking Is Not Welcome
@MosaratN