Critical Thinking In North America Summary

The Effects of a Once Dead Poet
“…The question, O me! So sad, recurring- what good amid these, O me, O life? … That you are here- that life exists and identity, / that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse” (Whitman 7-10). In the film Dead Poets Society, an affable English professor named John Keating becomes the new faculty member at Welton Academy, a preparatory school for boys. Welton, founded in 1859 has created countless successful scholars and businessmen and is accredited as the top preparatory school in the United States. There are the Four Pillars that Welton upholds and prides itself upon: Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence. In order to maintain these core values, Welton is a very strict environment solely

In “Critical Thinking in North America” Richard Paul determines that critical thinking is “The art of thinking about your thinking while you’re thinking so as to make your thinking more clear, precise, accurate, relevant, and fair” (47). The thought process behind self-expression requires critical thinking. Why do I think this? Why do I feel a certain prejudice against X? What has caused my opinion on X? To think critically, it is important that you remove prejudice and bias and consider your inner self-directed thoughts. Critical thinking can take many forms. Richard Paul refers to it as “The art of constructive skepticism” (47). An alternate theory presented by Peter Elbow is quite the opposite. Methodological Believing “…is the disciplined practice of trying to be as welcoming and accepting to every idea we encounter…”(2). This methodological believing is an extremely positive outlook, and I believe that Keating is a terrific example of this form of critical believing in application. These methods may be very different, but that does not necessarily mean they are opposing. To most effectively remove bias and prejudice, a mixture of both approaches should be used. Trying to uncover personal truth is impossible unless you are able to look at both sides of an argument from the viewpoint of skepticism and also from that of