Gerald Nosich Learning To Think Essay

Our ability to think about a subject often requires background knowledge to guide our thinking. For example, News media is how many learn about current events about our world, which allows us to generate our analysis and judgment based on the given event. While news media may be one of the greatest assets for learning about the world, it also hinders our ability to think by giving us false or misguided interpretations about the world. News media often portrays stories that are overdramatic or violent. Gerald Nosich provides an example of the overdramatic news story in Learning to Think Things Through. He states that “They [news reporters] report on someone getting out of prison early. Whether we are aware of it or not, we form a general picture that violent criminals are getting out prison early all the time” (17 – 18). This example exemplifies the idea that we allow the news to prevent us from thinking beyond what is told. We generally accept what the news says without giving the

Gerald Nosich offers a proposal to limiting the media effects by “looking to reputable books, studies, or websites that deal with the subject in depth” (18). By following Gerald Nosich’s approach, we gain a better understanding of a current event through the opinions of multiple experts. Another way of overcoming the influence of news media on our thinking is by asking questions. Linda Elder and Richard Paul, authors of the article “Becoming a Critic of Your Thinking,” recognize the importance of asking questions and how it is beneficial to our thinking. They state that “Good thinkers routinely ask questions in order to understand and effectively deal with the world around them. Their questions penetrate images, masks, fronts, and propaganda.” Asking questions allows us to seek the underlying information that was not presented in the news media and enhances our thinking by looking into different