Not an "either/or"

Businesses today ask not only for skilled workers but also for knowledge workers.

We need to craft skilled knowledge workers: a blending of the two, where the former compliments but does not eclipse the latter. Skills, according to Peter Drucker, change relatively slowly -- at least in comparison to knowledge, which changes itself.

We cannot give our students all of the knowledge -- or even most of it -- that they will need for their careers. Thus, we need to re-structure our system to better teach them critical thinking skills. We also need to cultivate our ability to look in dual directions: first to the product, then to the buyer.

Translation: to the student, then to the employer.

In the business world, when we manufacture goods, we craft the product to meet the needs of the end users. When we design the services we offer, we do the same. No one in his or her right mind, or even unreasonable mind, would create something with the intent to not sell it at all and to alienate the buyer.

So why are those of us in the business of education sometimes willing to do exactly that? We need to craft a graduate that can look at a problem, turn it inside-out and upside-down, tear it apart, and then come up with an answer.

Any answer.

So long as it's original, so long as it's the result of the attempt to think critically. Frankly, I love wrong answers. Be wrong, I tell my classes. This is where you can screw up as much as you want. All you risk is having to learn something new.

Last week I assigned my students to write five sentences fraught with subject-verb errors. It was, they told me, the hardest assignment that I had ever given them. Why? Because it demanded that they think backwards through the grammar rules; it forced them to consciously process the information rather then simply jot a few (correct) sentences down on paper.

Adding critical thinking practice doesn't have to be hard or time-consuming, we just need to think backwards ourselves.

How?

• Play what if?
• Ask what if we're wrong/right?
• Combine the seemingly unrelated: assess classical literature while reading Freakonomics and studying economic incentives; or practice observation skills for any career via studying Renaissance art
• Pair with other teachers -- even those from other schools in other states and nations. Use technology to create a global classroom to prepare them for the global economy. If the students grouse, remind them that it's a great way to network.
• Whenever possible, avoid straight chapters. Think themes, for example: every economics chapter I teach comes back to the idea of human behavior (incentives) so that they can see the non-numbers side and, I believe, relevance of the so-called "dismal science." We still cover the required material, but not quite as the student expect.
• Lastly, don't let their silence scare you as they ponder an answer. This isn't revolutionary; I was taught this tidbit over a decade ago at Seton Hill. Let your students marinate for a while, three or four minutes of silence can be healthy. Don't fall prey to our cultural need for noise and let silence unnerve you.

Once we get our students the the point where they can take ideas and combine them to create something new, we have the product that good employers are clamoring for: the employee who can think on his/her own.

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Next week I begin my third term adjuncting at Seton Hill. I have two classes, each a delightful and manageable size. Since this is the second time I've taught Western Cultural Traditions 1, I now have the luxury of time to tweak what is already in place. I'll keep you posted on how I draw them into "thinking backwards."