"The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow."

Thinking about thinking creates pain. We prefer to be on autopilot rather than to think critically. It simply takes less effort. To communicate clearly, we must think clearly, stay focused and simplify whenever possible, question our thinking, and ask if we are reasonable. We must separate fact from opinion, assess the validity and credibility of the facts, and weigh the other side of arguments.

"The sun will come out tomorrow." What do I mean by that? Am I using an expression, indicating that life will go on regardless of an individual event or decision, or am I making a weather pronouncement? And when I refer to 'tomorrow', do I mean tomorrow literally or at some future time?

Dinosaurs lived 4 million years ago. Is that true? It sounds reasonable, but it's not true. They became extinct about 65 million years ago. If someone presents a fact, is it credible, testable, or just a fiction presented as fact?  The sun will not come out tomorrow for dinosaurs.

Nature is self-correcting. Is that true? If I loose my pet python in the Everglades, is that the end of it, or have I set in motion ecological chaos? Pythons and alligators are eliminating other animals in that environment.

How can we improve our critical thinking? We and our students benefit from learning about thinking. First, we must recognize we can do better. Second, we must decide to put the time and effort into it. Heuristic (quick and dirty) approaches often work fine. When a car is speeding at us, we must act not reflect. But when we make important decisions, we should want to use the best available thinking. Critical thinking scholars say we can improve through commitment and practice.

We must ask our students to be able to state a problem, expand on it, and examine it from multiple angles using clarity, logic, accuracy, precision, depth, and more. We need to care about thinking about thinking. Solution-focused thinking requires a very different construct than memorization.

In an era demanding important decisions on economic policy, climate change, and national and local priorities, is anything less acceptable? We don't want to be dinosaurs.