Critical Thinking, Open-Mindedness and Civility in America: Life Skills are Apolitical

 

 Critical Thinking, Open-Mindedness and Civility in America: Life Skills are Apolitical

Those responding so quickly and passionately to “Apolitical in a Political World” were unanimous on two points: First, most every topic they could think of had become politicized within the last few years, making it increasingly difficult to have enjoyable conversations with others. (From a former schoolteacher: “If I were to be truly apolitical, it would be practically impossible to have a conversation! Even books need to be fiction—otherwise discussions become arguments.”)  Second, and the most universally expressed feeling I have ever received in my writings, I would paraphrase this way: anyone likely to weaken or end a friendship…based on another person’s opinions, points of view or political leanings wasn’t really a friend to begin with.  (From a Navy SEAL: “A true friend is a friend regardless of political affiliation or opinion on a social topic.  I…respect you for speaking your mind freely.  Frankly, this is why we fight for this beautiful nation.”)

Other disturbing trends cited included increased slippage in the ability of Americans to make sound, objective, apolitical decisions, to take responsibility for their own behavior and to think and communicate clearly. (Collectively, “life skills” subjects, taught primarily through hands-on work rather than as book learning) Readers were also aware today’s students have lost an entire pandemic-related year of the socialization processes that normally occur in classrooms and elsewhere. As a result, they were united in the feeling we need to arrest and reverse those declines by resurrecting educational emphases on critical thinking and constructive debate, open-mindedness, civility and how to leverage these skills to improve decision-making. If we fail to address those issues successfully, America will face worsening social problems and income inequalities. These trends led to two distressing personal observations from readers: “I too…am highly concerned with the direction I see things going. It’s a bit of a hopeless feeling, to be honest.” And “The U.S. has had its 250 year run and as all forms of government since the Roman Empire has hit its demise.”

I got the sense most writers felt strongly about the need for something to be done, but at that point there came a detachment. Rather than a sense of “as a community we need to organize and do something about these problems”, the thoughts stopped at the point of identifying the problem.  Maybe it is considered too much of an overwhelming problem to even try? A problem past its tipping point?  

 Resolution of these problems on a long-term, sustainable basis lies in a combination of nature, nurture, K through 12 education and skills training targeted specifically at life skill deficits, mentoring and role modeling, all under the (eventual) umbrella of a national commitment to such a program. Graduates would be destined for leadership roles in whatever career pursuit they selected. With respect to waiting for a national commitment to be formulated and adopted at the macro level, however, I would not hold my breath.  There is no apparent reason why a bottom’s up approach, starting with dedicated parents and teachers, possibly united through a PTA, couldn’t launch a demonstration program along these lines at the micro level. If a demonstration program does get going, I would recommend they think positively about three additional suggestions from readers, as highlighted below.

First, a former student of mine at USD made this intriguing suggestion: as a parallel to military service, with its attendant benefits during and after a person’s time serving, why not create a similar program with Federal benefits for those who qualify to become teachers?  His suggestion was not aimed at the sort of program outlined above, but it certainly could be established for that purpose. A rigorous qualification program for men and women aspiring to teach in the program, with strong oversight from a carefully selected group of parents and apolitical community leaders, would be important to assure the ongoing integrity of the program.  An extension of this thought—teachers dedicated to working in this program would start at the local level as “community teachers” or similar designation. After a few years of experience, and subject to having met established standards of performance and perhaps also passing an exam with a national orientation, those with community teaching designations could be certified as “national teachers” or a similar higher-level title. As such, they could travel anywhere in the nation and be accepted to work in local programs, very much like traveling nurses move from hospital to hospital throughout their careers.

The second suggestion was to give special emphasis to the types of “ social skills especially lacking in individuals born after 1990”, which would be all students in the program.  Their lives have been shaped largely in an environment of cell phones, electronic games, computers, instant news (spoon-fed to them) and instant gratification. To that list I would add social media’s major contributions to the deterioration of social skills.

The third constructive idea was provided by a young woman who had been on a traditional high school debate team. Her view was the debate team experience is invaluable for what it can do to help teach critical thinking, public speaking, and learning/listening with an open mind. She recalled how as a member of the debate team, she had to come to major tournaments prepared to debate “EITHER side of the annual topic”.

I am under no illusions about how difficult it would be, even at the local level, to fashion and implement a life skills program, which likely would be supplemental to traditional K – 12 public schools’ curricula (but possibly integrated into private schools’ curricula.)  From the strength of the feelings expressed by readers, however, something significant needs to be done to address the life skill issues they emphasized. If you provide feedback please comment on these life skill deficiencies. Also, share your thoughts on the idea of as well as the feasibility of the conceptual program. Third, please tell me candidly whether or not you enjoy the direct quotations from readers I sprinkle throughout my commentaries. I know they add length, but do they also enhance the value of the stories?