Tell Your Story
Critical
thinking is a fundamental step to create a thought. As such, it also includes
standards that could be either critical thinking or non-critical thinking. In
the book, Learning to think things through, the author explains, “many of the
non-critical-thinking standards are excellent if you incorporate critical
thinking into them. Without critical thinking, however, even seemingly benign
standards can be dangerous” (Nosich, 2014). In other words, critical and
non-critical standards depend on each other. After reviewing different examples
of critical and non-critical thinking, the standards that stand out the most
are precision, well organized, and reliable.
These critical
thinking standards are most important in my life because they shape who I am
today. I believe precision, organization, and reliability go hand in hand, and
again they are codependent. Precision describes how deep a thought has been considered,
guaranteeing a clear reasoning. “What is precise will always be relative both
to the purpose of the reasoning and to the context” (Nosich, 2014). Additionally,
precision enhances the quality of your work when you want to be accurate.
Moreover, organization provides structure to your thinking process and life in
general. Furthermore, reliability offers trustworthy sources of information
besides demonstrating an individual’s capacity to be trusted or of good
quality.
Acquiring
these standards has come with life experiences. At the early age of 15, I
started my first job, it was a Chinese Restaurant and I was a cashier. I never
thought this job would determine the rest of my ethical life. To begin with,
there was no automatic register; I had to count the change in my head every
time. The owner would make me seat with him everyday and go over a stack of
receipts by telling me “if I was to give you x amount of money, and the total
was this (whatever the receipt total was), then how much would you give me
back?” This example was his way of
teaching me to be precise. Similarly, my father is responsible to instigating
organization and reliability my life. When I started to work, he told me, “you
are now working, and therefore; you are responsible for your finances and with
that comes organization and reliability.” He thought me to be conscious about
my finances; to get a filer and organize my bills; to go over my bank account
every night and check my balances, back then it was over the phone and written down
on a checkbook; he thought me that my finances and work were relying on me; and
to never miss a day of work. One of the most important life lessons I learned
from him was to always be the best I can be. His reasoning was that if I was
not doing my best, then I was mediocre.
Over the
years, with maturity and more responsibilities than before, I believe my
standards have remained part of my life but enhanced. I consider myself an
organized and reliable individual who strives for the best.
Figure 1.1
Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A
guide to critical thinking across the curriculum (4th edition). Boston, MA:
Pearson.
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