Aja Kirkland

Eng M01 C
Professor Hasson
28 June 2014
Critical Thinking
The Missing Puzzle Piece
For this generation, it is in style to be an individual. Whether it is in fashion, social
trends, or life in general. Everyone wants to think that they think for themselves and that
everything they do is somehow original, or never been done before. The truth is pretty much
everything we do is influenced by someone or something else that we have come in contact with
before. In todays fast pace society no one tries to think for themselves. All information we think
we thought of ourselves has been fed to us by the constant stream of media we watch on a daily
basis or the experiences and people that have raised us. Critical thinking is not about what you
know, its about what you do with what you know.
An individual is someone who truly thinks critically for themselves. Critical thinking, as
defined by Vincent Ruggiero in his book Beyond Feelings, is the process by which we test
claims and arguments and determine which have merit and which do not (Ruggiero 19).
Critical thinkers take in all the facts of a situation and use them to come to a logical conclusion.
Critical thinkers Are honest with themselves, acknowledging what they dont know [and]
Strive for understanding (Ruggiero 21). People can only make real decisions about a subject
when they have good knowledge of the subject otherwise they are just going on popular opinion.
People in our interviews like Shannon who were already well diverse in the issue had a lot to say
and a lot of logical evidence to back up their knowledge. Others who were not so knowledgeable
about the situation like Jose asked many questions as pertaining to the current laws and


restrictions to help him come to a logical conclusion. Becoming properly informed about an
issue before making a decision is the key factor to becoming a critical thinker.
Other interviewees such as Brandon and Ray demonstrated the opposite of critical
thinking. Both Brandon and Ray displayed no knowledge other than poplar opinion on the issue
at hand. Brandon literally claimed to have no reason whatsoever to back up his opinion and when
given some examples by our interviewer he agreed to all of them. Ray on the other hand listen to
all of the facts given to him and finally admitted that he did not know enough about the issue to
make a clear precise decision. Critical thinking is about being honest with what you know and
what you dont know. You can not make a firm decision based on shaky information or no
information at all.