When I was a sophomore in college, I was required to take a course called “Critical Thinking,” and while I was taking it, I absolutely loathed it. I remember having a discussion on doctor assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, and I remember writing a paper defending the whale in the story of Jonah in the Bible. (That’s such a long story that it would require a whole other set of blog posts.) I also remember having to write a paper because I took a day off to go to my first Major League Baseball game, and our professor required us to write an essay for any absence. (That taught me never to miss that class.) What I wasn’t mature enough at the time to understand was what the professor was trying to teach us.
As a middle-aged adult, I now recognize that the professor was trying to help us look deeper into issues and why we believe what we do. He wasn’t trying to teach us to believe one way or the other about doctor assisted suicide, but he wanted us to be able to analyze it from both sides. He wasn’t trying to tell me whether to believe the Bible, but he wanted me to understand why some people struggled with the Bible. He didn’t care that I missed a day of class, but he wanted me to understand the value of how I used my time. In short, the professor was teaching us how to think critically about various issues. He didn’t want us to accept something on blind faith just because someone we trusted said it. He wanted us to analyze and think deeply about issues, faith, decisions, and life.
If you have ever wondered if critical thinking skills matter, just consider any historical event in which people died because of a lack of analysis, oversight, communication, evaluation, or empathy. Whether it’s blind devotion to a political or religious ideology that leads to war, failed communication that causes an industrial accident, or overconfidence in outdated plans, a lack of clear-sighted critical thinking can bring a company, nation, or organization to a breaking point. Worse, there may be no recovery.
Critical thinking isn’t reserved for educated elites. It is for anyone who wants to understand other people. It’s for anyone who wants to make an informed decision. It’s for anyone who doesn’t like to follow the crowd without knowing what is really going on. In short, critical thinking is for anyone who doesn’t want to be ignorant. So how do we improve our critical thinking skills to be more informed and useful in our community?
Coursera (2025) suggests three actions to help us develop our critical thinking skills:
- Ask questions. (My note: Any group that doesn’t allow you to ask questions is potentially dangerous.)
- Listen actively. (My note: Don’t listen to respond first. Listen to think and learn.)
- Think logically. (My note: Sometimes this means you must put your emotions to rest.)
Jennifer Herrity (2025) on Indeed suggests the five best critical thinking skills are as follows:
- Analyze (Don’t just listen to the information. Absorb and process it.)
- Communicate (This requires being effective in how we explain information to others preferably in the written and spoken word.)
- Infer (Can you take the information, even if it’s limited, and use it correctly?)
- Observe (Make others and their activities the center of your attention. We are all witnessing a time in which some people are using theatrics to speak one message, but their actions are saying something else. Are we paying enough attention to see the difference?)
- Solve (Can you solve the existing problems with the information you have obtained through thinking critically?)
WGU (2025) suggests multiple ways in which critical thinking has a positive impact in our lives including:
- Evaluation – Take a long look at the information from all sides. What is a credible source and what isn’t?
- Creative Thinking – Be willing to understand someone else’s perspective even if you don’t change your own view, but it is okay to change your own view.
- Reflection – Be self-aware of your own thoughts, feelings, opinions, and beliefs and how they impact yourself and others.
There is never a wrong time to improve your critical thinking skills, and there is never a bad time to be certain we aren’t following the wrong line of thought to the wrong conclusion. In interactions with others, using social media, or reading or watching news sources, it is essential that we improve our critical thinking. All we need to do is begin with our next interaction.
References:
Coursera Staff. (March 25, 2025). What Are Critical Thinking Skills and Why Are They Important? Coursera. https://www.coursera.org/articles/critical-thinking-skills?msockid=2aa4f9a8e76261782d39e878e6b46096
Herrity, Jennifer. (May 30, 2025). 5 Top Critical Thinking Skills (And How To Improve Them). Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/critical-thinking-skills
Developing Your Critical Thinking Skills. (2025). Western Governors University. https://www.wgu.edu/skills-guides/critical-thinking.html
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And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32, NKJV)
All Things Subject to Change 