Day 5 blog

Please read the following excert from Peter A. Facione's article, "Critical Thinking: What It Is and Why It Counts" and then discuss the implications of what he is saying.


George Carlin worked “critical
thinking” into one of his monologue rants on
the perils of trusting our lives and fortunes
to the decision-making of a gullible,
uninformed, and unreflective citizenry. The
argument that higher education, while surely
both, is more of a public good than a private
good, is beginning to be recognized. Is it not
a wiser social policy to invest in the
education of the future workforce, rather
than to suffer the financial loses and endure
the fiscal and social burdens associated
with economic weakness, public health
problems, crime, and avoidable poverty?
Teach people to make good decisions and
you equip them to improve their own futures
and become contributing members of
society, rather than burdens on society.
Becoming educated and practicing good
judgment does not absolutely guarantee a
life of happiness, virtue, or economic
success, but it surely offers a better chance
at those things. And it is clearly better than
enduring the consequences of making bad
decisions and better than burdening friends,
family, and all the rest of us with the
unwanted and avoidable consequences of
those poor choices.