CRITICAL THINKING;
IT’S CRITICAL!
Gerard O’Shea,
Managing Director of
DevelopMe, explains
why Critical Thinking
is so Critical
You might not agree with what I
say here. That’s ok; that’s Critical
Thinking in action!
!
Transition Year offers students a
chance to shift their focus from
acquiring knowledge to spend
time developing transferable
skills that they can use for life.
One such skill is the ability to
think critically.
!
There are many definitions of
critical thinking but in essence
there are three main
characteristics of an individual
who can think critically:
!
!
1. They don’t just accept
everything they are told
2. They can question
information received
logically to contextualise
and validate or dismiss it
3. They understand their own
biases that may
influencing their digestion
of information
!
WHY IS IT SO IMPORTANT
TO DEVELOP THIS SKILL
IN YOUNG PEOPLE?
!
Fake News / False
Information
It has never been easier to
disseminate information. With a
few clicks it’s now possible to
send information to literally
millions of people via social
media, sponsored ads, email
Gerard O’Shea (left) and David O’Shea (right) at TY EXPO 2017
campaigns, etc. It’s fantastic that
we can connect with so many
people so quickly but it comes
with dangers.
!
Across the water we see Britain
in the midst of the “BREXIT”
phenomenon. Now it’s not for
me to say one way or the other,
but many people now accept that
a large number of British citizens
voted to leave the European
Union based largely on the
dissemination of false
information. Famously the
‘Brexit Bus’ promoting the leave
campaign stated that Britain
sends £350m per month to the
European Union and that, if
Britain voted to leave, this
money would be invested into
the NHS.
In two years, when they turn 18,
the TY student of today will be
voting in referendums and
general elections that will shape
the future of Ireland.
Information will be thrown at
them from many vested
interests. We need them to be
able to rationally digest this
information in order to make
informed decisions.
!
Mental Health
I’m on social media. I mainly use
it for work but I use it personally
too. If a young person (any
person in fact!) using social
media was to believe everything
they saw on it, by comparison
they would begin to believe their
own lives were mediocre by
comparison. cont.
WWW.T YIRELAND.COM