The Argument Model and The Ability of Students to Generate and Review Arguments

Critical Thinking
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Critical Thinking
Report on the following article: A Society with Poor Critical Thinking Skills: The Case for "argument" in Education by Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz
Critical thinking is a higher level of cognitive thinking that involves deep analytical thinking. Most people have a great capacity to be whom and what they should be, but there is a lack of key elements that enable critical thinking. Improvement in thinking is important because it allows individuals to push their capabilities that enable high productivity. With a continuous limit in thinking, the working of the brain gets confined. Students face difficulty with argument unlike reading and writing especially in narration and exposition. This is due to its complexity and high level of challenge experienced. Data gathered by researchers indicate that a high number of students in schools today lack critical thinking. They cannot handle simple logical tests that require a little technical reasoning. Only a small number of students who successfully graduate from High School can make a critical argument on a simple written text.
Rabbi Shmuly writes on the current "Frontal Model" system of teaching students at school. This is the normal system of teaching, where students are quiet through a class session and wait for the course instructor to enlighten them. He believes that students should do more, such as dialogue. According to him, dialogue is the foundation of critical thinking. He calls this the "Argument Model". The model encourages students to gain necessary skills in the field of their interest in order to be critical thinkers in the changing complex society. The level of open-mindedness in students develops their thinking enabling them to run different agendas with ease.