Creating a Culture of Thinking
OriginallyPublished October 2019
Have you ever said, “Just give me a minute to think”?
We say this because we know that in order to think deeply about a problem we need to devote time, energy and attention to the act of thinking. Thinking critically is a skill and we are working to cultivate a thinking culture in our schools.
Critical thinking must be taught and nurtured and it’s one of the abilities that we want each of our graduates to have. It’s one of the reasons that I invested in the work of Harvard’s Project Zero in the last ten years of my career. This work is focused on intentionally teaching and eliciting thinking for specific purposes using research based strategies.
Why is this work so important?
The United States has developed an achievement culture that I believe has become out of control. This culture started as a result of accountability measures back in the 1970s and 80s amid concerns that America was not competing globally. Accountability to standardized achievement tests was the “fix” that both state and national elected officials believed we needed. Fueled by competitiveness and desire to be the best, schools and districts have been sorted and ranked based upon standardized test scores ever since. That same competitiveness for achievement has evolved from a focus on schools and districts to individual students. As a result, quantifiable test data and scores like grade point averages, AP scores, ACT/SAT scores, number of credits earned, school ability scores (e.g. IQ) have been equated with student success.
And all of this success comes at a pace that is accelerating at higher and higher rates. Consider this statement from one former member of my student advisory:
“Knowing that I have so many tests and so much homework due every single night, it weighs on me because I know that I can’t always get it all done. I always feel like I have somewhere to be even if I don’t because I’m so used to being on the go all of the time.”
Anxiety and depression are on the rise right along with the grades and scores. We have to wonder if our kids are happy and if they can manage the immense pressure to achieve. And what happens when they don’t achieve at a level that has been set by them or our society?
It has been well documented that anxiety and stress activate the amygdala, the portion of the brain that signals our emotions. When the amygdala is activated, the prefrontal cortex is shut down. That is the portion of the brain that controls complex functions such as critical thinking. When we are stressed and rapidly chasing after the next event and accomplishment, our ability to think deeply and critically diminishes. Thinking requires us to pause; it requires us to slow down. Ponder, reflect, consider, ruminate, deliberate, contemplate, muse. All synonyms for think. But you can’t do any of those things in a rush or under pressure.
We must value the thinking of our students. And we must want them to be able to develop the ability to do it well. We must want them to value their own insights and their ability to solve problems.
It’s a shift we must make if we truly care about our students.
