Dan Voltz

Pressure and critical thinking

So, the more I read about today's "entitlement culture," the more I think this term needs a dose of critical thinking. First of all, it's an incredibly broad term. What do we mean by entitlement? What do we mean by culture? And, furthermore, to think that our students feel entitled because the government somehow supplies so much to them seems to be a notion that comes from a very narrow worldview.

I think students' focus on results is quite understandable. Especially in a career college setting, education is sold to prospective students as a gateway to a better career and, thus, a better life. Furthermore, we pitch students on the notion that they can earn a degree in less than two years, etc. That students want A's is not because they feel "entitled" to them, but because we've put some much emphasis on the end result--and when that result is "a better life," who can blame someone for being anxious to start that?

That said, if we can figure out why each student feels like critical thinking is so much work, or doesn't want to spend the time on it, or simply isn't interested in it, we can better shift our pedagogy to address the concerns of those students and emphasize the utility of critical thinking in a way that is more effective.