It’s great to have a child in your home taking a critical thinking class. Sure, he’ll be an adult in three weeks. And sure, I’ve probably enjoyed helping him too much. And sure, there’s been seven million essays he’s needed to write. Aside from all the “sures” though. It’s been a very positive experience.
Our brains are ridiculous. We’re always thinking (even in those instances when our actions make it hard to believe we were thinking). But we don’t give a lot of thought to how we think. Critical thinking skills are underrated. They are necessary for so much, especially situations where there’s more than one way to tackle a situation, and no guarantee for how each potential solution will pan out. You know, situations like peopling and child welfare.
Sharpening that critical thinking saw is so important because as decisions play themselves out, you REALLY need to know how you came to the conclusions that you did. There’s more than a fair amount of difference between human-ing and things like mechanic-ing. You have an interaction, as it unfolds, you are presented with decision trees in real time. Like a “choose your own adventure” book but without that added awesomeness that if you don’t like the selection you made, you just turn back a couple pages and make the other choice. Many, MANY times, I’ve found that being able to describe for others how I made the decisions I did is equally important to the decision itself
Mechanic-ing, making, and the like are by no means simple, but they makes sense. And you know if what you’ve tried actually works. It may no longer be the case, but for a long while the Caterpillar manuals had a quote “Engine cranks, but will not fire. See page 17.” This became a family quote for us. I even wrote it in to a set of wedding vows for a wedding I officiated. It articulates that there is a specific problem with defined solutions. Best thing is, you know instantly whether or not page 17 was helpful.
I envy those with the gifts in those areas. That is certainly not my lot. This one time, I wanted to re-paint the boys bunk beds. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t get any paint on Brian’s truck. I covered it with drop cloth. He appreciated the gesture, but asked why I hadn’t just pulled the truck out of the garage before painting. Because my degrees are not in common sense, that’s why (eye roll emoji!)
So, when it’s time to tune something up, fix something, build something….it’s crickets in my land. Came home from work the other day to see Dan elbow deep in some truck project. He was addressing the whole “you can roll down more than one window at a time, but they only roll up one at a time.” And, “make sure you turn on the driving light switch before you try to turn on the radio.”
I asked if there was anything I could do to help. I haven’t heard young Daniel laugh that hard in a while. I guess it wasn’t the kind of project that needed someone to, say, turn on the blinker while someone else looked to see if it was working. I’m really good at that job. BUT, someone need some words? Or maybe a funny story? Mom gets called from the bench.
It was great to sit with Dirty and learn how he thinks about things for his essays. He’s got lots of words too. As we worked on one he said, “I’m pretty good at bullshit, but you’re even better.” Thanks (?)
Bifocals and Barbells 