Savvy Women

I have wonderful memories, dating all the way back to my early boyhood, of driving to the Texas Gulf Coast for family vacations. Because we lived inland, on the northern edge of what’s called the Texas “Hill Country,” we had to drive for several hours before we’d arrive at our preferred locale, a small town called Rockport. We’d then spend a week or so walking on the beach and collecting sea shells, swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, crabbing and giving away our catch to more serious fishermen, feeding bread crumbs to the sea gulls, going out to eat at seafood restaurants, and just having a whale of a good time.

Today, as a middle-aged adult, I’d have to say that my love of large bodies of water probably began during those holiday trips. I just get this wonderfully expansive feeling when I travel to oceans and seas at this time in my life. It’s exhilarating to stand at the water’s edge and look out across at what appears to be an infinite blue horizon. Because I’ve traveled so much in recent years, I’ve had the opportunity to see many of the world’s great bodies of water, including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, and the Red Sea. All are magnificent.

As you can probably guess, I am horrified by what’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico, at the Deep Horizon oil blowout. I won’t use the word “spill” to describe what’s taking place. A spill sounds so mild and controllable. All a spill requires is to be wiped up. What’s happening a mile below the surface is more like an oil “volcano.” How does one stop a volcano and clean up after it’s done spewing?

I’ve included a twelve-minute interview, conducted by Democracy Now!’s Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman, with Dr. Carl Safina, renowned ecologist and founder of the Blue Ocean Institute. This video provides a nice overview of the part the gulf plays in the larger ecosystem.

In recent days I’ve been prompted to read up on the current health of the world’s oceans and seas. If, like me, you’re interested in finding out more and what can be done to help, I suggest you have a look at this site.

I found this brief CNN video that profiles Rosena Sammi. In the clip, Sammi, once a corporate lawyer but now a jewelry designer, discusses her career change and why she gave up such lucrative work to start her own business. According to the now-ex-attorney, making jewelry, which she considers “wearable” artwork, provides her with a “creative outlet” that was lacking in her former job. Though she’s made a dramatic change in her work life, she believes that the skills she gained as a lawyer are helping her succeed as an artist and designer.

The whole subject of changing careers is one that I’m interested in because I sometimes think (more like fantasize) about what it would be like if I could get out of teaching and do something entirely different. (Actually, a few years ago, I did just that and worked, for a time, as the director of a nonprofit museum.) Anyway, all this writing about leaving one type of life behind for another prompted me to go online to see if I could find out how many people are truly happy with their occupations. My feeling, before even looking at what the stats showed, was that many feel that the work they do is not the sort that is conducive to self-actualization.

That’s my two cents.

Troy Headrick
The American University in Cairo
Maadi, Cairo, Egypt
contact@savvy-women-magazine.com

I want to begin this blog by asking women with school-aged children a direct question:  Do you think your kids are receiving a good education?

I want to follow that up by asking educators:  Are your students getting the sort of schooling they need to succeed in work and life?

Linda Elder, president of a nonprofit organization called Foundation for Critical Thinking and author of “Are You a Critical Thinker?” (which appeared in a recent issue of The Christian Science Monitor), believes that the teaching of critical thinking skills is vitally important today because we live in a world that is plagued by many problems that require fresh problem-solving approaches. On the current state of the teaching of critical thinking, Elder writes:

Everyone thinks; but we don’t always think well. In fact, much of our thinking, left to itself, is sloppy, distorted, partial, uninformed, or prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and all of the decisions we make depend precisely on the quality of our thought. At present, the act of thinking is virtually ignored (emphasis added).

Elder then defines “critical thinking” as

…self-guided, self-disciplined thinking that aims to take the reasoning we all do naturally to a higher level. It is the art of analyzing and evaluating with the goal of improving thought. When making a decision, it is the difference between weighing information to come to a logical conclusion and making snap judgments without understanding the information.

As someone who’s been in the teaching business for a heck of a long time, I can say I agree that we need to teach critical thinking, but I don’t think the “establishment” will ever get fully behind the idea of teaching it until it is ready to accept the large societal changes that will come when more of us think this way.

What, exactly, do I mean by this?  Well, let me begin by saying that Elder’s definition of “critical thinking” is very vague and superficial.

Critical thinking is actually this:  It is the questioning of all firmly held beliefs.  (In fact, critical thinking means accepting nothing at face value.)  Critical thinking is the development of rigorous methods of inquiry that begin with the following argument:  “All things are to be rejected (or viewed skeptically) until proven true.”

In practice, critical thinking
•    Is antiauthority (and thus “threatening”)
•    Is fundamentally “radical”
•    Scares the political establishment (and all sorts of “establishments”)
•    Promotes analysis over immediate compliance

Critical thinkers, in other words, are not mindless automatons who accept all rules without question.

I want to conclude by calling for ideas about how our educational system can be improved.  Is critical thinking the answer?  Or would you fix the system some other way?  (Maybe you would like to take issue with me saying the system is broken and needs fixing?)

Please post your suggestions or send them to me via email (contact@savvy-women-magazine.com).

Take care and happy thinking!