To think critically or to not think critically, that is the question!

According to Wikipedia:
-Critical thinking is purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or what to do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments.
-Critical thinking may involve determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed, or, concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true.
-Critical thinking gives due consideration to the evidence, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making the judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the nature of the problem and the question at hand. Critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness.
Unfortunately, today's upper division's education has lost its personal touch of the most basic human thought process, known as critical thinking and is instead geared toward standardized testing and electrical accommodations. Testing comprehension via scan trons measures one's ability to regurgitate memorized vocabulary and learned information, and or teaches the process of basic elimination. For various reasons institutions have done away with hand written responses that would prove one's knowledge and ability to apply learned information through critical thinking concepts and skills.

Today's society is heavily based on the dependency of mechanical interpretations of choosing buttons one, two or three. Rarely are students responsible for their evaluation of deductive reasoning, logic or interpretation of even their own imaginations. Current generations may not understand:

Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
~ Malcolm S. Forbes

According to BRAINCRAM the following are a few simple things that we all can do to help stimulate our critical thinking skills:

-Be informed – Read as much as you can on key subjects and read what different people think about those subjects. Having a variety of opinions to consider allows you to make a more informed decision about what YOU think.
-Avoid making an early decisions – Allow yourself the time to consider and don’t pre-judge any situation or idea. Think ‘vu ja de’ not ‘de ja vu’. Look at everything as though you have never seen it before.
-Be open to new ideas – Having a curious mind will allow you to ask questions more readily and be critical of those ideas read and hear.
-Be honest with yourself – People have prejudices and biases, we all do. They allow us to make rapid decisions without the effort of thinking too much. Being aware of these prejudices and biases can help you be more open to alternative views.
-Look for the truth value – Spin is endemic in the media. Look for the truth in the message and search for the reason a message is crafted in a particular way.
-Find the facts hidden in the opinion – Facts are facts no matter which way you look at them, opinions are different views of those facts. Find the facts and develop your own opinion.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.

~ Bertrand Russell

The trouble with most folks isn’t so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain’t so.
~ Josh Billings

The great masses of the people…will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.
~ Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1933

Simple deduction, logic and reasoning at its finest. Way to go Arthur!