The Importance of Critical Thinking by Victoria

Victoriaof Boca Raton's entry into Varsity Tutor's April 2015 scholarship contest

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Victoria of Boca Raton, FL
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The Importance of Critical Thinking by Victoria - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

Of course the purpose of an education is used to cultivate a skilled workforce, which is essential to competing in a global marketplace. Education is also used to teach and encourage cultural literacy. However, I think the main purpose of an education bares a more fundamental importance: to encourage critical thinking.

In primary schools teachers present information which can easily be memorized. However, critical thinking and higher education go hand in hand. In college, professors present information which is just as easily memorized, but not readily applicable without critical thinking. Imagine being taught how to solve linear equations in College Algebra by a professor; then being told to find the cost of hotel A, given the sum of hotel A and hotel B and their respective tax rates on a test. Some students, students who have not yet harnessed their critical thinking abilities, often become vexed and accuse professors of not teaching the proper material. However, the fault is not the professors, but the student’s inability to think critically – at the time.

I was this student. I have always loved science, math, and specifically engineering. Throughout high school, my thirst for knowledge was insatiable; I would spend hours at a time in the library. However, when I got to college, Physics was no longer plugging numbers into extraneous formulas; I had to be able to logically put these formulas together myself. At this point in our lives, students are no longer asked how or why a formula or theory works, but how they can be adopted and applied. This is the purpose of an education: to acquire the critical thinking skills necessary to propel humanity forward.

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