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Critical Thinking and Reading
Author(s) -
Mendelman Lisa
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of adolescent and adult literacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1936-2706
pISSN - 1081-3004
DOI - 10.1598/jaal.51.4.1
Subject(s) - misnomer , critical thinking , criticism , context (archaeology) , mathematics education , reading (process) , pedagogy , critical reading , psychology , literature , linguistics , history , art , philosophy , theology , archaeology
From freshman composition courses to high school exit exams, the term critical thinking is everywhere. The educationally ubiquitous term has been defined as criticism that combines research, knowledge of historical context, and balanced judgment. In theory then, critical thinking should be taught in virtually every course in the humanities. In practice, however, my years as a high school English teacher, as well as my decades on the other side of the desk, have proven that the lofty title is a gross misnomer, conveniently obscuring the fact that the majority of our schools fail to teach critical thinking and, as a result, the majority of our populace does not practice it.