Critical Pedagogy: Making Critical Thinking Really Critical

Abstract

Introduction: Critical thinking is now part of the official discourse in education. However, the phrase critical thinking is not understood in the same way by all those who use it. In this paper, I will argue that different interpretations of critical thinking represent different positions with respect to valued forms of knowledge and the socio-political interests that they reflect and support. My intention is to sensitize the reader to the fact that the way in which we perceive our reality determines the value of our inquiry and thought processes and, consequently, the kinds of questions we ask, the problems we pose, and the solutions we seek. From this statement, it follows that the way in which we interpret critical thinking determines the kinds of problems we think "critically" about, the forms of "critical thinking" we use, and the "critical" solutions we find.