Critical Thinking Will Never Die

I honestly don’t believe that our society would ever get to the point where we BURN books. They may stop printing them due to the internet where you can read articles and sometimes novels for free. There is also Amazon’s Kindle and the iPad where you can purchase hundreds of books and read them from the device. These methods of reading are already very popular. Kindle sales have been increasing ever since the price cut to compete with Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Apple’s iPad. Amazon sells 143 electronic books for every 100 hardcover books sold on their website so you can see that people prefer to read electronically. There are also 3.27 million people that own iPads. I believe if this number increases over time (and it will) there could be a chance that bookstores go out of business. Stayin at home and ordering instant books online is a lot more convenient than going to a store or waiting for a shipment. Sales for Kindle and iPad can be seen here and here.

Even though digital copies are extremely convenient I still would not think that books would be burned and if enough people purchase from bookstores , they will not be discontinued. There are advantages of having a physical copy. As a student, I have to read a lot of literature and when studying, it helps me a lot to highlight information that is relevant to material on a test or quotes that should be added into an essay. In movies there is usually a home that has a bookshelf full of beautiful books. It adds style to your home. I feel the same way about music. I usually download my music, but for the albums that I really love I like to buy Vinyl records. I’m trying to get a modern collection of LPs so I can display them around my house, plus the sound quality is much better.

The content of a digital copy is no different than a physical copy of a story. It’s all a matter of preference. Because of this I do not believe that our ability to critically think will be eliminated. And even if books were forever vaporized, they are not the only piece of material that make us think critically. Just recently I saw the movie Inception and I thought about the ending for hours and debated with friends on Facebook and looked up several articles and forums that would help me understand better. All of my friends thought very critically and came up with great reasons why their theory was correct. Christopher Nolan (the director) is a genius. He got his audience to do exactly what he wanted. Think!

Learning How To Think Critically at an Early Age

I definitely believe that children should be tought some reasoning and critical thinking skills while they are in primary school. Many people make the point that they are children and should enjoy themselves, however I think that there is a way that kids could enjoy learning how to think critically if taught in the correct manner.

A majority of children in this generation enjoy video games and I think using certain games that require critical thinking. Currently I am playing a game called The Secret of Monkey Island. It is a point and click game that requires critical thinking (A review of the game can be found here). The game may be a bit too complex for primary schoolers, but I think other companies that produce games for smaller children can learn from it. The game really makes you think. You are constantly solving problems that may take you hours to solve, that is if you don’t have a guide…One puzzle required me to meet the governor in her house, however there were vicious attack dogs that I had to get passed. In order for me to do this I had to feed them, I later found out that the meat I stole from a restaurant’s kitchen wasn’t enough so I had to find something poisonous. I went into the forest and found some exotic flowers to insert into the meat and I successfully made it past. And that is just a small part of the game.

I feel that learning to spend time thinking your decisions through at an early age will only help. Learning critical thinking skills can help a child learn that there are consequences to the choices that they make and that they need to choose wisely in order to benefit themselves the most and to make sure that they are happy at what they are doing. At the end of high school, one has to choose what career they need and what school is best for them and when you learn at an early age, I think that the student would be more comfortable in weighing their options. Maybe a local school costs less money, but it is way better to go out of state, and study at a school that has the best quality professors that would teach your major.

Back when I was in Elementary school, I participated in a business simulation called Exchange City. The main goals of this simulation were to teach the student to make valuable decisions and manage your money in a good way. This is idea was also reinforced in high school and I have benefited from both of these. Money can be hard to find, especially now, and learning how to manage your money in the best way possible at an early age is something I find to be extremely important.

So even though I was taught critical thinking at an early age, I was still able to enjoy being a kid. I was not solely taught how to think critically by mathematical word problems and the educational simulations were quite enjoyable. I still have opportunities to enjoy thinking critically. I play a lot of video games that require a lot of thinking, such as Monkey Island and more often, FIFA, which requires you to come up with a strategy to break down defense and find a way to score a goal. You also as a manager, have to pick the squad you think is best for a game and what formation they need to be in, and whether it be more defensive or attacking mindset. It’s not just running down a court and shooting with 2 or 3 buttons. This game requires you to use every single button on the controller in different combinations. (Here is a video of some gameplay) As long as the child is enjoying and understanding what he is learning, I see no problem with them learning reasoning and critical thinking skills at an early age.

How texting has changed society

Ever since texting and instant messaging were introduced, I have hardly made an actual phone call to someone unless it is a business or my less technical savvy relatives. I feel that although this is very convenient, I would much rather talk to someone and hear their voices whether it be in person or a simple phone call. Also I hear complaints from teachers, including my brother that their students are using abbreviations like they would in text in their essays. For example "ur", "u" etc. I find these to be really really annoying because abbreviations like these are missing 2 or 3 letters tops and it's not improving grammar skills at all. I also think texting and instant messaging can have a negative on social skills because talking to someone in person is much different than typing to them. Another thing bad about text conversations is that you cannot detect a tone or whether someone is being sarcastic and word choice could convey the wrong method if no tone is heard. Oh and if you don't respond to someones text, they could be mad at you for days or think that you don't like them at all when simply, they just forgot to respond. I myself would wonder what this girl thought of me when I didn't get a response and it hurt for days. I've learned to give the benefit of the doubt since then. These are the biggest cons to textual conversations, however there are many benefits as well. When someone texts you, you have time to think about your response. It's not socially acceptable to talk to someone over the phone or in person and wait 5 minutes to gather your thoughts and say what you feel. This is much different during an IM session or text conversation. And you can talk to someone you adore for hours about something that could maybe last 10 minutes over the phone. Or instead of waiting for a person to pick up the phone, tell them the plans for the day you can send a quick text with the address or whatever and with smart phones, you can highlight the address and have google maps look it up. This is extremely convenient. So there are are many nice things to texting, but I really do miss having conversations over the phone or in person and the internet and cell phones limit that opportunity because that's just the way people communicate these days.

Favorite Music

Hey guys, I don't know how many of you will read this, but music is one of my favorite things to talk about and I wanted to know your top 5 favorite artists!

Here's mine:

1. The Beatles
2. Incubus
3. John Mayer Trio
4. Paramore
5. The White Stripes

Really tough to pick out, but I guess it's close to being right. You can see all of my favorites on my full profile. I'm anxious to see your favorites!

La Furia Roja

La Furia Roja

This video shows the starting line up for my favorite team in the World Cup this year, Spain. I think they have a fantastic chance at winning it all because they tore it up in the qualifier and it's just a team that is full of all-stars. Viva España!

Taking Popular Culture 101

In all honesty, I took Popular Culture 101 because I needed something to do over summer. I am new to Prescott and I don't know very many people so I thought it would be a good way to meet other people, as well as get ahead in my studies before I attend my first semester at Yavapai in the Fall. So far I am content with my choice because I feel that this class will be very interesting. I have taken math over summer school in my high school days and that was just awful, so it will be nice sitting in a class engaging in a topic that I enjoy, popular culture. In this class I hope that I find a liking to blogging and to continue blogging after the conclusion to this class. I am also interested in reading others thoughts in the blogs that they have posted.