Integral to success at college is developing a critical thought process. It’s one thing to learn facts from a book. It is entirely another thing to appropriately learn to apply that knowledge either on campus or in the surrounding community. For example, the topic of global warming is a hot item on many college campuses but do all of these students really know the underlying facts of the topic so that they can be part of a lasting solution? Critical thinking is a broad topic and no two people have exactly the same viewpoint as to its definition. However one thing is for certain. Critical thinking is about making choices based on the information given.

The critical thinkers of the world are the ones who change the future. When you graduate from college, what do you think an employer is looking for? Do you think that an employer wants a person who can follow instructions or one who can follow instructions plus find better ways to do things? In the business world, a better way usually means a more-efficient way that improves a company’s bottom line.

Critical thinking requires getting all of the facts. Before you just blindly accept an issue as truth, research what are the hard facts that form its basis. Don’t just repeat what the professor says until you have arrived at your own conclusions. Some professors in college have as their agenda to teach their students critical thinking. These professors will encourage you as a college student to actively participate in classroom discussions. These professors will also require you to have a sound factual foundation for any position you take on an issue. For example, some professors require their students to keep daily journals on their research for a topic and have the students turn in those journals periodically. The professor can review the journals to see if effective critical thinking is taking place.

Never underestimate the influence of personal biases to critical thinking. Sound critical thinking requires an open mind. At first, when you are gathering all the facts surrounding an issue, there should be no right or wrong ideas when brainstorming solutions. This is why many college classes will have projects in the syllabus that are group projects. Everyone in a particular group will bring new ideas to the table with the goal of completing the project. The side effect is that everyone gets to share and be open to each other’s ideas and discard personal biases.

Take advantage of guest lecturers on the college campus. Many experts and intellectuals visit college campuses throughout the school year to promote an awareness of certain hot issues of the day. These can be very informative events and add value to your total college education experience and help to develop your critical thinking skills.