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It argues that higher education should be treated as a public good because it strengthens society and reduces harms linked to economic weakness, health problems, crime, and poverty. 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Facione  \nThe late George Carlin worked“critical thinking” into one of his comedic monologue rants on the perils of trusting our lives and fortunes to the decision-making of people who were gullible, uninformed, and unreflective. Had he lived to experience the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009, he would have surely added more to his caustic but accurate assessments regarding how failing to anticipate the consequences of one’s decisions often leads to disastrous results not only for the decision maker, but for many other people as well.  \nAfter years of viewing higher education as more of a private good which benefits only the student, we are again beginning to appreciate higher education as being also a public good which benefits society. Is it not a wiser social policy to invest in the education of the future workforce, rather than to suffer the financial costs and endure the fiscal and social burdens associated with economic  \nweakness, public health problems, crime, and avoidable poverty? Perhaps that realization, along with its obvious advantages for high level strategic decision making, is what lead the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to comment on critical thinking in his commencement address to a graduating class of military officers.  \nTeach people to make good decisions and you equip them to improve  \n© 2013, 2011, 2006, 2004, 1998, 1992, Peter A. Facione, Measured Reasons and The California Academic Press, Millbrae, CA  \nPermission to Reprint for Non-Commercial Uses  \nThis essay is published by Insight Assessment. The original appeared in 1992 and has been updated many times over the years. Although the author and the publisher hold all copyrights, in the interests of advancing education and improving critical thinking, permission is hereby granted for paper, electronic, or digital copies to be made in unlimited amounts, provided that their distribution is free of charge provided that whenever material from this essay is cited or extracted in whole or in part that appropriate citation is made by indicating this essay’s full title, author’s name, publisher’s name, year, and page or pages where it appears in this edition. For permission for reprints intended for sale contact Insight Assessment by phone at 650-697-5628 or by email to [j](jmorante@insightassessment.com. ISBN)[morante@insightassessment.com](jmorante@insightassessment.com. ISBN)[. ISBN](jmorante@insightassessment.com. ISBN) 13: 978-1-891557-07-1 .  \nTo support the expenses of making this essay available free for non-commercial uses, the publisher has inserted information about its critical thinking testing instruments. These tools assess the critical thinking skills and habits of mind described in this essay. To build critical thinking skills and habits of mind consider using THINK_Critically, Facione & Gittens, Pearson Education 2013.  \ntheir own futures and become contributing members of society, rather than burdens on society. Becoming educated and practicing good judgment does not absolutely guarantee a life of happiness, virtue, or economic success, but it surely offers abetter chance at those things. And it is clearly better than enduring the consequences of making bad decisions and better than burdening friends, family, and all the rest of us with the unwanted and avoidable consequences of those poor choices.  \nDefining “Critical Thinking”  \nYes, surely we have all heard business executives, policy makers, civic leaders, and educators talking about critical thinking. At times we found ourselves wondering exactly what critical thinking was and why is it considered so useful and important. This essay takes a deeper look at these questions.  \nBut, rather than beginning with an abstract definition – as if critical thinking were about memorization, which is not the case – give this thought experiment a try: Imagine you have been invited to a movie by a friend. But it’s not a movie you wa","cbCaiseCSryngJJO","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiseCSryngJJO","pdf",1716091,28,"English","# What It Is and Why It Counts\n## Defining “Critical Thinking”\n## Clarifying Meanings Through Thought Experiments","[{\"question\":\"Why does critical thinking “count” in the essay?\",\"answer\":\"It uses a thought experiment: you must clarify what bothers you about a film by defining the meaning behind a term, such as “offensive violence.” It then says this resembles the work required to define “critical thinking.”\"},{\"question\":\"How does the essay propose improving understanding of critical thinking?\",\"answer\":\"It encourages forming tentative ideas about key questions—whether critical thinking is the same as creative thinking, how it relates to aptitude, and whether it focuses on content or reasoning processes. 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