
Unpacking the Critical Thinking Conundrum
When I was an undergraduate, I distinctly remember my political science professor informing the class, “If you take one thing
April 2026



April 6, 2026 | By Regan A. R. Gurung
April 6, 2026 | By B. Jean Mandernach
April 6, 2026 | By Brian Udermann
“I want to cultivate the capacity for second thoughts, by which I mean the stance and the competence that makes it feasible to inquire into the obvious. This is what I call learning.”
—Ivan Illich, “Ascesis”

When I was an undergraduate, I distinctly remember my political science professor informing the class, “If you take one thing

Ask any group of faculty whether they include critical thinking on their course learning objectives, and nearly every person will

Critical thinking has become a catch-all phrase in any education literature that touts the development of 21st century learning. It
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