Critical Thinking

My little sister is home for the weekend. She was telling us about her classes over our pre-dawn Ramadan meal, one of which was critical thinking class. Since we were on the topic, my parents thought it would be fun to have us all play some critical thinking games.

Its is 5 am. I am barely awake for sahur.

Anyway, I play along. After a few rounds, in which all of us fail, Ayah and Ibu keep telling us that this is a highly sophisticated theory on thinking. That we just need to be a little more 'critical'. Now maybe I'm just bitter for not getting the right answers, but I can't help but just laugh at this whole exercise. I mean, its literally one person thinking about a scenario in their head, picking out 1 or 2 facts about the scenario, and making everyone guess what happens, or how the scenario has come into place. But theres a catch, theres only one right answer. So even if you reason out an answer, a good answer, if its not the specific one the person is thinking about, its wrong, you aren't thinking critically enough, you have not succeeded in this exercise.

I mean, it sounds like I'm just expected to guess the answer someone has chosen to be the 'right' one in their heads, right? Like I'm expected to be psychic....

So let me give you guys some scenarios for you to work out, this should be fun, right?

1. Romeo and Juliet died in the room. There is a pool of water in the room. What happened?

2. There was a flash of light. A man died after. How did he die?

3. Two people are dead in a car. The car is not in an accident, and the car is locked from the inside. What happened.

Okay, now you guys think. But let me give you some answers that I feel are possible and logic.

1. The ceiling was leaking, someone didn't mop the floor correctly, the water was poison like idk in the actual story?!?! They slipped or they drank the poison.

2. The flash of light was from a car, he was in a car crash.

3. The two people were beating each other to death or something? One was a murderer/rapist and the other person was a victim and in a struggle they both died. Someone shot a bullet that killed them both? Or they just died dude, dah sampai ajal lol.

Now these are they answers, and the only acceptable ones.

1. Romeo and Juliet are fish, the tank they were in dropped. (Um, ok)

2. The man took a picture of a tiger with flash and got mauled to death. (Oh right, logic, of course. There are no safety barriers in zoos, ya.)

3. It was a woman with her pregnant baby, some sort of complication, they died on the way to the hospital (Logic, but not the only possible scenario)

Don't get me wrong, I lovvvveeeee riddles, I love playing teka teki, and I know sometimes it just is like that, one answer, too bad. But imagine if it was a compulsory class that you had to attend. A teacher was reading out all these vague scenarios, and you had to guess what her version of what happened is. And if you don't guess it, your teacher tells you that you got it wrong. Think harder. Think more critically. The whole gravity of getting the answer wrong changes when you are in a classroom. It would be way different if it was just for fun.

Although maybe I'm just bitter, or not being open to new suggestions of what should be taught in a classroom. I understand its good to make people think out of the box, and not take anything as an assumption is a culture we should try to instill. I know that there are a lot of benefits to doing mental exercises like this. But I'm not too sure how I feel about a teacher evaluating a student on well, guessing. All the same, in a non-competitive environment, I truly enjoy guessing games (or 'critical thinking' games). Let me know what your opinion on critical thinking being evaluated in the classroom is! Maybe I just need some insight.

Hope you are having a great weekend, till next time!

Love,

Mira