7. Are we capable of thinking critically?

A session on Critical Thinking by an eminent teacher during  the In-service course for teachers of English held in my college, began with the statement that if critical thinking is ever taught in educational institutions the teachers definitely  incapable of critical thinking is none others are teachers of English!

The Resource Person continued: What does it mean to think critically?… Is it possible to hold on to ones faith and belief in institutions of religion and culture, the moment one starts to think critically? Will it be possible to turn our eyes to the fact that there are people in India who believe that they have  a right to freedom .. a right to form a nation which believes in their  own values and ideals?.. .Perhaps thinking  critically may prevent you from holding on to a mental state of enslavement. But it would be rather absurd to believe that introduction of Critical thinking in the curriculum would naturally turn out to be an agent of liberation. It is equally presumptuous to believe that it would become a tool that empowers people who were trampled upon through  the decades.

The lecture concluded with the statement that Critical Thinking is  just another fashionable ideal being propagated in  seminars by ‘intellectuals’ who fail to grasp the implication of the term! What do you think dear reader?