Post by MarcArthur St. Juste on Feb 12, 2021 1:06:08 GMT
Discussion Post (From Assignment #1, see below for Assignment #2):
Barriers
After you've watched the video and completed the readings, write a substantive entry on the discussion board sharing the factors that can get in the way of people thinking critically. Share an example of where you did not use your critical thinking skills. What was the outcome and how could / would it have been different if you had applied critical thinking skills?
"It's all in the bag."
I remember seeing a black shopping bag (no logo) hanging on the doorknob of my home. I took the bag and tossed it into the garbage. Simple enough? No, not so simple. Hours later I'm scrambling through slime, recycled and unrecycled trash and who knows what to retrieve newly purchased jewelry wrapped in decorative tissue paper to be given as a gift to an in-law. My almost always way of doing things was if I saw something that didn't seem to belong and it appeared to be trash...I TRASHED IT. Well, that night literally trashed my chances of getting on my wife's good side and potentially creating a superficial, toxic relationship with in-laws that would now perceive me brash, selfish, inconsiderate and then some. Let's revisit this scenario to see what could I have done differently? When I saw the bag, I could have asked "Why is this here? What is this?" I allowed My biases and habits (what always happened) to blind me and hinder me from looking at this black plastic bag as a regular plastic bag (trash), versus seeing it as an item that was not on the door and has a purpose or several reasons why it could be on the door. Who put it there? Why? What's this colorful tissue paper doing inside of the bag? Is there something of value in here or is it just trash? Or maybe, this maybe seen as "trash" to me but may have some intrinsic value or projected value from the individual that placed it there. Should I throw it away? Who should I ask? and the list of questions would have eventually led me to a process of asking my wife about the bag and would have saved me the "trauma" of having to dig through TRASH in an initial effort to rid of "Trash". Pun intended.
My answer and solution to the mystery trash is... where? You know...
It's ALL in the BAG.
*Smile*
MarcArthur St. Juste
================================
ASSIGNMENT #2
================================
Barriers - Part #2
I believe the following can be barriers to effective Critical Thinking:
Personal Bias
Incorrect Information or Lack of Knowledge
Assumptions/Fears
Having a predetermined filter or belief often is the lens through which we see and approach problems. In order to make right decisions we need information. Fear of outcome and assumptions or rushing to get answers to meet a deadline can also be a barrier.
Example from personal experience to follow...
What comes to mind when you think of someone who lives in or comes from BROOKLYN?
Are you thinking about HOT DOGS on CONEY ISLAND? Or maybe LABOR DAY with it's colorful floats and vibrant music on the Parkway? Or maybe you're thinking of an accent like that of Robert Deniro or Joe Pesci? Or maybe you're thinking about Road Rage and how the speeding limit is only 25 when people used to tailgate at 35? Guess what. NONE of those are your filters. Those were mine. As a matter of fact, growing up we expected all JAMAICANS to say "Ya Mon!" or walk around with dreadlocks and uncombed facial hair. I grew up with DICE clay's BATTA BING BATTA BOOM! and Woody Allen's cross-cultural plays, skits and movies. I grew up where everybody was "KUNG FU FIGHTINNNN!" and the flicks on TV had Asian men speaking English faster than their lips could move. I grew up where bullying or getting bullied was the norm and making fun of kids' fashion or comparing who's life was the worst was a great pass-time. Why am I sharing all of this? This is a glimpse of some of the images, models, messages both literal and subliminal that I allowed myself to be fed and nurtured prior to an instance that I will share in just a moment. I mentioned Jamaicans but back then all "West Indians" were lumped into categories of badass and trouble versus well-mannered and well-spoken. We thought that all dreadlock brethren with golden teeth were drug dealers and "Bad Mon". I remember walking on the streets of Flatbush and getting myself ready to cross the street to avoid a monstrously broad-shouldered six foot three dreadlock charcoal toned rasta calling out as if to sell something. In my mind, "Whatever he's selling....I'm NOT buying." and within seconds, "Hey mon, mi brudda". My luck. He called me, singled me out of all the pedestrians and walkers-by on this busy street to say "Can you help me?" Fast forward, years later I'm working in Social Services with individuals of diverse backgrounds and vernacular in an environment where my previous filters could not would not and definitely will not work. Rewind back to DREAD. It turns out he was a traveling Christian Music producer, real estate investment guru, photographer, music studio owner, (showed me his studio in Flatbush Brooklyn where he even recorded Wyclef Jean and other celebrity artists) and articulate, well-spoken and well-mannered vegan juicer. We spent over 45 minutes and eventually reconnected. Due to much travel and changed numbers we lost touch but the point of this example is this:
One of the greatest and most powerful components of life is CONNECTION. The fiber of humanity, the link between dreams and reality...it's HUMAN CONNECTION. Healing. Transformation. All of it spawns from human connection. My assumptions about West-Indians (being one myself!) from the Caribbean, my fears and apprehensions that I took on as fact based on what was communicated and displayed to me and my interpretation through the filters of LEARNED PERCEPTION all created a BARRIER to my connection to the point where I nearly didn't connect at all. I was only a few footsteps away from killing off a great connection that was responsible for literally shattering the stereotypes and predetermined filters I had for people like me. What made me stop as opposed to walking and deafening my ear was the belief in "the possibility" that this time the stereotypes I held or that others proclaimed could be wrong. Maybe just maybe, I'm wrong about golden tooth Rastas or people of color from Brooklyn. Critical Thinking is not simply the ability to critique what's present but also the ability to believe in WHAT's POSSIBLE.
Barriers
After you've watched the video and completed the readings, write a substantive entry on the discussion board sharing the factors that can get in the way of people thinking critically. Share an example of where you did not use your critical thinking skills. What was the outcome and how could / would it have been different if you had applied critical thinking skills?
"It's all in the bag."
I remember seeing a black shopping bag (no logo) hanging on the doorknob of my home. I took the bag and tossed it into the garbage. Simple enough? No, not so simple. Hours later I'm scrambling through slime, recycled and unrecycled trash and who knows what to retrieve newly purchased jewelry wrapped in decorative tissue paper to be given as a gift to an in-law. My almost always way of doing things was if I saw something that didn't seem to belong and it appeared to be trash...I TRASHED IT. Well, that night literally trashed my chances of getting on my wife's good side and potentially creating a superficial, toxic relationship with in-laws that would now perceive me brash, selfish, inconsiderate and then some. Let's revisit this scenario to see what could I have done differently? When I saw the bag, I could have asked "Why is this here? What is this?" I allowed My biases and habits (what always happened) to blind me and hinder me from looking at this black plastic bag as a regular plastic bag (trash), versus seeing it as an item that was not on the door and has a purpose or several reasons why it could be on the door. Who put it there? Why? What's this colorful tissue paper doing inside of the bag? Is there something of value in here or is it just trash? Or maybe, this maybe seen as "trash" to me but may have some intrinsic value or projected value from the individual that placed it there. Should I throw it away? Who should I ask? and the list of questions would have eventually led me to a process of asking my wife about the bag and would have saved me the "trauma" of having to dig through TRASH in an initial effort to rid of "Trash". Pun intended.
My answer and solution to the mystery trash is... where? You know...It's ALL in the BAG.
*Smile*
MarcArthur St. Juste
================================
ASSIGNMENT #2
================================
Barriers - Part #2
I believe the following can be barriers to effective Critical Thinking:
Personal Bias
Incorrect Information or Lack of Knowledge
Assumptions/Fears
Having a predetermined filter or belief often is the lens through which we see and approach problems. In order to make right decisions we need information. Fear of outcome and assumptions or rushing to get answers to meet a deadline can also be a barrier.
Example from personal experience to follow...
What comes to mind when you think of someone who lives in or comes from BROOKLYN?
Are you thinking about HOT DOGS on CONEY ISLAND? Or maybe LABOR DAY with it's colorful floats and vibrant music on the Parkway? Or maybe you're thinking of an accent like that of Robert Deniro or Joe Pesci? Or maybe you're thinking about Road Rage and how the speeding limit is only 25 when people used to tailgate at 35? Guess what. NONE of those are your filters. Those were mine. As a matter of fact, growing up we expected all JAMAICANS to say "Ya Mon!" or walk around with dreadlocks and uncombed facial hair. I grew up with DICE clay's BATTA BING BATTA BOOM! and Woody Allen's cross-cultural plays, skits and movies. I grew up where everybody was "KUNG FU FIGHTINNNN!" and the flicks on TV had Asian men speaking English faster than their lips could move. I grew up where bullying or getting bullied was the norm and making fun of kids' fashion or comparing who's life was the worst was a great pass-time. Why am I sharing all of this? This is a glimpse of some of the images, models, messages both literal and subliminal that I allowed myself to be fed and nurtured prior to an instance that I will share in just a moment. I mentioned Jamaicans but back then all "West Indians" were lumped into categories of badass and trouble versus well-mannered and well-spoken. We thought that all dreadlock brethren with golden teeth were drug dealers and "Bad Mon". I remember walking on the streets of Flatbush and getting myself ready to cross the street to avoid a monstrously broad-shouldered six foot three dreadlock charcoal toned rasta calling out as if to sell something. In my mind, "Whatever he's selling....I'm NOT buying." and within seconds, "Hey mon, mi brudda". My luck. He called me, singled me out of all the pedestrians and walkers-by on this busy street to say "Can you help me?" Fast forward, years later I'm working in Social Services with individuals of diverse backgrounds and vernacular in an environment where my previous filters could not would not and definitely will not work. Rewind back to DREAD. It turns out he was a traveling Christian Music producer, real estate investment guru, photographer, music studio owner, (showed me his studio in Flatbush Brooklyn where he even recorded Wyclef Jean and other celebrity artists) and articulate, well-spoken and well-mannered vegan juicer. We spent over 45 minutes and eventually reconnected. Due to much travel and changed numbers we lost touch but the point of this example is this:
One of the greatest and most powerful components of life is CONNECTION. The fiber of humanity, the link between dreams and reality...it's HUMAN CONNECTION. Healing. Transformation. All of it spawns from human connection. My assumptions about West-Indians (being one myself!) from the Caribbean, my fears and apprehensions that I took on as fact based on what was communicated and displayed to me and my interpretation through the filters of LEARNED PERCEPTION all created a BARRIER to my connection to the point where I nearly didn't connect at all. I was only a few footsteps away from killing off a great connection that was responsible for literally shattering the stereotypes and predetermined filters I had for people like me. What made me stop as opposed to walking and deafening my ear was the belief in "the possibility" that this time the stereotypes I held or that others proclaimed could be wrong. Maybe just maybe, I'm wrong about golden tooth Rastas or people of color from Brooklyn. Critical Thinking is not simply the ability to critique what's present but also the ability to believe in WHAT's POSSIBLE.
