Reference no: EM133037941
Barriers to Open-Mindedness Among Students
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According to Papathanasiou, et.al. (2014) critical thinking refers to the mental process of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of collected information through observation, experience and communication that leads to a decision for action. Walker (2003) lists seven dispositions namely: inquisitiveness, open-mindedness, systematicity, analyticity, truth-seeking, self-confidence, and maturity, that students must possess and use in order to successfully develop critical thinking. This implies that if these dispositions do not operate in concert, the learner may have challenges exhibiting critical thought. Drawing from my own classroom experience with the high school students, out of these seven dispositions, open-mindedness would be the most problematic for students to exhibit. Open-mindedness is a tendency to allow others to express their possibly different points of view and the willingness to demonstrate tolerance for different opinions (Insight Assessment, 2017).
According to Ennis (1985) open-minded students: are open thinkers, defend their own opinion and only change opinions when evidence and reason are sufficiently convincing, and aim at as much precision as possible as justification when making decisions concerned with determining solutions to problems. In short, students who are accustomed to open-mindedness always think rationally because they can accept all possible different logical views and focus on the truth of a solution (Stanovich, 2016). Even though open-mindedness is critical in teaching students to understand how contextual factors shape the way people in their own neighborhood, or across the world, think and live, inculcating it among students can be quite challenging.
For instance, cultural and traditional beliefs impede growth of open-mindedness among students. Research shows us that one barrier to open-mindedness is misperception. Some learners hold strong beliefs about various factors and therefore changing this thinking may be difficult. This implies that If we want students to understand their interconnected world and its peoples, we must provide students with the experiences, knowledge, and skills needed for them to be receptive to and appreciate the diversity of human experience, knowledge, and belief systems.
Additionally, we have the existence of stereotyping, prejudgement, and overgeneralization that students may have concerning their peers from different backgrounds. Most students around the world come to school with stereotypes or misinformation about other cultures. To counter such stereotypes and misinformation, we should provide students with activities that address their misperceptions as they learn mandated content. Students need to understand why some people live in poverty, why some people continue to be discriminated against locally and globally, and how people around the world resist oppression and work towards equality and rights.
More so when students lack perspective consciousness as well as the habit of seeking out multiple perspectives, it becomes challenging to nurture the aspect of open-mindedness among them. Lack of perspective consciousness in this case is when they fail to recognize that their view of the world is not universally shared (Robert, 1976). For example, they do not understand that this view of the world has been and continues to be shaped by influences that often escape conscious detection, and that others have views of the world that are profoundly different from one's own.
This is to say that skills in perspective consciousness and the habit of seeking out different perspectives help students recognize how people interpret events and issues in quite different ways based on their backgrounds and experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and values. When students come to recognize that people have their reasons for seeing things in different ways, they can move on to examining different ways of thinking within cultural, political, and other contexts. They can begin to accept that different perspectives are part of being human, and that it is important to understand why people have different frames of reference.
To conclude, it is worthy noting that irrespective of the methods used to promote critical thinking, as educators, we must consider the many factors that may inhibit students from thinking critically. The learner's disposition to think critically is a significant factor, and if a deficit in a disposition is noticed, this should be nurtured. In other words, we should strive to employ appropriate strategies in our instructional practices that can help us overcome challenges that hinder the development of open-mindedness among students. Besides, as Wells (2011) puts it, we should encourage students to be inquisitive, ask questions, understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, as well as be open to the perspectives, values, and traditions of other individuals and communities