CRITICAL THINKING AND PARADIGM SHIFT IN EDUCATION

Critical thinking emphasizes the ability of learners to challenge assumptions and interrogate ideas and experiences, writes Leo Igwe

On Tuesday, October 24, 2023, the Greenville Acculturate, a Relentless Educator’s outfit, organized an event on paradigm shift in education in Nigeria. This event was the first of its kind. The theme was: Education From A Reformed Perspective: The Process, The Tactics, The Limitations. The event, held at the Enumerical Centre, Steppingstone Bus Stop, Marwa Road, Satellite Town, Lagos, explored ways to reform the education system in Nigeria and realize a shift in teaching and learning. 

The convener, Mrs. Innocent Muolagbone, noted that a paradigm shift in education in Nigeria was long overdue. That a paradigm shift was needed “to get every Nigerian teacher to switch from old beliefs and perceptions to a new and better paradigm that empowers the growth and development of teachers as educators”. As one of the speakers at the event, I used the opportunity to make a case for the teaching of critical thinking skills in primary schools. I made it clear that the introduction of these skills would occasion a paradigm shift in teaching and learning. The national policy on education states that one of the aims of primary education is to foster the teaching of critical thinking, no subject exists that strictly fosters this mental habit. The reasoning subjects that are taught in schools are verbal and quantitative reasoning. Verbal reasoning helps students form words, and understand and comprehend written messages. Quantitative reasoning equips students with the ability to reason mathematically. These reasoning subjects try to enhance the literacy and numeracy capacities of pupils, the abilities to read and write, count, and deal with numbers. However, no subject teaches students to question or interrogate what they read, write, or count. No subject equips students to query what they are taught and told in schools. Meanwhile, there should be a subject that fulfills this important role because the learning process is imperfect. The learning process is replete with errors and gaps.

As George Carlin rightly noted, “Don’t just teach your children to read…Teach them to question what they read. Teach them to question everything”. This is the purpose that the subject of critical thinking fulfills and would fulfill in schools. That is how the teaching of critical thinking can help reform our educational system and realize a paradigm shift in learning. The Nigerian school system puts so much emphasis on rote learning and memorization. The teachers dish out information that students memorize and then reproduce during tests and examinations. Teachers pose questions while students provide answers, as a way of testing and demonstrating knowledge and intelligence. Questions are asked for answer’s sake. The pattern of questioning is usually from teachers to students. This school culture has made teaching and learning in our schools teacher, not student or child-centered. The teacher is seen as an embodiment of wisdom, not a stimulator of knowledge and understanding.

The learning power relations make students passive participants in the learning process. The learning culture in schools has made students less disposed to critical thinking and reasoned inquiry. But with the teaching of critical thinking, this culture of learning will change, because critical thinking fosters active participation of learners. Critical thinking emphasizes the ability of learners to challenge assumptions and interrogate ideas and experiences. The prevailing learning culture sees the student as a storehouse, a memory box, a producer and reproducer of knowledge and information, but critical thinking sees the learner as an interrogator, a questioner, an inquirer, an investigator, an explorer, an exerciser of curiosity and inquisitiveness. Critical thinking classes are student-centered. Students, not the teachers, are the generator of questions, problems, and gaps. The generation of questions, not answers is the test of intelligence. Teachers serve as guides and providers of tools and materials for interrogation and examination. Nigeria will benefit from the introduction of critical thinking to primary schools because critical thinking is among the top ten skills that employers of labor need. Critical thinking skills are among the drivers of the 21st-century economy. However, a lack of critical thinking skills has limited the potential and employability of Nigerian graduates. And our educational system needs to address this gap and limitation. If Nigerian graduates must actively and effectively participate in the 21st-century economy, critical thinking skills must be introduced and taught from the primary to the tertiary level of education. The teaching of critical thinking will enrich and transform the school system in Nigeria. However, the potential and promises of critical thinking will remain elusive until there is a paradigm shift in education and learning.

 Igwe works and campaigns to foster critical thinking skills in schools