By: Megan Prats

9/22/2015

Even though as a teacher you’re an authoritative figure, your authority does not transcend to command. In order to preserve the independent thinking element of critical thinking, the student shouldn’t be obligated to do or think something just because you say so. Thus, when you teach, your advice materializes as recommendations and you provide the student the autonomy to apply them if she wishes.

An independent thinker must be developed most ardently when disagreement materializes because the independent thinker must learn to overcome disagreement to stick to her conclusion. Thus, when the student thinks otherwise of your advice, don’t chastise the student. Instead, state to the student that, “well, you can apply my advice if you so choose.” However, before you just leave the discussion at that, make sure to challenge the student’s conclusion to ensure that it is a solid one. The idea with independent thinking is that we want the student to stick by a good conclusion even if popular opinion disagrees with her, and not to stick by her conclusion just because she wants to be rebellious.

So, in order to set the mood for the discussion, you can simply let the student know that, “what I say to you are recommendations and it is your ultimate decision to apply them.” Then once the student disagrees with you, it is time to start a solid debate. Make sure that emotions don’t run wild and just focus on the intellectual aspect of each argument. See if the student can prove you wrong and if she does, acknowledge it.

Moving yourself into a consultant role can be quite emotionally challenging because as a teacher, you’re used to being the answer box for the student. However, one of the most important insights into critical thinking is that because the infinite realm of knowledge leaves the unknown perpetually on the table, there is always a chance that you can be wrong. So, you need to proceed forward with the student with humbled confidence in your argument and do not be ashamed if the student does a better job than you during the lesson (it has happened to me several times and I’ve gone to the student and admitted that her answer was better than mine).

There’s actually something quite liberating about taking a consultant role because it diminishes your responsibility over the student’s actions. Thus, you can proceed with the mentality that, “I’ve made my argument and I’ve done my best”, even though the student goes down an unfortunate path. For instance, one of my students had an intense ego boost in his drumming when he started playing in a rock band. His ego told him to stop listening to me because all of a sudden, he knew more about drumming than I did, and he became defiant during the lessons. Eventually, he stopped his lessons altogether. But, because I’m a consultant and not a dictator, if he didn’t heed my advice in his last lessons because of his ego, well that’s his problem and not mine. I did my part by making it clear to him that I thought that his ego was the problem and then I didn’t belabor the subject.

In order to teach thinking independently you need to allow the student to do so even when her conclusion differs from yours. Thus, it is important for you to think of yourself as a consultant instead of “the answer” because in reality, a teacher’s function is best played in a recommendatory fashion. Even though this perspective change can be emotionally challenging because it contradicts the current perception of the teacher, it is actually quite liberating because as a consultant, responsibility leaves your shoulders and falls on the student’s more so. Therefore, happy consulting!

© Megan Prats 2015