Raising Critical Thinkers: My Review, 5 Key Takeaways, and Why This Book Isn’t Just For Parents
Note: Should you choose to read this book, I recommend your library. It’s free, after all. Barring that, ask your local bookstore. Barring even that, you can purchase through Bookshop.org, which donates a portion to local bookstores. If you buy through my link, I’ll receive a small (10%) commission.
I’m a big advocate for reading widely: inside my interests, outside my interests, in different languages, and from different worldviews.
I’m not a parent, so I’m not the “target audience” of Julie Bogart’s Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent’s Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age. Yet, the core idea piqued my curiosity and I gave it a read.
This Book is Not Just for Parents
Reading this book helped me reflect on my own thinking. In this article, I share my biggest takeaways from Raising Critical Thinkers.
Above all, I’m impressed that this book avoids the cliché advice about what makes a critical thinker.
1) It All Starts With Self-Awareness
This is the thesis and theme of the book: critical thinking starts with self-awareness.
This is the biggest theme of the book. What’s challenging about “self-awareness” is it’s not a concept you can hear once and instantly grasp.
In fact, I could have imagined reading this book at a different point in life and been confused by this point.
It’s not even an easy phrase to define, just like “critical thinking.” But I’ll sum it up as the ability to recognize and examine your own thoughts.
All day long, thoughts race in our heads. Most of them we’re not aware of. But we’re thinking. We’re flashing images, we’re speaking to ourselves. These thoughts construct stories, and those stories lead to the decisions we make.
Bogart writes, “Critical thinking relies on this pivot to self.”
This point, the importance of self-awareness, she comes back to over and over. This is a crucial point because often when we say “we need more critical thinking” what we mean is that other people should be better critical thinkers.
It reminds me of the stat that most people think they’re above average drivers, which is of course statistically impossible. Most of us think we’re above average critical thinkers, and that other people are the problem.
The core of the book is to, instead of focusing on other people and their thinking, to focus on our own.
I’m not sure this book alone is enough to make this change, because self-awareness is a practice. It’s at the heart of traditions as old as humanity like meditation. It’s why I used the Waking Up meditation app almost every day.
Connecting Self-Awareness to New Thoughts
I think this passage explains nicely how this can connect to “critical thinking.”
“When your viewpoint is under assault, what happens? Does your heart race? Are you flushed with anger? Do you experience a shot of adrenaline? What stories does your mind make up about the evidence the other person presents? Do you doubt their sources automatically? If you take the extra step to actually examine the evidence, and by some gift of integrity conclude that it is accurate and your conversation partner was right, now what? Can you quiet your nerves? Do you admit your error? Will you revise your thinking? What if you’ve already invested a lot of heart and time into that now-errant position? Imagine what that error means if you’ve made lifestyle and financial decisions based on those ideas. Supposed you’re a member of a community dedicated to beliefs in conflict with this new evidence. Can you easily move on, revising your opinions and practices to align with this new data?”
The core skill is to be able to recognize these reactions. It allows us to no longer be slaves to the strong emotions and beliefs we already hold.
Related to this, I also love how she rejects the common knowledge to be “open-minded.”
“The key practice that allows us to benefit from all the skills we’ve talked abut so far isn’t open-mindedness. It’s self-awareness. Without turning the camera lens on ourselves, all our researching, caring, identity observing, and encountering can wind up reinforcing our preconceived ideas.”
It’s a mistake to think this is just for kids. In my mid-20s, I need it just as much. In fact, I need it more than ever as I continue to share more on social media, which inevitably leads to strangers challenging my ideas. Self-awareness helps turn what otherwise would be stress-filled debate into something more insightful and productive.
2) Let Go of Control
Bogart uses the term “dissent” to describe how we should allow our children to explore their own ideas and thinking, even when its different from how we think. She writes, “Any group that banishes dissent or puts loyalty and obedience at the center of their ideology has created an environment where critical thinking cannot thrive.”
Again, it’s not just about our children. With everyone in our life, we may want them to think like us. We want them to see our way, to agree with it, to act like we would.
Bogart doesn’t use this word, but I see this as a form of control. As I read this book, I thought about how I get frustrated when some just “doesn’t get it” the same way I do. Or how I “can’t understand how someone would think that way.”
Both of these instances come about because I am resisting dissent. In a way, I’m trying to control how that other person thinks.
Bogart continues why it’s important to encourage “dissent.” When we insist on a certain viewpoint, we discourage nuanced, deeper thinking.
Instead, if we see there’s no “right” answer, we can encourage deep exploration and nuance.
Critical thinking looks like exploring further and further down the branches of various ideas, giving different viewpoints a fair shot.
After reading this book, a theme that has been on my mind is how many problems in the world would solve themselves — or would never have happened — if we weren’t so set on trying to control the way other people think.
Yet, underneath this too is self-awareness. That’s what nearly everything in the book comes back to! When I’m talking to my friends or even strangers who think different, I must pause and examine my reactions. Bogart writes, “What is the skill we need in order to get to know someone who is different? It’s not the ability to tolerate them; it’s the ability to tolerate our own discomfort.”
I Want My Kids to Teach Me
I do not think the same as my parents. I never have. They always allowed me explore my own thinking. I now realize how lucky I am to have had parents who allowed “dissent.”
As I reflect on this, I hope I can allow my kids to explore their own thinking too. No doubt, this means they will have ideas and worldviews that are different from mine. I’m looking forward to them challenging how I think.
3) Absorb Different Ideas and Experiences
Several chapters talk about variations of how one of the best ways to challenge our thinking is to get exposed to different perspectives. This takes up most of part two of the book, “Read, Experience, Encounter.”
Yet it’s not as simple as “read more broadly and travel more” and then you’ll be a more critical thinker. Bogart stresses that how we approach each of these matters a lot.
Again, it comes back to self-awareness. If we read something we already think we’ll disagree with, we may look for ways to nitpick problems and dismiss the points.
Instead, Bogart encourage us to “give the writer the floor.” Doing this requires us to reflect on our own discomfort, emotions, and approach.
The same applies for experiences. Bogart suggests we…
- Tackle a first
- Break a rule
- Meet a person
4) Critical Thinking Requires Practice: The Exercises Are Not Just for Kids
Every chapter has exercises that parents can do with kids of different ages. They come from her experience homeschooling. But I found myself drawn to the same exercises.
Many of these exercises which she suggests for five-year-olds would also be great for you and me.
5) Our Identities Shape Our Thoughts
This is another huge topic, and I’m impressed she was able to include it and keep it concise. Again, it comes back to self-awareness: how do the groups that we’re apart of shape our thinking? Do we feel that we’re not able to disagree because we risk conflict? Being kicked out of the group?
Does holding an identity “outsource” our thinking to other people? For example, if you identify as a “libertarian” or an “anarchist” or whatever, you may be more likely to automatically agree with those who say they’re a part of that group.
Bogart writes, “To consider the perspectives that challenges our community’s well-established beliefs and values is to risk sabotaging that membership… Our biology is hard at work making us feel as though we’ll lose everything if we lose our people.”
By noticing what identities we have, what groups we’re apart of, and how this affects how we feel, we can now have an easier time hearing dissenting viewpoints and perspectives.
The Book is a Bit Repetitive, But I Like That
Almost every single chapter comes back to how we can examine ourselves: our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and more.
It does feel repetitive at times, but given how big of a topic it is, I like that she approached it from many angles. In doing so, if one chapter didn’t help the point land, maybe another would.
If You’re Put Off By The Book Because You Disagree with Bogart’s Worldview, You’re Missing the Point
As I was writing this article, I was reading other people’s reviews online. There’s something meta about reading a book about critical thinking because as you do you will critically think more about this very book.
I don’t agree with all of Bogart’s worldview. You won’t either. If that keeps you from getting value from the book, the entire point has gone over your head.
I heard some reviewers calling it “woke” and others saying that she didn’t acknowledge her vantage point and bias. Still others gave one or two star ratings because she’s not a Christian.
The point of her examples is not to hold her beliefs up as true. They’re to demonstrate an example. The fact that you might disagree with the stories she tells and the conclusions she draws, ironically, displays some of the exact common problems she talks about.
Bogart writes, “To be a critical thinker means getting comfortable noticing our swift reactions when they come up to ensure that those automatic thoughts don’t overwhelm other possible interpretations.”
If you dismiss it because she’s “woke” (a worthless phrase, anyway), or because she draws a different conclusion about the meaning of life, then you’re missing the point that we should try to understand the perspectives of other people, and examine how they make us feel.
A Book I’m Glad I Have on My Shelf and Will Revisit
I usually get books from libraries, but I’m glad I have a copy of it. I will revisit the exercises both for myself and when I have kids.
I also have found the book a useful reference thanks to many excellent quotes. I’ve already quoted the book in a newsletter and a book chapter I’m working on. If you read the book, make a note to come back to this article and let me know what you took away from it.
