Don't Take Literacy for Granted!!

    I like to think of illiteracy as a mental “injury.”  If your brain was a human body, a literate person would be a normal person with every part of their body in tact and functional.  They would have no restrictions on what they can do in their life as far as reading and writing is concerned.  An illiterate person on the other hand, would have major restrictions on what they could do, because their brain would be “missing limbs.”  Illiterate people can still make it though in life, just as people without limbs can, but it just makes life that much harder.  I do not take my arms and legs for granted, so why would I take being literate for granted?   
    Literacy, or the ability to read or write, is something that gets overlooked by many people.  It is really easy to just assume that someone is literate based on certain information about them.  Whether it be their job, college enrolled in, family background, etc.  For example, a friend of mine is attending a top notch university and is very close to being illiterate.  He has no business attending this university, but his ability to hit a baseball a long way landed him a scholarship.  Since he affiliated with this university,  he is automatically labeled as someone who is smart, or at the very least possesses average reading and writing skills.  Jobs can be misleading when it comes to literacy as well.  Look at a car salesman for example.  He may know the ins and outs of the car business and is literate in that regard, but you can not just assume that he is literate in general.  Thats not to say that every car salesman is like this, but it just goes to show how our assumptions may not always be spot on when it comes to literacy. 
    Taking literacy for granted is something that seems ridiculous to me.  How can you not appreciate the ability to communicate effectively though writing?  Or understand the writers purpose when you read?  How someone can not be thankful for this is beyond me.  Just think of how much it would suck to be illiterate.  It would limit the number of things you could do or experience in your life.  Reading and writing are the two big things that an illiterate person can not take part in.  Those two things, however, are tied to so many other things in life that it restricts what an illiterate person can do or achieve.  They are unable to have high end jobs, communicate with others effectively, unable to succeed in higher education and many other things.  While these are all terrible things, the worst thing a person lacking literacy can not do is raise their kids to be literate.  This not only affects the child, but society gets hurt by this as well. Illiterate parents reproduce and eventually their kids become illiterate from being exposed to the parents and their ways.  This is a trend that is common and will not end unless people take it upon themselves to become literate, not just to help themselves, but to improve the lives of their children, thus helping society as a whole.

Critical Thinking

    What does it mean to think critically?  I am sure people have different takes on the concept of critical thinking and have different ways of applying it.  Your personal take on critical thinking comes from a combination of different factors and life experiences.  It may come from your upbringing, schooling, hobbies or profession.  For example, consider a college graduates way of thinking critically to a non college graduates way of thinking critically.   The differences are probably substantial in most cases due to the different levels of education and different lifestyles they live.  People with different professions will obviously think critically about the certain field they specialize in, like a doctor in the medicine field, or a chef in dealing with food.  Everyone will have their own way of thinking critically and applying that thinking in their own way.  I am sure my way of thinking is no exception to this.
    Critical thinking is to think about something on a deeper level, rather than just skim across the top of whatever you are analyzing.  This means thinking about the details of something instead of just the broad spectrum of the subject.  I think critically about many things on a daily basis, both voluntary and involuntary.  My academic studies are something that I think about on a deeper level every time I do an assignment or read.  I take it very seriously and want to do the best I possibly can on every assignment I do, no matter how minuscule it may be.  Thinking critically allows me to to open my mind on the subject and let my mind indulge in an array of thoughts on the topic at hand.  This is especially true when I am reading.  When I read I like to think about what the author is trying to get across with his/her words.  There is so much more to a book then just reading the words on the pages.  In order to understand the book to the fullest you must put yourself in the characters shoes and endure what he is going through.  When doing this, you will not only understand the book more fully, but it will also be a much more enjoyable experience overall.  School is just one aspect of my life in which I use critical thinking on a regular basis.
    I use critical thinking on many things outside of school as well.  Basketball and poker are two of my biggest hobbies and I use deep or critical thinking in both.  In basketball, I think about how the defense is going to react if I go a certain way or make a specific pass.  By doing this, I make what I think is the best possible decision at the time.  Basketball is very fast paced, so these decisions are made very quickly.  While playing poker, I am constantly thinking critically about decisions that have to be made.  It goes deeper than calling or folding.  I consider many factors such as hand strength, opponents tendencies, position, etc.  In both of these hobbies of mine I think critically on a regular basis.  I would like to say that I think critically in all aspects of my life, but that is just not the case.  While I use critical thinking a lot, there are just some areas where I just do not think on a deeper level, whether it being due to the fact that I am just lazy or I just do not care about the topic at hand.
    While I use critical thinking quite a bit in my life, I could still learn a lot about the processes and how to apply them.  I am hoping this class will help improve and enlighten me about what thinking critically is all about.  By writing this short little blog entry, I already feel smarter than I was on the topic of thinking critically, so by the end of the semester I can only imagine how much knowledge my mind will absorb.  I am looking forward to this journey, and the valuable insight that will come with it.