Critical Thinking Paper

Critical Thinking Essay

Title - Critical Thinking paper   Year -  Freshman  
Skills - research, analysis, persuasion, problem solving Category - Critical Analysis

The critical thinking paper is a three year project. This requires each student to write a 4-6 page essay to support one side of a particular issue happening locally, nationally, or internationally. I decided to write an essay against the one-child policy of China. At first I thought this would be an easy thing to argue however, afterwards I realized that most of the arguments I had in mind were humanitarians. The essence of this essay was to use logic and facts to support my point of view therefore I could not use humanitarian issues as a basis of my arguments. I found this to be very hard towards the beginning of my research. I wondered to myself “what other reasons could there be to end the one-child policy?” however what I didn’t realize was that this drive to know what else there could be helped me in my research. It caused me to be more interested in what I was doing. I learned quite a few interesting things about the one-child policy such as its actual effect on the population. I also found out that the one-child policy could possibly lead to an economic crisis in China. Before this point, none of these things even occurred to me and I found these things quite interesting.

Senate Debate

Senate Debate (Neutrality) by AshaRCAP2017

Assignment/Activity Title— Senate Debate Year—Freshman

Skill—  research, analysis, strong arguing Portfolio Category— Critical Thinking

  

The Senate Debate on whether to provide arms to England during the beginning of World War 2 was a very educational experience which has expanded my thinking in many ways. This helped me in learning how to formulate arguments. Since we did this in debate style, there were many things that I had to do that are not really necessary in an essay. With a debate, I have to state my opinion from the beginning and remain concise because I might not be called on again. Also I need to make sure that I know all about what I am going to say because there are people to refute me as soon as I am finished which would damage my credibility. I also learned how to place my arguments. With debates, one cannot simply go back and re-read, therefore I place my strongest argument last because it will  be last to leave the memory. It also benefits if you can comment last. Lastly, this taught me to look at things from the other perspective. In debating, it is not guaranteed that you will get to speak twice, or directly after your opponent, therefore you need to refute what your opponent says before they say it. This skills can be very useful in future research and essays such as the critical thinking paper.

W.E.B. Du Bois vs. Booker T. Washington

Booker T vs. Du Bois Essay

Assignment/Activity Title— W.E.B. Du Bois vs. Booker T. Washington Essay

Year—Freshman Skill— Research, Writing Portfolio Category— Critical Thinking

The W.E.B. Du Bois vs. Booker T. Washington essay was the first essay that I had been assigned in Mr. Grossman’s class. During this period, I was learning a lot about reconstruction and how African Americans were affected by the ending of reconstruction. Many of the things that I was learning appalled me because I did not know that things were so bad. We also touched on the different methods African Americans believed would grant them equal rights.