Overview of Reading Group Session 1 (25th September) - Teaching Critical Thinking by Bell Hooks

This was my first text that I read for the Critical Perspectives part of my course. I enjoyed it, however found the text a little bit difficult to understand, so it helped to underline some of the words or quotes so that they stood out from the page more whilst I was processing what I was reading.

"Education was the surest route to freedom." - I picked this quote because it is still widely believed that children with a good education will go on to do better things. Not always the case, but mostly. However, black children struggled then and still do now, to get a good education - white people seem to be the priority, which seems unfair.

"Imagine what it is like to be taught by a teacher who does not believe you are fully human. Imagine what it is like to be taught by teachers who do believe that they are racially superior..." - Evidence that 'professionals' can still treat others unprofessionally. Unfair and inhumane. You'd feel scared, frightened and who should ever feel like this, especially by someone you're meant to trust?

The children were made aware that they were not like everyone else - the writer says that it made her feel a bit schizophrenic. She wanted to enjoy her learning experience, however feared what most teachers would do or say to her.

Bell Hooks wanted to write a book about essays; she wanted to explore the issues of race, gender and class - the more it is talked about, more people become aware. And, the more that people are aware, the more people want to help.

"I often joke that this picture could be called 'a portrait of the intellectual as a young girl' - my version of The Thinker. The girl in the snapshot  is looking intensely at the object in her hands; her brow a study in intense concentration. Staring at this picture, I can see her thinking. I can see her mind at work" - This is suggesting critical thinking. Thinking in depth, even as a small child. "Children are organically predisposed to be critical thinkers."  - They're inquisitive and curious. Always asking why? "Demanding to know the who, what, where, and why of life. Searching for answers, they learn almost instinctively how to think." 

Critical thinking is what matters, Hooks says, It involves discovering the 'who, what, where, and how of things' she describes it as "finding the answers to those eternal questions of the inquisitive child". It's like you're analysing and utilising knowledge and then exposing to yourself what actually matters the most about the outcome and the thought process.

Hooks is interested in the 'power of knowledge'.