Learning to think (Monday Musings...)

Monday Musings are posts that engage with issues in the world of homeschooling.

This week: learning to think.

Learning to think. This is something that I assumed all educational pursuits would fulfil. Surely this is what we go to school, college and university for: to learn to think? But, I have come to realise that this is not the case. We can be given facts, and very interesting ones at that. But, we are often not given the skills and foundations to think well. We are not required to think well.

As I progressed further up the education ladder, an ability to think well became more and more important. When studying for my PhD, it was a requirement to express original thought and ideas. To do this well, I realised that I needed a logical, watertight argument. It was at this point in my life that I realised that I hadn't been schooled to think. I'd been given lots of content and did know a lot about my subject. But, when it came to thinking and formulating ideas well, I was at a loss.

At the heart of the Memoria Press (MP) curriculum is training a child to think. They are required to come face to face with moral choices through great literary works and asked discern their fruit. They consider their own character in the mirror of truth as they study God's word and consider their response to Jesus. They are required to engage with the truth that they read and think well to understand and know well.

I'm convinced that the ability to think well is linked to living well. These are my thoughts on how thinking well changes lives:

1. Letter writing and emails

How many times do we fail to communicate well due to our lack of skill in grammar or logical thinking? Of course, we wish express ourselves informally in these way, but we need solid tools to do this well, just as I needed tools to express myself formally in my PhD. The best informal communicators are those that have studied the greats of history and have a toolbox to draw upon to say what they need at just the right time.

To be able to express ideas, you need to tools to do it. You need the grammar to be able to express your ideas on a local level. If you don't have the word-to-word proficiency to express yourself, you won't be able to communicate your ideas even if they are wonderful!

Moreover, if you have the grammar to express your ideas on a word-to-word level, but lack overall structural understanding, your audience will fail to capture your thoughts. Your composition will ramble along rather than coherently flowing from one logical argument to the next, carefully building the whole.

Thinking well is crucial in choosing to place your ideas in the right order and communicate your ideas as you intend.

2. Finding solutions 

Being able to discern what the problem is in any given circumstance and find a solution is only possible when we can think well. Otherwise, we come to the wrong conclusions and have no real solution at all.

Let me explain, if we fail to discern what the root of the problem is, or the real reason for the problem, we will fail to find a solution. If someone has a problem with a car and thinks that the engine problem is actually an issue with the electronics, the solution of replacing electrical components will not solve the engine problem.

I've realised that this is how I often go though life. I try to solve problems but lack the clear thinking to discern what is really going on. I fail to appreciate what is at the root of the issue, coming to wrong conclusions and never real solving the problem at hand. This can be an issue with my own heart, failing to realise that I am the problem, rather than someone else, for example. My focus on them rather than me will not solve my problem. It only leads to frustration and pain.

So thinking well, helps me very practically on a day to day level.

Thirdly, it helps me to:

3. Argue well 

When we have a disagreement with someone, we often fly off the handle, well I do anyway. We blame and attack others. But, along with God's work in me, I've realised that as I've learned to think better, I've been less inclined to react emotionally. I've been less inclined to lash out, but instead to try to understand what is happening in my heart and seek to understand the other person.

This has led to me being more calm and considerate of others. Thinking well has transformed my life.

This is one of the main reasons we are committed to MP: the mastery achieved through the mathematics curriculum, the logical thinking encouraged through Latin studies, the opportunity to question big historical decisions and more...

I am so grateful for a curriculum that doesn't focus on facts but on thinking. I'm convinced that this will lead to a generation that can think well and so live well for Christ in our world.