Equip students with critical thinking ability

BEING a student in the 21st century is vastly different from the 20th century. When we examine each decade within the 21st century, we can see that many changes have taken place in Myanmar’s education sector. Rather than simply acquiring a broad knowledge base, the ability to think critically and thoughtfully has become more important.

Critical thinking is of great importance as a basic factor in the education sector. In fact, the ability of critical thinking is the capability of systematically analyzing any event or item without immediately believing in any factors, and it emphasizes exposing the root causes and potential effects on a wider scale. The ability is composed of discernment, the capacity to present comparisons, and the freedom to express one’s views independently.

Such ability is based on several factors, including the capacity to consider multiple perspectives, a preference for asking recipro­cal questions, understanding meaning and relevance, pre­senting answers with strong reasoning, and having inde­pendent viewpoints.

One of these abilities is the capacity to analyze prob­lems and create constructive solutions. Critical thinkers are always individuals who solve problems positively. They can distinguish perspec­tives objectively and analyze from multiple viewpoints be­fore making decisions, allow­ing them to reason logically and appropriately.

The ability of critical thinking is important in the education system, changing youths to be responsible peo­ple. In this regard, youth must be capable of making deci­sions with precision and con­fidence, enhancing the capac­ity to resolve problems and systematically considering and responding to any actions by analyzing all situations. In addition, those youth have a habit of carefully listening to the perspectives of others and politely responding to them.

Research findings show that critical thinking skills have a significant impact on education. If students are trained to de­velop these skills, their learning abilities will improve, and they will be able to evaluate and accept a wide range of perspectives. To achieve this, many reforms must be implemented in the education sector. In teaching, it is not enough for a teacher to simply explain and write formulas on the board—teachers must also equip students with practical skills that they can apply in real-life situations.

To enhance students’ learning abilities, teachers must act like mentors, guiding students to analyze, assess, and study independently. They should provide clear direction regarding students’ learning paths. As the field of study is broad, teachers need to support students in discovering useful knowledge that can be directly applied in society. Moreover, teachers should continuously encourage students to stay updated and engaged with modern technologies.