Formulaic Thinking

In recent years, I have heard people refer to “critical thinking” more and more often. The term is usually used in support of our school system. I don’t think this is how the schools teach students to think. I prefer the term, “formulaic thinking.”

The general idea behind formulaic thinking is that students don’t really think for themselves. Instead, teachers try to get students to follow the same guidelines to draw the same conclusions. Essentially, these students are following the formula for thought provided by the schools to determine what they’re supposed to think.

There is a huge difference between thinking things through and following the schools’ guidelines for thought. People who actually form their own thoughts will come to variable conclusions. This includes the development of new ideas as well as the development of personal beliefs and opinions. By comparison, products of the schools pretty much all think the same things.

Personally, I don’t care if you can follow the steps your teacher provided you to determine if you like broccoli. It’s just not the same as basing opinion off of how you register the flavor. Formulaic thinking is turning us into predictable conformists.