Judgement
Students should be given an opportunity to show how good judgement plays an important in life and the educational process.
John,
Yes, they should. If they don't have good judgement models to follow they will have a hard time knowing when they have gotten to a good solution.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I like to give them critical thinking exercises. This allows for those opportunites
ALYSON,
What are some examples of critical thinking exercises you have found to be successful with your students?
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Definitely. Letting a student learn by failing in small ways, only stepping in if things get out of hand, could be a far better learning experience than protecting them to the point that they can neither recognize failure, or know how to deal with it. This is what I've seen good flight instructors do--as long as the situation is safe, a word when I'm sloppy is far better than their just taking the controls away or demonstrating how good they are.
In the post-school world, I have a friend who has about 1 good business idea in 10. He is disciplined and plans how to develop them, but has trouble deciding which ones are best, so I frequently play devil's advocate. His judgment for what is realistic could lead him to make bad business decisions, but he's smart enough to listen to others and know when to pull back from casual thoughts that have little likelihood of leading to success.
Learning through errors is sometimes the best building blocks for success later on.
Brian,
Speaking from personal experience I agree. I have learned that I do NOT want to make some of those errors again so that makes me analyze situations carefully before I decide on a solution.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
And unfortunately, when a person's bad judgement brings unwanted consequences, so many students don't see it as an opportunity to learn, but as an attack by teachers or administrators. They fail to see that their lives are the result of a series of decisions (some good, some bad,) possibly starting before this person was even born! Our society has adopted a "non-judgemental" attitude that has gone so far to the extreme that anyone who tries to correct a wrong is vilified for being "non-accepting" of some one else's freedom. Hey, folks, some things are still just plain wrong! We, as a society, need to develop a backbone and stand up for right.
Cheryl,
Well said and something that we need to reinforce as we work with our students. Standards are standards and they need to be enforced. Many of the fields of study that colleges offer are related to human care and growth. Our students need to be able to meet the standards of their field and we instructors need to insist on this as learning leaders. Yes we will lose some students but that is better than losing our programs and status as an institution that prepares top quality graduates.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I can speak from my personal experiences now I stop and way the situation and analyze the information before making a solution
