The Power of Critical Thinking(l)

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• francis kwarteng 11 years ago

  Correction:
  
  "has succeeded" not "has succeeding." My apologies.
  
  Thanks.

  Correction:
  
  "has succeeded" not "has succeeding." My apologies.
  
  Thanks.

  reply
• ADWEN 11 years ago

  Your definition of Critical Thinking is apt, but the issue is we in Africa don't apply critical thinking in what we do in managing all aspects of our society. Hence the critical thinking which should inform the management of ...
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  Your definition of Critical Thinking is apt, but the issue is we in Africa don't apply critical thinking in what we do in managing all aspects of our society. Hence the critical thinking which should inform the management of our resources and society is simply not thinking.
  if the African ever thought critically, s/he thinking about how that particular decision benefits him/her only.
  How to apply critical thinking principles on a wider scale in African societies and our managerial choices the is the challenge we have in Africa.

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• JAK The Ripper 11 years ago

  Schooling in Ghana overly emphasises passing tests and examinations. If you fail (eg Maths or English) you are virtually finished for life. There are no alternatives to measuring/assessing your potential. Options to branch of ...
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  Schooling in Ghana overly emphasises passing tests and examinations. If you fail (eg Maths or English) you are virtually finished for life. There are no alternatives to measuring/assessing your potential. Options to branch off into some other field are very few or nearly non-existent.
  
  After you've "chewed, poured and passed..." colleagues, soviety ridicules your attempts at decision-making/solving problems based on criteria or considering options.
  
  How do you escape being labelled TOO-KNOWN when trying to apply your 'booklong' knowledge and skills?

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• Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 11 years ago

  Your essay is beautiful and highly academic. However, as a linguist, I take issue with the “morphemisation” of simple words that has convoluted otherwise lucid sentences and clouded meaning…….
  1. I would say that you ...
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  Your essay is beautiful and highly academic. However, as a linguist, I take issue with the “morphemisation” of simple words that has convoluted otherwise lucid sentences and clouded meaning…….
  1. I would say that your definition of critical thinking is excellent, and should be adequate in defining the methodology of thought and scholarship within authentic academia. However, you are oriented to the notion that so-called European and western scholarship is collectively bad and has done some damage to the African psyche. At the same time, you are quick to point out that the western corpus of knowledge actually originated from Africa. If we are being given what originated from us, how can the product be bad?
  2. A further contradiction is your profuse quotation and references to western scholars and scholarship to buttress the concept of critical thinking. At least 70 percent of your quotes reference western/European scholars while a smidgen of African scholars are appendixed for balance.
  3. Although contradictory to your thesis, you are right in asserting that “Our literature should represent a seamless diversity of educational platforms, themes or subjects.” Not only that….this approach should guide our overall educational philosophy because the fine methodology for critical thinking and educational reforms you propose are neither western nor European nor African; they are universal……..rehashed ideas which have already been applied in advanced societies and sometimes yielded results.
  4. But sometimes too, it has created fake and bigoted academics mouthing ethnic platitudes. Thus the problem is not so much about the correct path of education but what we have chosen to do with our education.
  5. Like Hitler and his protagonists, we have allowed our knowledge to be overtaken by ethnic , political and nationalist ideologies that color our critical thinking even if we apply the nomenclature you articulate in this fine article. We therefore make our conclusions in the context of our own ideological contexts and invoke standard methodologies to validate our presumptions! For example, you cannot deny that your prescription for educational reforms are articulated through the dual prisms of Afrocentric/Eurocentric cultural dichotomy as well as so-called African epistemology.
  6. The ululation of African epistemology does not amount to much when our seasoned scholars have failed to recognize our common humanity and are championing ethnic attrition on these pages.
  7. Also, the ascription of pattern commonsense to the amorphous African culture and tradition creates the hypocritical impression that we have one monolithic culture; or that we have common agreement of what constitutes African values and epistemology. We do not!
  8. The way forward for us is to regard world knowledge as universal property to be appropriated for our benefit without being concerned about its origins. World knowledge belongs in usufruct to all the world’s citizens because it is a creation of all humankind, not the western or European world.

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• mother'schild 11 years ago

  Sir, your thoughts are interesting in themselves and your critique of this article also suffers from the same mirror you try to hold against Dr. Asante. It vwould have been most fascinating if you had tried in your disagreeme ...
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  Sir, your thoughts are interesting in themselves and your critique of this article also suffers from the same mirror you try to hold against Dr. Asante. It vwould have been most fascinating if you had tried in your disagreements to also build on it but it sweeps everything with regard to epistemology as universal and disregards the salient fact all epistemology is cultural based and continues the consolidation of Africa of African disunity. Every epistemology used by any culture must indigenised in such a way that it informs and strengthens any people's heritage and traditions in order to make them better human beings. So far, it is the West which has arrogated its cultural particularism into a universalist one and seeks ti impose its epistemological constructs and structures on every people in the world. You exhibit the same strain of "Nazism" you try to use with regard to the tolerance or intolerance of viewpoints. Africa is seeking answers to her paradigmatic dilemma and it the prayers of some us that intellectuals such as yourself would make contributions that will help us unravel and choose a path that makes our identities as African purposeful to humanity as people Ayi Kwei Armah, Ama Mazama and Marimba Ani are doing. Thank you

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• Mr. Figure-Out 11 years ago

  Dr. SAS has aptly bailed me out of the numerous concerns I had with this brilliant but, somehow, controversial essay. The point no.8 of your critique is what touch me the most;
  "The way forward for us is to regard world know ...
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  Dr. SAS has aptly bailed me out of the numerous concerns I had with this brilliant but, somehow, controversial essay. The point no.8 of your critique is what touch me the most;
  "The way forward for us is to regard world knowledge as universal property to be appropriated for our benefit without being concerned about its origins. World knowledge belongs in usufruct to all the world’s citizens because it is a creation of all humankind, not the western or European world." You couldn't have said it better. Again Kwarteng made some remarks which I found it to be insulting and derogatory to the integrity of most of us and I implore him to come back here, retract and render his unqualified apology to readers now. See " Sadly,Eurocentrism has succeeding in alchemizing the African mind into the lower end of the alimentary canal." I hope he is not trying to say "asshole" when he wrote " the lower end of the alimentary canal". The problem here is that most these great men, the protagonist of Afrocentrism, benefited immensely, and rode to their greatness through the "generosity" of the western education they seems to criticize now. Afrocentricity cannot be the panacea to the numerous problems confronting the Black race. India, Pakistan, Indonesia and a host of many other nations had most of their great scientists trained in the western world, moved back to their countries of origin and use their acquired wealth of knowledge to build their nations. Now India and Pakistan are classified among the world superpowers. This is not the time to generate educational modules solely for the benefit of the blackman. The education we receive here in the USA is enough for the Blackman to move down to Africa and help ourselves. If the whiteman still controls and manipulate the Black world, then it is the selfishness of some greedy few leaders of the black continent who only care about material wealth for themselves but not because we are miseducated. To me Afrocentrism is a separatist movement which when encouraged would further deepen the cracks between the Black and the white race, as far as unity for world peace is concerned. We need the West, much as the West needs us. Mandela was a true unifier and remain my icon.

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• abra kuma 11 years ago

  When you say, "The problem here is that most these great men, the protagonist of Afrocentrism, benefited immensely, and rose to their greatness through the "generosity" of the western education they seem to criticize now." I ...
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  When you say, "The problem here is that most these great men, the protagonist of Afrocentrism, benefited immensely, and rose to their greatness through the "generosity" of the western education they seem to criticize now." I hope you are not comparing your so-called "generosity" of the West to a negligible number of Black scholars to the "generous" plundering of African human and natural resources that has systematically taken place over millenia? Or have you failed to bring that reality into the equation?
  
  Secondly, Afrocentricity may not be a cure-all for all of Africa's problems; however, it must be our point of departure in breaking free of those mental chains preventing us from adequately thinking critically to benefit our particular circumstance.It is advocating searching for our truth our way, not in the prefabricated way it has been handed down to us by Europe, descendants, and supporters.Isn't it the brainwashed Africans who are afraid to confront their own, embrace their own and improve upon their own? Afrocentricsm is all about Africans everywhere re-learning to love ourselves and to value our culture as much as other cultures value their own.
  
  Again comparing India, Pakistan and Indonesia's historical backgrounds to that of Africa is like saying slave trade and its damaging effects (along the African coast to the "New World") never existed. Point is, if yours, Dr. SAS' or mine or Mr. Kwarteng's ability to effectively think critically had not directly or indirectly been negatively affected as a result of slavery, colonialism, institutionalized discrimination towards Blacks in Western education,etc.., we would have found ourselves back home with sufficient solutions to eradicate some of our current problems(like the Indians, Pakistanis, and Indonesians you speak of) instead of simply debating the point on Ghanaweb from our respective "Western" countries.

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• Cut the Crap ! 11 years ago

  In the old days of apartheid in South Africa, one of the most annoying features of the system was the often dismissive practice of the country 's majority -African, Coloured, Indian - people as "Non-Whites".
  
  The sub-text ...
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  In the old days of apartheid in South Africa, one of the most annoying features of the system was the often dismissive practice of the country 's majority -African, Coloured, Indian - people as "Non-Whites".
  
  The sub-text of this infuriating term was that Whites were the centre of everything and the masters of the universe !
  
  Thankfully nobody talks these days about "Non-Blacks " !
  
  Now to Ghana.
  Imagine if some politician of Ewe ethnicity referring to " Non-Ewes " !!! I am sure he or she would be seen as having an Ethnocentric world view.
  
  Or these formulations :
  Non-Dagomba
  Non-Frafra
  Non-Ga
  
  The majority of Ghanaians are not Akan and not being Akan is not the defining feature of their various identities. So please stop referring to them as Non- Akans unless you want to tell me that you are happy enough to be called NonWhite or Non-European !

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• princewilly@ymail.com 11 years ago

  Two stupid farmers had this mule that was a very hard worker. The only problem was every time they went to put the mule back in his stall, his ears would brush the top of the entrance and then the old mule would go nuts and k ...
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  Two stupid farmers had this mule that was a very hard worker. The only problem was every time they went to put the mule back in his stall, his ears would brush the top of the entrance and then the old mule would go nuts and kick everything. One day, the farmers decided to cut a opening in the top to prevent this from happening. While they were working, a neighbor stopped by and asked what they were doing, so they explained the problem. The neighbor suggested that they could save a lot of work and time if they simply took a shovel and dug the entrance down a little bit. The farmers thanked their neighbor and he drove off. Then the one farmer said to the other, ‘Some stupid neighbor we have, it’s not his feet that’s too long, it’s his ears!’

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• francis kwarteng 11 years ago

  Hello,
  
  The author of this article is Francis Kwarteng, not Dr. Molefi Kete Asante. Just realized this. I can only hope the intra-textual authorial referents clearly establish that.
  
  I don't know why the editor keeps mixi ...
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  Hello,
  
  The author of this article is Francis Kwarteng, not Dr. Molefi Kete Asante. Just realized this. I can only hope the intra-textual authorial referents clearly establish that.
  
  I don't know why the editor keeps mixing me up with Dr. Molefi Kete Asante. I specifically tell him who writes what, but still gets the names wrong. This is frustrating.
  
  Well, I am writing to him to rectify the situation.
  
  Finally, additional grammatical/typos noted: "shadows" should be "shadow" and "require" should be "requires."
  
  Thanks.

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• Moses 11 years ago

  As I wrote here yesterday, the only way of stoping the confusion is to let Molefi send his articles to ghanaweb himself. Kwarteng, do not do it on his behalf. ghanaweb editors do not have time to be checking who wrote which a ...
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  As I wrote here yesterday, the only way of stoping the confusion is to let Molefi send his articles to ghanaweb himself. Kwarteng, do not do it on his behalf. ghanaweb editors do not have time to be checking who wrote which article and who is sending them an article on behalf of someone. They don't even read the articles they post and just post as and is and from the address they get it from.
  
  Of course, those who have read your articles know your style and know this is not from Molefi. They will expect Molefi to write short articles that are straight to the point and which do not mention all the writers, artists, sportsmen and women of African descent that anybody has heard of before.
  
  I still have the champagne on ice waiting for the day you, Kwarteng, will sit down and decide to write an article that is just 1500 words long, (no more, preferably less...) is straight to the point, doesn't mention so many names and does not promise a sequel or even a prequel. Such an article that will be read by many more on ghanaweb than now read your pieces.
  
  But I know my champagne will forever remain unpopped!

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• Nii Ashitey 11 years ago

  SAS seems to have started well by acknowledging the quality and reasoning nicely articulated by the author but some where along the line he got muddled by his misunderstanding of the authors given examples of authors to make ...
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  SAS seems to have started well by acknowledging the quality and reasoning nicely articulated by the author but some where along the line he got muddled by his misunderstanding of the authors given examples of authors to make his point. All the named example were either African or Afrocentric writers with the same tradition and goals. This underpins the authors philosophical concept of critical analysis of progressive African literature and concept.
  
  I also don't see the authors contradiction of asserting that western corpus of knowledge actually originated from Africa. In fact it rather shows that African scholarship existed long before western culture and values which SAS seems to religiously adhere to as against his own culture and values.
  
  Western epistemology is what underpins SAS concept of what is universal and acceptable value for all. Some of us reject that because we recognize that ethnic or cultural groups have their own distinctive epistemologies and that this must underpin our values as a people but it seems to me that the whole of SAS comment is been given a short shrift by his preferred bias to western cultural values.
  
  His universalist concept has been rejected by all progressive minded people.The goal of the universalist approach is to test and verify universality of existing theories. Cultural theorists, in contrast, point out that presumed universals are actually Western impositions and not universals. They affirm the contextualist approach and argue that every culture possesses its own unique characteristics, and they should be understood from within the culture hence the rejection of absolute universalism and relativism.
  
  Although this time SAS seemed to have made some reasonable points,his pro western values could not be hidden. Until he reassesses his universal theory, he will remain a puppet of western culture.

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• Kwame 11 years ago

  I like the article, also like Dr SAS.
  From a peasants point of view.
  We rely to much on people with Academic education, which is mostly theory, but in practice it doesn't always work. Like both agree, the world as given us ...
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  I like the article, also like Dr SAS.
  From a peasants point of view.
  We rely to much on people with Academic education, which is mostly theory, but in practice it doesn't always work. Like both agree, the world as given us a vast amount of knowledge positive and negative. Any country should take stock of the pro's & con's, sadly we don't.
  No disrespect to either of you, because of academics, people talk in a language many people don't understand, remember not everybody is going to be a brain surgeon, someone lesser in educational terms must 'clean-up' afterwards. it's like who's the most important person on a ship?
  If man stopped corruption, greed, struggle for power and control, put life/people first, instead of abuse and destruction of what was given to us ALL for free, we may move forward and resolve many of the worlds problems and live a happier life than we do now.

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