Teaching Critical Thinking on the Assembly Line

To teach history is to provide information about the past. To teach history is also to help and guide students to think critically about the world. One requires students to be passive and the other active learners. It is in the no-man’s land – between regurgitating information and empowering students to reorganize and engage information – where community college students and professors lose the battle of learning and teaching critical thinking skills. The positive side is community colleges house diverse students and teachers and in such a rich environment when critical learning and expression is achieved the end is a multitude of perspectives that help pupils and mentors become active citizens.