The Secret is in the Thinking
By Mark Tiller and Michael Ritacco

Critical thinking is what is tested by all computer certifications across the country. Its proponents use the term to emphasize what they believe to be a superior and more relevant style of testing--one in which the focus of the exam is the testing of technical knowledge combined with reasoning and judgment skills.

Today's global, technologically dependent, constantly-changing economy has placed new demands on IT professionals. No longer does the American economy need massive numbers of relatively unskilled manufacturing workers to fill assembly lines. The United States is a "post-industrial" economy--one that is increasingly specializing in higher-paying information and technology fields (genetics, computer science, systems analysis, medicine, engineering, finance, education, entertainment, resource management, consulting, etc.)

It is difficult to precisely define critical thinking because it has many specific interpretations, probably as many as there are different certification exams. It is probably easier to explain what it is not.

It is not the passive absorption of the course material, without the questioning of assumptions and unproved claims regarding it. It is not about being able to associate particular terms with familiar-sounding words from a course or by remembering distinctive words from a textbook definition of a key term.

It is not the kind of education that requires memorization of descriptive information. It does not highly value simple recall of data. It does not worship the collection of information for its own sake, if that knowledge is not used and applied to the real world.

No matter how proficient a student is at memorization, he or she will never be able to compete with even an obsolete computer, and the computer is far cheaper to maintain than an employee. Employers therefore are searching for employees that can do what a computer cannot do--think.

Unfortunately, our schools have been slow to respond, still turning out graduates that are ready for the 1950s industrial economy. American grade schools often are less rigorous than those of our trade competitors, and demand little critical thinking from students. By the time students reach college, many are poorly prepared for the task. This, combined with the larger-than-ever numbers of students entering higher education today, has made the problem even more challenging for the business community.

Nevertheless, it is a challenge that committed educators and serious students must meet. Whether a job or further study awaits you after certification, the most important thing you can acquire from your studies is an enhanced ability to think critically.

If you want to have an exciting and well-paying career in today's economy, you must recognize that your education, in some form or another, will never end. Therefore, you must first learn how to learn; everything else is secondary. Data changes, and information must be updated, but every reasoning skill you develop will reward you forever.

By no means does this mean that it is unimportant that you know every intricate detail of the Oracle architecure, or the correct syntax for a SQL statement. Facts are important, and ignorance of fundamental information is crippling.

However, consider for a moment something about which you personally know a lot of detailed information. Is this the case because you set down at a table and memorized it? Or is it because you have used or analyzed this information extensively? It is much easier to remember that about which you have thought deeply.

Further, unless you have acquired critical thinking skills you may not be able to distinguish between accurate information and disinformation. The "truth" and the "simple facts" are not always so easily identified. Thus, the study of raw facts must be married with the study of critical thinking.

As noted above, critical thinking may have different specific demands for individual Oracle tracks. Here are some examples of the kind things you should be able to do after you complete your certification study:

• recognize and evaluate sources of information

• organizing, classifying, and prioritizing information

• dividing concepts into individual parts and combining parts into a cohesive unit

• comparing and contrasting related concepts and institutions

• fusing isolated ideas into more sophisticated concepts

• formulating relationships between concepts or things

• identifying examples, recognizing symbolism, and making analogies

• appreciating perspectives, motivations, and roles of various institutional actors

• questioning core assumptions and unspoken understandings

• weighting the significance of phenomena

• analyzing logical argument and chains of thought

• using and evaluating evidence to defend or attack a proposition

• distinguishing between cause and effect

• distinguishing between relevant factors and irrelevant factors

• explaining unexpected phenomena and predicting events and results

• testing hypotheses and choosing between alternatives

• applying information and principles to the real world

• measuring the short-term against the long-term and the costs against the benefits

• creating and evaluating reforms and solutions to problems

• expressing one's ideas in persuasive writing

In conclusion, critical thinking is about the use of information rather than its recall. It is far more interesting, more relevant to your needs, and arguably even easier than is memorization. We all have the ability to think critically, and we all use these methods daily in our personal lives to make decisions. This is the essence of the certification exam.