Critical Thinking in Education

In his annual State of the Nation Address the Kazakh President said that skills relating to critical thinking, independent research and profound analysis of information should be the results of pupils’ learning. But how close is Kazakh education system to this requirement, how important is it to develop critical thinking in children and what is the right way of doing this? These and many other issues were discussed at the informal conference Critical Thinking in Education of Kazakhstan in Astana on March, 27.

Organised by nation-wide movement Kazakhstan-2050, the event involved education stakeholders, the media and public figures. Speakers, among them Kazakh Minister for Education and Science Aslan Sarinzhipov, Senator Byrganym Aitimova, Dean of Graduate School of Education at Nazarbayev University Timothy Raegan, professor of Kazakh National Conservatory Gaukhar Murzabekova, Chancellor of International Academy of Business Assylbek Kozhakhmetov, have all approached critical thinking from their own viewpoints, with an angle on politics, diplomacy, the arts and education.

In his report Critical Thinking in Higher Education A. Kozhakhmetov noted that without critical thinking our nation wouldn’t be able to get into the top 30 most developed states by 2050. Furthermore, development of critical culture, human advancement through reading and the opening of libraries as well as autonomy of universities are the benchmarks in this area.

«I have recently read a book by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum “That Used to be Us”. The authors say in their book that the world will be most decisively categorised by dividing countries into high imagination enabling countries and low imagination countries, with the latter failing develop their people’s creative capacities and abilities to spark new ideas, talents and industries. “This is why we need to be part of the world with a highly developed internal imagination”, - the IAB Chancellor said. «As the late Steve Jobs said: «Stay hungry, Stay foolish». “To create something new and artistic we need to always be in search of information and its application. Alas, it’s impossible without critical thinking», - he said.