Monday, November 3, 2014

The First C and the Quest for the Open Mind


The last 10 days have provided a whole range of big events and sparked some fascinating issues. Those of us in the Toronto area (and frankly many other parts of the world) finally witnessed the Toronto mayoralty election and the end (at least temporarily) of the gong show that has surrounded Rob Ford. The week before last, much of Canada was seized by the murders of the W.O. Daniel Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, and what appeared for a while to be an organized attack on our Parliament Buildings. Last week, the formerly much-beloved CBC personality and musician Jian Gomeshi began a journey that will at very least remove his cute, smooth, boyish aura, and at worst will reveal some very dark, illegal and cruel behaviours – time will tell.

What is common about these three stories are: a) they spark very strong emotional responses, and b) time unveils new perspectives and truths about each one. In each case, what appears to be or what we assume to be solid fact changes dramatically as more comes to light. The reactions from observers evolves to places that had been previously unimagined. The way many of us feel about the broader issues continues to morph with this ever-changing understanding.

Three years ago, who could predicted the Fords’ journey? Even six months ago, who could have prophesized that Doug Ford would have lost that Mayoral election by a relatively small margin while Rob returned to the City Hall as a Councilor? The day after Jian Gomeshi aggressively got out in front his dismissal, a scan of the online commentary, letters to the editors, and call-in shows’ commentaries were dominated by outrage that the CBC could have taken such a step – all just weeks after the Ray Rice case blew up.

Our Head of School Katrina Samson talks about the 4 Cs of most important outcomes for education, to which I like to add a fifth: critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and character. When I think of my own children, I am far less concerned about their subject-specific skills/performance than am I interested in their abilities in these five areas. Our contention is that these attributes will continue to take on more importance for broadly defined success in the years ahead.

Generally speaking, the first of these – critical thinking – is the one that traditional education has done fairly well at. However, watching these issues unfold and a recent piece in the NY Times have raised the question for me about how well we promote thoughtful, rationale, analytical thinking. The NY Times piece by David Brooks raises the prospect that American society is becoming increasingly polarized and defined by political doctrine … to the extent that thoughtful, open-minded, critical thinking is forced into the background. I haven’t seen any studies on the subject but fear that this may indeed be the case and, to a lesser extent, in Canada as well.

The issues of our communities, our nation, and the world require leaders who will bring thoughtful critical thinking skills, which must include the ability to understand and appreciate a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds. At our Friday chapel, I was pleased to hear students from Russia and Germany reflect on their countries’ long and painful histories with each other, and students from Hong Long and Mainland China reflect on differences and similarities. Both of these are powerful messages in the times of Putin and Hong Kong democracy activism. Our future will be most successful if these kinds of conversations are regularly taking place in as many schools as possible.

These last couple of weeks provide a horn of plenty for exploring difficult issues with young people and asking them to struggle with challenging subjects with critical thinking skills. Here are some interesting questions for you to raise at the dining room table – and try to revel in the dialogue the discussion than worrying too much about the answers:

  • Despite all the scandal and controversy surrounding the Ford brothers, Doug Ford lost to John Tory by only 7% of the vote. A scan of results by ward shows that Tory won 21, Ford won 20 and Chow only 3. And the map of the wards is shockingly polarized. What does the map mean? In light of all of the happenings of the last couple of years, what should we conclude from the fact that more than a third of voters supported the continuation of ‘Ford Nation’ in the Mayor’s Chair? What should Tory do to address this situation?
  • Were the deaths of Daniel Vincent and Nathan Cirillo more about the danger of terrorism from fundamentalist Islam or mental illness in Canada? Should these attacks prompt Canada to readjust the balance between individual freedoms and greater security powers? Or should the identification and treatment of mental illness become a higher public policy priority? Should government have the right to hold Canadians who have committed no crime but who may very well pose a grave threat for committing one in the future?
  • Should employers have the right (and responsibility) to discipline or fire people who may not have been charged with a crime but who seem to have done bad things? Should some members of society (e.g. media personalities, professional athletes, politicians, CEOs and community leaders) be held to a higher bar than the average citizen and be punished for non-illegal acts (or at least those which have not yet gone through legal process?) Does the State have any business in the bedrooms of the country?

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