The Impact of Academic Freedom Policies on Critical Thinking Instruction

dc.creator	Shirley Fessel
dc.date	2006-01-01T00:00:00Z
dc.date.accessioned	2015-08-12T11:20:35Z
dc.date.available	2015-08-12T11:20:35Z
dc.identifier	1933-4850
dc.identifier	1933-4869
dc.identifier	https://doaj.org/article/930255329df945249e5446a72ec61f57
dc.identifier.uri	http://evidence.thinkportal.org/handle/123456789/28388
dc.description	Critical thinking enjoys almost universal support, except when applied to controversial topics. Yet it is these topics that are often the most effective initiators of critical thinking exercises that improve students’ rational approaches to challenging problems. The use of controversial issues to promote critical thinking requires an institutional commitment to academic freedom in order to survive. In some institutional contexts, the most crucial need for critical thinking is the very condition under which it is least likely to be applied. Instead, avoidance of controversy seems to be the predominant policy of institutions fearful of expensive lawsuits or damaging public relations. Several trends are decreasing the likelihood that critical thinking is applied in the classroom to challenging topics: demands for increased accountability from legislatures; scrutiny of adopted content standards; oversight of Internet and other intellectual work of professors affiliated with the universities; student challenges to faculty instruction; and attempts to curtail ideological diversity. This paper describes these current dynamics which erode academic freedom and thus the ability to apply critical thinking to controversial topics. The paper also recommends that institutions and faculty adopt clearly delineated policies related to academic freedom in order to ensure faculty freedom to promote critical thinking. Awareness of how these trends impact the instructional climate enables teachers to design instruction and be more proactive in guaranteeing that critical thinking about controversial topics is able to flourish under academic freedom.
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	Park University
dc.relation	http://www.insightjournal.net/Volume1/The%20Impact%20of%20Academic%20Freedom%20Policies%20on%20Critical%20Thinking%20Instruction.pdf
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1933-4850
dc.relation	https://doaj.org/toc/1933-4869
dc.source	InSight : A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, Vol 1, Iss 1, Pp 51-58 (2006)
dc.subject	critical thinking
dc.subject	higher education
dc.subject	academic freedom
dc.subject	institutional policies
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	DOAJ:Education
dc.subject	DOAJ:Social Sciences
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.subject	Education (General)
dc.subject	L7-991
dc.subject	Education
dc.subject	L
dc.title	The Impact of Academic Freedom Policies on Critical Thinking Instruction
dc.type	article