Critical and Creative Thinking

Hello Friends, Colleagues, and Neighbors,
 
Just a few thoughts on this Tuesday afternoon. 
 
I cannot express how important critical and creative thinking is.  Over the course of the last few weeks, I have spent a lot of time thinking about confirmation bias.  Confirmation bias, the idea that any new evidence that we find fits in with our pre-existing beliefs and we force it to do so, is riddled with fraught.  We have stopping thinking about issues and only think about being correct.  We ignore evidence, disregard contrary opinions, and push aside conversations that are uncomfortable. 
 
Do we want our children to be able to think, to analyze, to conceptualize, to evaluate, and to truly understand issues?  Or do we want to continue with the oversimplification of ideas, the adherence to conformity of opinion, and blind compliance?
 
As someone that has had many a discussion online that has just become a rehash of the same arguments and the attachments of the same evidence, I know that we can do more.  Our schools need to teach critical thought, debate, and how to have a meaningful discussion about subjects that matter.
 
With the overwhelming amount of testing, we are creating a generation that can read and write, but has nothing to discuss. 
 
As a member of the Columbia County School Board, I will fight to decrease the influence of testing and bring our schools back to a place where critical and creative thinking is paramount. 
 
My name is Andrew Kemp and I am running for the School Board of Columbia County, Georgia.
 
-Drew
 
http://gofundme.com/kemp4ccboe/