How many of you here who like to eat fish?

How many of you who like to eat plastic?

You may think the two things –are separate but actually, they are the same.

Why?

Because the plastic cup we throw away normally goes to the ocean. As plastic cannot biodegrade, after some years it only can be broken down into smaller pieces. Fish also eats them and we eat fish.

If you told me that 3 weeks ago, I would have looked at you as some of you look at me now and ran away. I now believe and know it is happening. 3 weeks ago, my friend refused to meet me in a coffee shop which uses a lot of plastic products. That made me think and reflect upon my use of plastic and the consequences caused by plastic.

Have you ever paused to reflect upon why do you do what you do? Have you ever critically thought about why do you do what you do? Do you often use critical thinking to analyse and evaluate things so you can do things more deliberately?

To challenge everyone improve their critical thinking, yesterday, in our CSpeaking gym, we also discussed about this topic.

Why critical thinking?

Critical thinking can be explained in a simple way - is the ability to think clearly and rationally about what to do or believe. Critical thinking helps us to see the big picture of a situation.

Hence, critical thinking brings different advantages:

Save time: Critical Thinking teaches you how to prioritise your time and resources by analysing what is essential to the process. This also helps you to know that a decision is ultimately a good one.
An appreciation of differing worldviews: Critical Thinking enables you to see beyond, not judge, cultural norms and learn how to understand other factors that can influence decision-making. This empathy and understanding is crucial to effective teamwork and leadership.
Enhanced Communication: By teaching you to analyse and build your evidence for any given premise, Critical Thinking can make you a more effective communicator. Consistent and relevant points to support your theory are pivotal in communicating a proposal or idea proficiently. When you know your stuff, so will they.
Decision-making abilities: You leave intuition or guesswork decision-making behind, and begin to work on a more analytical and considered basis, resulting in sounder decisions.

(Source: Regan, 2015)