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Analyzing and Judging Information
September 26th, 2010
About three weeks ago, discussing DeafRead, a top-level Gallaudet University administrator confessed to me his father had difficulty discerning information. The administrator said he tried to “teach” him how to, but his father just wasn’t capable. I liken discerning information to “not believing everything you read” or being able to judge whether to rely on information. This leads to something else that I believe is largely amiss in the deaf community: critical thinking skills. Without solid critical thinking skills, the less we are able to discern.
Mike McConnell | September 27th, 2010 @ 1:46 am
Well, I can’t say that I’m not surprised seeing how some people read and respond to written information.
tayler | September 27th, 2010 @ 9:09 am
I don’t think it’s specific to written information.
Barry Sewell | September 27th, 2010 @ 9:43 am
There are people out there that will always try to slaughter you for being a critical thinker, simply because they see it as disloyal thing to do. Their ideal is to turn everybody into conformists, which won’t be possible for as long as I’m around.
Diane Plassey Gutierrez | September 27th, 2010 @ 9:53 am
Tayler, thanks for the article. It should be printed out and tacked up on the wall beside one’s computer.
Critical, clearheaded thinking requires honesty and willingness to admit there are different answers and one’s shortcomings. It is harder to reach this level of discussion than it is to reach the level where one recognizes BS.
The average person has a built-in BS detector that works pretty well even when things are over his head or he was put at a disadvantage by a more clever person.
BS is detected most rapidly when one’s personal values are attacked and someone else tries to take over or impose different values. It takes effort to be able to analyze why and how the BS is being delivered. This effort often interferes with problem solving.
If one is not able to defend against the attack because of inability to identify the fallacy and argue against it, the typical reaction is to back off, grumble “lying bastard” and close up ranks with one’s like-minded friends. This gives the BS aggressor the winning hand and delays solving the problem.
It can be never-ending because there will always be BS’ers attempting to control the situation. Strength comes from describing the situation, the different opinions and pinpointing the people that the opinions serve best.
For example, ASL supporters fight for the right of children to have ASL from infancy. Opponents fight for parental choice and that many children do not need ASL.
The way to resolve this is to break the situation into its parts: who are they and what are they saying? Who are they talking about–i.e profoundly deaf children only, both deaf and HOH, or all children, regardless of hearing status? Are they arguing for–the child must learn a basic language, two languages, to learn to talk, or all of the above? Often breaking down the situation will eliminate logical false starts when agreements are discovered.
Then there is the true BS’er who is in it to play a game to win. “Intellectual debate” is their cup of tea, and stubbornly holding an opinion that actually means nothing to them is their passion. The fallacy here is “someone must be right and I am that person.”
There is the messianic person who has a cause to fight for…those who are out to save babies from a life of illiteracy and isolation, or those who are out to save babies from a disabled life limited to ASL. It doesn’t matter how much hearing or other resources the babies may have. The fallacy here is “one consequence, therefore one answer for all.”
Just two examples of how BS can be used to throw off clearheaded thinking and problem solving. Being critical does not mean finding faults, but it means the ability to search out all possible answers and evaluate each of for their pros and cons. It means to eliminate personal motives, personality conflicts and hidden agendas. Clearheadedness means the ability to see solutions and goals down the road.
Critical clearheadedness is the ideal for blogging on issues.
Barry Critchfield | September 27th, 2010 @ 9:57 am
I think it would be helpful to DEFINE critical thinking as it applies to the Deaf Community. I see all around me people reacting angrily to an apparent threat, only to learn later that they misjudged a situation or comment by not understanding the relevant variables.
Who is to blame? Educators? Parents? The Vlogosphere? Us?
Sometimes I think we should all take a dose of Ritalin or Concerta every morning so we don’t act so impulsively…
tayler | September 27th, 2010 @ 10:15 am
@Barry Critchfield, as a doctor, you may be interested in the “Online Disinhibition Effect“. I discussed this in a March 29, 2010 vlog titled “The Wild West: New Frontier of Online Personas“.
Additionally, Dianrez presented a good analysis, and beginnings of a definition (?), of critical thinking skills as it applies to the deaf community.
Mike McConnell | September 27th, 2010 @ 10:32 am
I think along with critical thinking is the realization of the differences of how each person perceive a writting based on their own background. How they respond correspondingly might relate to their own level of critical thinking ability and other variables. Sometimes people respond to the point of paranoia or suspicion rather than see the bigger picture for what it is. Others immediately understand where the article is going and contribute to the discussion. It’s really an odd and even surprising thing to watch when that happens.
Marla Hatrak | September 27th, 2010 @ 11:47 am
We are an amazing species, aren’t we? Deaf people are being singled in DeafRead for behaviors that are world-wide human. I am not sure why that continues to happen. Lack of critical thinking skills, perhaps? There are also illiterate hearing people. So, our behaviors are not because we are deaf per se.
It is interesting to me that there are people and groups that are attempting to improve those “critical thinking skills” and dare I suggest illiteracy issues in our deaf students in America, and specifically in California. Deaf students in California have a 8% proficiency reading level, and sadly hard of hearing students do not fare any better with only 15% reading skills.
Because of a few unpopular deafhood “proponents,” our group does not get support for those efforts. There are many of us (representing 70 organizations) in the group who support spoken English for those who are able to tackle those skills. Need proof? My son and daughter both received speech training. My son loved it, and my daughter hated it. I can perhaps be a good spokesperson for speech training in addition to American Sign Language. Many in our group have excellent speech skills and do not hesitate to use those skills.
I think in addition to lack of critical thinking skills and literacy, we like to kill the messengers, too.
I know this is frowned upon, but I would like to suggest something off-the-point. To attain literacy, one must have language. To attain critical literacy, one must first have language and literacy. That’s a no-brainer, no?
Those skills are sorely, awfully, sadly, and shamefully lacking in our deaf students. And what are the bloggers mostly fighting about? This is mind-boggling to me how we ALL are not able to stand back and say, “ok, what’s the critical issue that some of those “radical Deafhood kooks” are trying to do?”
This would require excellent critical thinking skills, that’s for sure.
John Egbert | September 27th, 2010 @ 1:21 pm
It takes talent in the political reality to win regardless whether it’s integrity or not.
There are many people out there with a genuine heart wanting to see Deaf infant start off the best way possible from their own experience and others that have suffered from the selfish ideology that caused delayed language acquisition.
And there are many people out there with a heart that seems to be artificial. These aggressor enjoy their seemly appropriated subtle abusive attitudes with those that want to rectify the problems with Deaf education and language we been having for over 100 years.
These aggressors have the right to their freedom of speech and they seem to enjoy yelling “FIRE” inside of a building and many good hearted people can’t do anything about it.
It is sad that we have them in Deafread.
Barry Critchfield | September 27th, 2010 @ 1:44 pm
“The Online Disinhibition Effect” is a fascinating analysis of the inter-psychic and intra-psychic phenomena that seem to occur in online communications. It certainly caused me to view online communications in a more complex light than I have previously done.
Questions/concerns that have arisen from a brief review of the article: The author presents a lot of ideas and opinions on the subject, but backs them up with little or no data. Perhaps this is the result of his training (apparently) as a classically trained psychoanalyst (Freudian). From this perspective, research and hypothesis-testing are not as important as insight and theoretical congruence – making the facts fit the theory.
I assume there are real research studies going on in this area. Seems like a great doctoral dissertation topic to examine online personality traits, and doing so through objective data collection rather than opinions or conjecture.
I especially like his incorporation of the “dissociative states” in his article. I’ve never thought of people actually taking on a DIFFERENT PERSONALITY when they are online. From a psychological point of view, that can be not only frightening, it can also be dangerous to the person and to other people. There have been instances I’ve observed where I can perceive such personality switching happening, although it’s impossible to verify through online communications.
It seems to be that Video Blogging is a more honest and more “real” technique to use in online communication. In ASL especially, it’s much more difficult to assume a different identity, or to portray oneself as a more angry/threatening/victimized (etc) person. Still, I’m sure there are those who do present themselves as different through their VLOGs… To be honest, there are several Deaf online bloggers and VLOG’ers that I’d like to meet in person, to see if they are who they seem to be online.
Thanks for the stimulating article… It’s given me much to consider!
Tami | September 27th, 2010 @ 2:41 pm
Dianrez, you had a good response. I only question this statement below since I don’t really know anyone or organization that advocates for ASL only. Most advocate for a bilingual approach with ASL equally valued as English. But I do know plenty of organizations that advocate for speech only and they have disabled many.
There is the messianic person who has a cause to fight for…those who are out to save babies from a life of illiteracy and isolation, or those who are out to save babies from a disabled life limited to ASL. It doesn’t matter how much hearing or other resources the babies may have. The fallacy here is “one consequence, therefore one answer for all.”
Karen Westphal Mayes | September 27th, 2010 @ 3:11 pm
Hmmm… that’s a way to look at critical thinking. Mike McConnell has a point… the way we write shows how we think and feel.
Mike McConnell | September 27th, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
Right, Karen. Critical thinking is many things. Sometimes personal life experiences can either add to your critical thinking approaches or hamper it. Which is why people respond favorably to what I write and know where I’m going with my article. Or those who respond unfavorably fearing the worse and letting suspicions cloud their thinking.
As for babies born with hearing loss, for example, I always keep in mind that hearing loss amount range widely from mild to profound, and so it’s not just about babies who are profoundly deaf but babies who may have mild or moderate hearing loss as well which hold a greater majority than those with profound hearing loss. It may be in one ear or two and that can vary as well. And there is no one shoe size fits al as well seeing how some are extremely successful with the AVT route while others do better with ASL whether it’s with hearing aids or cochlear implants. And then we have the fact that parents hold the trump card in making their own, hopefully, informed decision on how to deal with their deaf or hh child because the child belong to the parents…not to Deaf organizations of groups. Those things, for example, are what gives me my perspective and outlook which gives me that foundation on how I hold certain views on deaf-related issues. Just because I hold views differently and how I write and approach these questions of mine do some people continue to misunderstand. The question is why is that? Does it all go back to lack of critical thinking or is there something else in the mix? Or am I forced to relegate myself to more simplistic form of writing? Things like that.
Candy Sweetblog | September 27th, 2010 @ 4:51 pm
Critical thinking involves asking questions. One could ask themselves or ask others. Discussions ensues from that point on.
The problem I am seeing is some people are taking certain words out of context without considering the whole sentence or paragraph.
Most often, I’m seeing people reacting to the person behind the vlog or blogs rather than the context of the vlog or blogs.
For example, if Tami asked, she will find out that there are people who see “ASL only” as not just limited to signs but also include English.
Perhaps one need to ask more questions to clarify what the writer or signer meant.
Jerry Puorro Jr. | September 27th, 2010 @ 5:09 pm
Critical thinking is not the issue. Deaf people do not have a lack of critical thinking skills. The issue is simply that everything is relative to one’s personal biases. For example, when I read an article on how the New York Jets will dominate the NFL..I simply block it out…I cannot bring myself to believe in it
.
Barry Critchfield | September 27th, 2010 @ 5:49 pm
Dabbling into some Critical Thinking here…
I am reminded (showing my age here) of a PBS program which aired around 1977 entitled “Across the Silence Barrier.” It focused on the “oral-manual” debate, and was positive about the outcomes of using sign language with Deaf students. Ella Mae Lentz was one of the STARS of the program. Despite numerous technical problems (from a 2010 perspective), I remember Dr. McCay Vernon stating a vital point to the effect of, “Oral educators want deaf children to be able to SPEAK, while the advocates of Total Communication [popular term in 1977] want to give deaf children SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT.” I know I have butchered the verbatim transcript here, but Dr. Vernon’s point is still valid: “What good is it to teach a child to SPEAK if they don’t have an education?” Today we implant children with microcircuits and processor units and still expect miracles – that they will no longer be Deaf!
I have yet to see a single scintilla of experimental evidence that shows that using ASL with a child retards or prevents their ability to learn language, although advocates of speech and even Signed English would have us believe this happens every day to those poor “hearing impaired” children who are denied a cochlear implant or SEE signs.
If my California friends decide to introduce another bill into the Legislature to give parents the FULL RANGE of choices for their children, might I recommend you DEMAND of the opposition that they show Outcome Data to prove that ASL is not the best choice for parents when projecting the success of Deaf children 20 years into the future.
Jeannette Johnson | September 27th, 2010 @ 6:43 pm
I agree with you, Tayler and several other commenters here, especially Marta Hatrak. In order to have critical thinking skills, you need a solid language foundation. Unfortunately, not enough in the Deaf Community have that. And this doesn’t necessarily mean *literacy* skills. One can be illiterate, but still have sufficient critical thinking skills, if they have a solid language foundation. After all, many, many languages aren’t written, not just ASL. But these languages like the Native American languages, have native users who are unquestionably great leaders with critical thinking skills. So I think it’s important to make that distinction between literacy skills and having a solid grasp on a language. So with that in mind, I think it’s a sad testament about the state of Deaf Education. And hearing people have been in charge of Deaf Education. Make no mistake about that.
So that’s one factor. The second major factor, in my opinion, is bias like Dianrez pointed out. This is merely my observation, but I’m seeing an increase in demagoguery lately. People are so rigid in their beliefs and they absolutely refuse to concede that there is a possibility that their opponent might have a valid point! To be fair, that isn’t solely a Deaf Community problem – society at large is having that problem as well. But to have the demagoguery problem in the mix with so many lacking a solid foundation in language…. that’s when things really turn bad!
Paul Kiel | September 27th, 2010 @ 7:06 pm
It is interesting subject. I recall many years ago while at NTID/RIT. Robert Frisina asked me how the deaf can have better scholarship. I told him that reading books and materials are one way to enhance reading comprehension.
When I was younger, I was bookworm. I read many books that my mother had in her library. I also went to the public library and read most of the books there on any subject. It helps me view the world as it is.
And on to colleges/universities, I spent my quality time in there reading more books.
Now today, with the help of internet, I have everything on my fingertips. If I want to read something, I just google for it.
As for cirtical thinking, it is important to be open about it and share viewpoints.
I like Barry C’s comments about the “outcome data to prove that ASL is not the best choice for parents….” I view ASL as a bridge of communications between hearing and deaf. Even tho, I was raised orally, I still prefer ASL. I find ASL more helpful in critical thinking and expanding knowledge. Like the saying goes, Knowledge is power. Sir Francis Bacon was right in that quote. I am pleased to say that Aristotle as well as Plato and other Greek philosophers were plenty wrong in determining the mental prowess of deaf people.
Have a good one! =)
Candy Sweetblog | September 27th, 2010 @ 7:16 pm
Barry…
I’m got getting what you’re getting at in your last paragraph.
That AB 2072 was never about what works or what works best. It was all about ensuring that parents are not in the dark about any other modalities that are out there.
Just because there are technologies out there that helps deaf/hh children hear, i.e. cochlear implants, does not mean ASL is bad or that ASL does not work.
Educational aspect of all this is just as important, but AB2072 was not about that either. One can get a good education regardless of which modalities one use.
Marla Hatrak | September 27th, 2010 @ 8:06 pm
Candy, I would like to respond to some of your comments:
Re: your second paragraph, “That AB 2072 was never about what works or what works best. It was all about ensuring that parents are not in the dark about any other modalities that are out there.”
If this wasn’t about “what works and what works best,” what would be the point of AB2072? Truth be told, the point of AB2072 was to promote cochlear implantation and oralism. Their proposed brochure is a good piece of evidence.
Re: your third paragraph: “Just because there are technologies out there that helps deaf/hh children hear, i.e. cochlear implants, does not mean ASL is bad or that ASL does not work.”
I think we both can agree on that.
So, let me ask you why the California Academy of Audiologists are now opposed to AB2072 “as it is currently amended.”
“AB2072 was not about (education), either…”
Then I ask why the Oral Options Schools was a co-sponsor of the bill.
Re: your last statement, that is really wishful thinking. Truly I wish this were true. Truth is you cannot have an education without a fundamental language. That’s the issue in our community.
It is our position that when deaf children have LANGUAGE, their potential is unlimited.
We also propose that ASL would provide deaf children with BETTER opportunities for acquiring a language. That’s not discounting oral skills development. Far from it.
Why is this so hard to understand? I would like to propose that some people’s “ideology” could be one of the problems.
Truth be told, Dr. Critchfield is correct:
“I have yet to see a single scintilla of experimental evidence that shows that using ASL with a child retards or prevents their ability to learn language, although advocates of speech and even Signed English would have us believe this happens every day to those poor “hearing impaired” children who are denied a cochlear implant or SEE signs.”
Tayler, I must apologize for getting the debate off the point of your blog. But, it’s a worthy debate, I hope you will concur!
Diane Plassey Gutierrez | September 27th, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
The trend in this blog seems to be moving toward the idea that to be able to critically think about things, one needs to be well read, be fluent in a language, and so on.
Well, generally, that’s true. But there have been people in my life who made my jaw drop by expressing profound ideas, yet were also functionally illiterate and lacking in education, formal or otherwise. These people had wisdom, a quality that is indefinably above critical ability. Where is that coming from? I have been fascinated by them for many years because to me, it hints at a human quality that goes deeper than anything ever cultivated or measured.
Marla Hatrak | September 27th, 2010 @ 11:04 pm
Oh, Diane, I marvel at your wisdom. I wonder, too….I have had people in my life with limited language abilities but possess profound wisdom. There’s no doubt in my mind that they had “language” whatsoever adequate to express such wisdom.
Those people have a gift of wisdom; I don’t think it was a result of anything in their environment.
I appreciate your thought, and I hope that does not take away the importance of getting a language and an education.
Candy Sweetblog | September 27th, 2010 @ 11:20 pm
Marla
The answer to many of your question is in my blog series on AB2072.
There are parents that are not being told of other options, there is testimonials of the tendency for CDE and CDH to give out specific options such as, learn ASL and go to CSDR or CSDF, When parents found out that there are other options they could have considered, they were upset, thus the reason why they contacted Tony Mendoza.
Why CAA oppose it? Well, read my blog. Read Kokonut’s post. CAA was for AB2072 until Aug 20th amendment. Their reasoning has to do with their expertise and the fact that not all hearing loss are the same.
Marla, if you understood CA’s code section you will know that there are Education code section. That is the section that need to be modified to change Deaf Education in CA, not the Health and Safety section where AB2072 will be inserted.
Candy Sweetblog | September 27th, 2010 @ 11:30 pm
Again, people don’t seem to understand that AB2072 was never putting ASL in a bad light nor was it about mandating CI on every babies but, the opposition was spreading that information.
Barry Critchfield | September 28th, 2010 @ 9:54 am
Diane… You made an interesting point, but one with which I must respectfully disagree.. You stated, “But there have been people in my life who made my jaw drop by expressing profound ideas, yet were also functionally illiterate and lacking in education, formal or otherwise. These people had wisdom, a quality that is indefinably above critical ability. Where is that coming from?”
Anyone who expresses a profound idea is NOT functionally illiterate! They may be unskilled in ENGLISH, but they are not illiterate. I happen to be functionally illiterate in Japanese, but some people say I am able to express my ideas quite well in other languages. If I were enrolled in school in Japan, you can bet I’d be in Special Education classes! The school psychologist would be giving me tests and referring me for medication to control my “impulsive behavior” when I screamed (in English) at the stupid teachers .
Critical thinking skills DO require a person to be fluent in a language; to be able to formulate questions and develop answers, and to carefully analyze the content of other people’s arguments. Without this ability, we simply engage in “mud-slinging” at each other – and sadly I must note that the blogosphere is FULL of individuals who speak first, and then think later… I’ve probably been guilty of that myself (more than once!).
We must learn to distinguish between INTELLIGENCE and EDUCATION – the two terms are not equivalent.
I don’t live in California now, so I’m not qualified to speak on AB 2072, but as I evaluated the bill it seemed to be about CHOICES, not about INDOCTRINATION. Apparently some professionals have a vested interest (i.e. Big Money) in channeling parents in directions which ultimately may harm the infants they purport to care about.
Diane Plassey Gutierrez | September 28th, 2010 @ 4:51 pm
Hi, Barry C, would love for you to meet some of these people. Usually foreign born, as it would be difficult to find a Deaf person with no education these days in the USA.
A. B. was born in Haiti in the 50′s and worked the docks as a teenager. Up to that point he had no signs except for home signs, mostly crude pointing and gestures of mimicry. No education, but a sibling taught him to read and write his name and his age. In his twenties he met some American deaf tourists and fell in love with a girl his age. They married and moved to the USA where he began his formal education at the age of 24. I met him to draft his plan for rehabilitation. He described in very primitive mime how he grew up, related to family members, how he found work and how the island economy affected his income (boat no come, money no have). He described how he met his wife by an angel coming down to introduce them. There was more but by that time I had stopped writing his plan and was lost in fascination for this fellow’s life experience and intuitive wisdom. Not only did he describe his social situation better than many American deaf rehabilitation clients, he also described reciprocity with his family and neighbors, economics, and even spirituality.
Not to say that American deaf minimal language skills clients don’t have wisdom. Many do, but it would be difficult to say it didn’t come from education because all have some schooling. If I were talking only about critical thinking skills, A.B. probably would have just a little bit due to his educational deprivation and come only from his life experiences. But life wisdom he certainly had. One could argue it came from observation of people around him, emotional closeness with his family, etc. I’d like to think a lot of it comes from some inborn quality, too, or we would see all criminals coming from criminal parents.
A.B. wasn’t the only one. There were others in Canada who had come as immigrants with family members having similar unschooled, intuitive wisdom. Absolutely revealing when one would think that language, education and training are what makes us wise or human. Not even half. Much, much more than that.