Educators throughout the country in all disciplines must be alarmed at the dysfunction of our current political discourse where theatrics, contempt and anger have replaced reason and civility. Instead of positions being defended with evidence and sound reasoning, we hear solutions to “problems” that are more suitable to bumper stickers. 

Critical thinking skills have traditionally been taught as a process of revision and editing where ideas are supported with evidence and alternative points of view are considered. The contemporary academic student (and teacher) is immersed in the world of social media where the Internet has become the engine of social discourse. The immediacy and anonymity of blogging, texting and Twitter have either replaced or threatened rational deliberation. This Internet technology may be having a deleterious effect on our thinking and it needs to be part of all future academic reform deliberations.

The recent presidential “debates” clearly have shown a need for education to be more than job training as many seem to be suggesting. Education must be a counterweight to social media where sustained concentration is diminished. Social media leads to slipshod thinking that will ultimately undermine democratic values and the processes that enable them to flourish.

Larry Hoffner, retired