The Product I Would Sell Is How to Think

Daily writing prompt

If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

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Once, a student at a prestigious university in California asked me why he paid for college but also had to do the work assigned. I explained to him that the product I sold as a Sociology professor was how to think. I especially sell critical thinking and writing skills, and I assigned students papers to write to demonstrate that they are using the product correctly. I also told him that because his parents were paying a lot of money for him to go to college (between $52000-56000 a year), I wanted to ensure they were getting their money’s worth.

Today, we need shops that sell critical thinking skills because when I read the news, I am appalled that people believe so much of what they read on social media without asking questions or researching for themselves. What is also disheartening is when people are presented with facts, they seldom change their views if what they have heard is congruent with their beliefs or if a certain politician or celebrity says it.

In my shop, as in my classrooms, I would begin by telling everyone who buys my product that I require them to tell me what they think, not what they heard from their parents, friends, politicians, siblings, other family members, or even their pastors, priests, imams, and rabbis. To think critically means being willing to question what individuals have heard all their lives. I don’t mean that Mama and Daddy are wrong. Indeed, after much research, clients may conclude that Mama did know what she was talking about when she said there is a difference between a real man and someone in a pair of pants. You need to be aware of those differences to avoid broken relationships.

There are different ways of knowing, such as family, the media, and experts like doctors. But as a sociologist who examines behavior patterns in society and groups, I want to teach people to always ask for the “other side of the story.” I want them to ask the right questions, even if it means learning what they have “always” known may be wrong. As we prepare for the 2024 elections next November, the ability to think critically is imperative. To me, remaining “the land of the free and the home of the brave” demands a populace that can think for themselves rather than believe everything they hear. A course in critical thinking is just what’s needed. I would consider it a public service.