The first problem or hurdle that every individual encounters is the inner fear developed over the years – from learning and experience at home, at school, in college, and in work place. An individual experiences inner fear when he/she unknowingly allow others’ judgments and opinions to rule and to guide him/her. How many times has this happened in our life? Someone will pass judgment on us. What happens when we hear all these comments? Most of us will slip into a negative mind – a mind in anger and frustration – and will try to deviate from those comments.

Others’ opinions are of great concern for us. So, by trying to avoid such comments our creative ability and our talents get suppressed. My question is how long are others’ opinions going to matter for you? As long as your desire is logical, your desire is socially acceptable, and your desire is born from within; can others’ opinion about you and what others speak about you, stop you? By not following others’ opinions, maybe you will be considered stupid. Butyou need to follow your heartbeat and your heart desires. In doing so,you can get rid of the menace of life and the fear of negative comments from others. In other words, do not let others influence your decisions and your thinking. By following your desires and executing your abilities the first hurdle can be overcome.

The second hurdle is our ability to speak. When a question is put across, we have answers to the question, but we find it difficult to speak. It is because many thoughts come to our mind:‘What if what I say is wrong? What if I give a stupid comment? What if I am totally criticised and let down?’So,when an answer is said by another person, we often remark: ‘Oh! This I knew! This comment was in my mind.’ The freedom to express is very much limited by our fear of being stupid. How many times have you experienced stage fright? How many times you couldn’t express yourself to your friends or relatives? Every time you really wanted to express yourself you stopped because you were in fear of being criticised. You were in doubt of being right or wrong. Why can’t we think that let our statement be right or wrong to others, but I am right to the best of my judgement and by the way I look at it?Why can’t we think that we need to accept anyone who convinces us that our viewpoint was not right? So,what stops a person from speaking is not fear, but the inability to accept others if they convince us that our concepts and understandings need more refinement. You are unable to express yourself because of the fear of being considered wrong or stupid. It is your prestige and your pride, that pushes you down, always. And if you come out of your personal pride and prestige, the second hurdle, namely, the fear to speak will be away from your life.

The third hurdle is personal ego or the fear of pulling you down which hinders the ability to get connected to others. People of critical importance who are required for your forward journey are in front of you- the principal of a school was walking in front of you,a union leader was walking in front of you,the State Chief Minister was available to you, a great scientist, an engineer, an ordinary man, and a poor man, are there in front of you -but why didn’t you get connected with them?Is it because you either think that the other person to be connected with belongs to a high or a low status or you didn’t like the other person for what they do in life? What stopped you? You were stopped by your own fear of yourselves being let down.The feeling or the judgement or the valuation about yourself by you prevents you from being connected with others. So, nobody can defeat you. There is only one person who can defeat you. And that is you only yourself.

The fourth hurdle is your inner feeling to hide. From your childhood to the day before you die, you want to hide. You don’t want to be visible. As a child when somebody comes near you, you hide behind your parents; and if you are in a group, you never came to the forefront. But when you use something that will boost your prestige and pride such as driving a Mercedes car,you will come out from your hiding spot. But if you do something that you are not confident about and what you do not like, then you choose to hide. But readers it is your personality – the you in you, the I in I – that stops you from coming to the limelight.

So, these four hurdles hinder the growth of individuals. And the day they are fearless, able to build a connection to express themselves, ignore other’s judgments, and confident to face others;the soul is liberated,and the real talents are developed. Soul liberation means liberating the soul from egos which are like dirt that covers our soul. Egos are like cataract to the eyes. Egos can be removed effectively at one place and that is the school when collaborated learning happens. Because, collaborated learning is the way by which children build friendships,it is the way they learn to work together, it is the way they learn to peel away their pride and prestige to become responsible citizens.

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My last article was on critical thinking which we sometimes interpret as the ability to discover something and the ability to think in a different way to think from the bottom up. All these are critical thinking.

One of the main things of thinking backwards is something very important in our life. In fact, if I refer to my personal life, when I organised the engagement of my daughter. I did everything but I failed miserable. At the culmination of the event, many things failed. I learned from the mistakes I made when I organised the engagement. I was very careful in organising my daughter’s wedding. Everything went on so well.

Why did the function we organise fail to finish the way we wanted? We did everything but failed. We had teams, sub teams, groups, and we held meetings. Despite doing everything we fail at the culmination point.

How many times the Indian cricket team failed? Individual batsman played very well, but the fielding was bad. Or during other occasions, the team fielded very well but they didn’t bat well. At the culmination point the other team took the game away even though India was well-prepared. So why does this happen in our lives?
The answer is simple. An organisation fails due to the lack of critical thinking. And what is critical thinking? Critical thinking is where we take the ownership of a thought. Even though it was passed on to us by someone else, maybe a leader, the boss or the parent, or a friend, but we own that thought. That’s called thinking critically. This means you were disconnected to this thought early, but now you have connected it, you own it, you interpret it. Now you do it in your own way. In such a situation you don’t need somebody to order you. Somebody to tell you do this, do that, because you know. You have taken the thought to yourselves. This is the way I think about critical thinking and this should start from a school where the teacher transfers the thought to the children. Then collaborate to share the thought. Together they own the thought, together they know how to do it. Individually he/she owns the thought and does it independently. If that habit is cultivated, then later in our life we will become productive people.

Critical thinking also has another aspect. It cultivates the ability to organise events in later life as well as in my present day life. Every event is an organisation for me, even the breakfast in the morning is the net result of the ability to organise. The way I get ready for office is the net result of the ability to organise. Was I planned with the dress to wear, With my dressing style? Did I plan my time for doing different things, such as the time for commute?
Many times I was not planned for anything. If I start thinking of going to office 20 minutes before I have to go, I will be in a mess. Because I don’t know where the dress or other things are. Then I grab everything, have a quick breakfast and I run to my car. Out on the road, I am faced with a traffic snarl. Somehow I reach office late, put on a blushed smile and enter the office and I start the day. Half the day is gone and my mind is 70 per cent disturbed.
Isn’t this an organisational inefficiency?
Critical thinking is the path to how to organise ourselves. The biggest thing a teacher should do in a classroom is to give the child an answer. Please give the child an answer. Let him find out the question.

Why should this be done? Is it to understand a concept? No. Understanding a concept, a context, connecting to the real world, connecting to the real skill of life, all these are necessary. But when all these are done, why give the answer and ask the child to find out the question? To understand it? No. The teacher should know that this child in tomorrow’s world should be an efficient planner of time. He/she should be good at organising his/her daily events.

How is it possible for a child to organise the events in his/her personal life in the future? The child has to develop the skill of thinking backwards from the finishing point. From the end to the beginning. There are many things you plan from the beginning to the end as it happens in many projects. If you have to run from the beginning to the end of a project, of an event, then you should always know how to run backwards in your mind. This is the answer. What could be the question? If you have to think this is the answer, what types of questions should we address to reach this answer?

This is what we learn in a classroom when we do a project work, when we do a collaborated work, when the teacher gives you a question. In an examination, you give a question and ask the child to find an answer. That could be to address the child’s level of knowledge. But there should be innumerable formative question. For the answer is, for example, plants make food. Now ask the child, ‘why do plants make food?’ That’s a thinking challenge. To give the answer the child has to think backwards from the formation of a seed to roots to stems to leaves to flowers to fruits.

Critical thinking should become embedded in one’s life. One should have critical thinking and planning abilities which in effect is thinking ahead from the finishing point backwards. When you have both these organised well, you will have a 360 degree understanding of the whole thing. And you become an efficient person wherever you are in the world.
A teacher should teach his/her students how to own a thought as well as forward and backward thinking because the teacher creates the next generation. Teachers create the personalities of the future world. If anything in today’s world is not happy and good for us, it is because teachers failed to focus on developing critical thinking in children. If teachers understand the huge role they play and try to develop critical thinking in the children, then the future generation will have a fair chance at a good life.

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