When someone finds out I teach at Santa Rosa Junior College, it’s common to hear among their words an ambivalent sense of respect and skepticism. Most persons I meet obviously respect what I and my colleagues do. But many seem to question how we do it. Among other things, it’s common to hear about biased faculty. Unfortunately, this allegation often is heard from individuals who haven’t taken a class, but it’s also heard from reasonable sounding individuals who have taken classes.
Admittedly one reason for this is, like seemingly all professions, some teachers are better than others; and, among the things some do better than others is minimize their biases. But another reason is that college is notorious for expecting students to think critically. Especially those Critical Thinking classes.
What’s Critical Thinking? What’s a Critical Thinking class? The first question would take more than one commentary to cover, but I’ll begin to answer it by answering the second question. Among other things, it was my least favorite college class. Now it’s the class I most frequently teach. And I love it!
So what is it? While there are different approaches, most Critical Thinking classes focus on fine-tuning skills associated with identifying, analyzing, and evaluating arguments. By “argument” I don’t mean what happens right before a lot of couples break up. I don’t mean a “verbal fight.” I’m not even using it to mean a “debate” between two or more persons with contrary beliefs. Unfortunately, some arguments – in the sense I’m using the term – do degenerate into verbal fights, but most don’t; and, a lot of arguments – in the sense I’m using the term – can be found in debates, but they don’t have to be pursued as debates.
So how am I using the term “argument”? It’s an attempt to justify a claim by appealing to one or more reasons. Each argument has a “conclusion,” the claim that it’s attempting to justify; and each argument has at least one (often more) “premise,” a reason(s) attempting to justify the conclusion.
Lots of arguments address controversial topics such as gay marriage, abortion, racism, or the “War on Terror.” Since it can be and often is emotionally draining to discuss such topics, let alone fine-tune one’s ability to identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments about them, Critical Thinking classes can be challenging and frustrating, even when the instructor and students are being open-minded toward contrary opinions. On the one hand, improving one’s ability to think critically under such circumstances is important, which is one reason these courses are important. At the same time, this is another reason why these classes — like a lot of college classes — can seem like biased environments. It’s easy to walk away from a Critical Thinking class wondering if others think you’re closed-minded when you’re just emotionally drained and resisting the course’s call to continue. I’ve taught the class for 15 years and I feel that way sometimes.
So, while I do include controversial topics, I also include lots of examples about which persons don’t have strong opinions. Some of my favorites are commercials:
While it may take some practice to be able to identify this commercial’s conclusion, and it might even seem confusing at first, it’s not likely to be controversial and it is likely to be fun. If you think of commercials as attempts to persuade an audience to take a course of action, that “course of action” can be treated as a conclusion. So what is this commercial trying to persuade its audience to do? No, it’s not an attempt to promote Middle English culture. Nor is its goal to convince you that “Starburst Berries and Cream are fun.” In the end, it’s attempting to persuade its audience to “Buy Starburst Berries and Cream.” This is the course of action it’s attempting to convince us to take.
Of course, there are risks when using commercials as class examples. For example, it can be especially difficult to identify a commercial’s premises. Part of the reason is that so many commercials are so darn good. They’re good at grabbing and keeping our attention by being entertaining; and they’re good at associating positive emotions with their products. Only when the task at hand is to identify its premises these things can be distracting:
Even worse, the same things that make this commercial so good also make it bad. For the ways it grabs one’s attention and provokes emotions are unclear and irrelevant. In fact, this commercial is so unclear and irrelevant it’s understandable if you finish it scratching your head. Why are we supposed to buy Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain?
Unfortunately, whether or not it’s most advertisers’ intended effect, this tendency to be unclear and irrelevant is a common result:
In fact, among the thousands of ads I’ve identified, analyzed, and evaluated over the years, clear and relevant information is rare. I’m not aware of any precise data; but clear and relevant information is rare enough that it takes dedication and practice to be an informed consumer.
This is one reason why Critical Thinking courses are important, and yet another reason why they — like a lot of college instruction — can seem biased. For it’s difficult to include commercials in a Critical Thinking class without exposing how poorly they tend to inform their audiences. Even if an instructor avoids discussing controversial subjects such as 1) impulse buying versus informed consumption, 2) the notion of manufactured needs, or 3) the breadth and depth of misogyny within adversiting, the degree to which commercials fail to inform us can be a difficult reality to face; and it’s a natural reaction to wonder if the person who exposes this has an agenda.
Despite these risks, I still include commercials in my Critical Thinking classes. For I do have an agenda: I’m committed to teaching Critical Thinking. I’m committed to fine-tuning our ability to identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments, especially commonly heard arguments that affect our daily lives. Though, just between you and me, I also like that they allow us to have some fun in Critical Thinking classes. I’ve just learned that, unless commercials offer good reasons to do otherwise, I should enjoy them the same way I enjoy this popular satirical commercial:
The Gadfly 
I’ve never thought about commercials in that sense. That’s probably the reason for taking this class.
Many issues in our life are controversial; we had better thinking about them critically. Such as commercials, in order to sell products with a big deal, producers and cellers add many irrelevant stuffs into the commercial. These irrelavant stuffs, such as funny or sex, always evoke customers’ feeling to connect the products with them and arouse their desire to buy those products. For not being tricked by those commecials, we need to think about them critically, and figure our their premises and purposes. Therefore, critical thinking is not only fun because we use it to discover the nonsense of the commericals, but also serious because we must be able to protect our rights and know real facts of of the products.
After the time spent in class and in reading the course material about advertising, and now watching these ads, I am able to see more clearly as to how advertisers can use so many different ways of implanting an idea in our subconcious that will later spawn into a trigger when we feel we might need or want that kind of product. And how these triggers will push us in the direction of buying that specific product that we saw in the advertisement. Advertising is becoming more about psychology than about the actual products.
I love these commercials… though I have never seen them on TV either…
I enjoyed this post Michael. It was a very good combination of information and example. I feel that the content was as entertaining as some of the ridiculous commercials. Well done.