HU2000: Week 1 Assignment
What is critical thinking and why is it
an important skill to develop for career success?
This assignment helps you apply your knowledge from this week’s modules
and readings.
Critical thinking skills are needed to solve problems, make decisions, and
create new knowledge. The 21st century is complex, fast-paced, and everchanging. Individuals who are successful in the 21st century are critical
thinkers. A critical thinker engages in higher-order mental processes like
interpretation, analysis, prediction, and evaluation.
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The Power of Critical Thinking
Answer the questions below. Critical thinking is a purposeful and reflective process of making reasoned
judgments about what to believe and what to do.
1. Provide an example of a time when you engaged in critical thinking to solve a problem or make a
decision.
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2. Explain how critical thinking led to a positive result in the example above.
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3. In approximately 450 B.C. the Greek philosopher stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
Explain in your own words what he meant by this statement.
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4. Is this statement above still relevant today? Using your own words and ideas explain why or why
not.
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5. Think of an example of a time during the last month when you should have used critical thinking skills
but did not.
a. What was the result?
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b.
Explain how using critical thinking skills would have changed the result.
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Critical Thinking Mindset and Skills
Answer the questions below using information found in your textbook and modules.
6. List a long-term goal you have set for yourself.
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7. Use your critical thinking skills to explain why this long-term goal is realistic and appropriate for you.
(If you realize it’s not realistic or no longer relevant to your life, explain why.)
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8. Being creative does not necessarily mean being artistic. Provide a specific example in your life
where you express your unique personality and talents.
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9.
Your VOC, or “voice of criticism” can prevent you from being creative and expressing yourself freely.
Describe a time when your VOC prevented your creative self from reaching its full potential.
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10. List your most frequent self-criticism and analyze how you believe it developed.
a. Type answer here
b. Type answer here
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c. Type answer here
11. Describe two strategies you could implement to combat the self-criticism you identified in question.
a. Type answer here
b. Type answer here
12. Thinking actively promotes critical thinking. Explain how thinking actively promotes critical thinking.
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Sugar and Honey
Read the short story, Sugar and Honey, and answer the questions below. (Hint: It may be helpful to read
the story more than one time to fully understand the meaning.)
13. After hearing Phyllis call him “Honey,” Douglas realizes that she is still there with him. What do you
think makes him draw this conclusion? Explain.
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14. Phyllis always took care of Douglas. He now considers it is his duty and privilege to take care of her.
Both family members and professionals disagree. Use the Method for Making Decisions (Chapter 1)
and describe how these steps apply to Douglas’ decision to take care of Phyllis.
Method for Making Decisions
Step 1: Define the decision clearly.
Step 1:
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Step 2: Consider all the possible
choices
Step 2:
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Step 3: Gather all relevant information
and evaluate the pros and cons and
cons of each possible choice.
Step 3:
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Step 4: Select the choice that seems to
best meet the needs of the situation.
Step 4:
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Step 5: Implement a plan of action and
the monitor the results, making
necessary adjustments.
Step 5:
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15. Why do you think that Douglas’ family members and doctors do not support his decision to be Phyllis’
caretaker?
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16. Sugar and Honey is the title of the story as well as the nicknames that Douglas and Phyllis have for
each other. Explain the symbolism of the story title.
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Reflection
Reflect on what you have learned this week to help you respond to the question below. You may choose
to respond in writing or by recording a video!
17. In a well-detailed paragraph, use three specific reasons to answer the following question: Describe
and explain why critical thinking is an important skill to develop for career success. Be sure to provide
specific examples for each reason that you provide.
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Sugar and Honey
Written by: Rolando Russell, MBA
They sat on the back porch and enjoyed the scenery. A flock of geese strolled by, one
following the other, walking in a synchronized fashion. Before that, they had been
entertained by a buck and a doe that seemed to be in conversation the entire way.
Phyllis maintained a smile on her face, all the while rocking back and forth in the
wooden chair.
“Would you like some more lemonade?” Douglas asked his wife of 50 years. He stopped
rocking in his chair and edged closer to her. She had lost the hearing in her right ear and
the left was not fairing so well either. “Would you like some lemonade?” he repeated.
Phyllis had been battling many illnesses, but the one that began to steal her memories
was the one most noticeable. Douglas looked at the smile on her face and sat back in his
chair. He raised his feet and allowed the chair to sway back and forth. He found himself
reminiscing. He remembered the things that Phyllis no longer could. He remembered
falling in love with her smile and smiled at the thought.
They both sat and smiled, perhaps at two different memories, but it was another
moment they shared.
The doctors had suggested putting Phyllis in a nursing home, where she could be
watched and taken care of 24 hours a day. Douglas’ and Phyllis’ three children agreed.
Douglas didn’t see the sense in taking his wife away from the place she had called home
for more than half of her life. He vowed to continue to take care of her himself as s he
had taken care of him for so many years before being stricken with illness.
He left her on the rocking chair, enjoying the hot, sunny day and walked into their home
to get two ice- filled glasses of homemade lemonade. He made the pitcher the way she
always did, leaving the lemons and the pits in it and adding enough sugar to instantly
give someone diabetes. She had already been diagnosed with that disease as well, but
Douglas just wanted her to continue to enjoy the day the way she seemed to be doing.
She was still smiling when he stepped out onto the porch. He handed her a glass. She
stared at him for a few long seconds, searching her mind for recognition.
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“Thank you, Honey,” she said to him. She held his gaze.
He almost fell out of the seat he had just taken. He immediately felt the moisture
around his eyes. She had never called him by his name when directly speaking to him.
She had always called him Honey. He knew she was still there. The disease had stolen
the person who he had come to know, but he knew it couldn’t take what counted the
most. Her love for him, like his love for her, would stand the test of time.
Every now and then she would do or say something that would make her appear to be
disease-free. She would recant a story or call out a name or place from her past that
would make her seem as though her only issue was with father time. She would often
share a story as though she was reliving the moment, with the same vibrancy expected
from a teenaged girl.
“You are so very welcome, Sugar.” He called her by the name he had been calling her,
ever since the day she called him Honey. He swiped away the moisture building in his
eyes and widened his smile.
He watched her tilt the glass towards her lips and watched her throat dance as the cool
liquid made its way down. So many thoughts ran in his head. They were all fun and
exciting. They all made his heart race. He remembered their first date. He remembered
the rain that fell on them. He remembered taking his jacket off and holding it over her
head so as not to mess up the hair-do she’d had done especially for their date.
Douglas sat in his rocking chair, next to his wife, Phyllis. His thoughts drifted to a time
not long ago when he and Phyllis were just starting their lives together. He remembered
her being happy when she learned she was going to be a mother. He remembered being
afraid to hold his own child in his hands, for fear he may injure his small, tiny daughter.
Hold her like you hold me, Phyllis had said to him. She always had a way of making
things easier than they seemed.
Douglas and Phyllis sat on the rocking chair enjoying each other. No words needed to be
exchanged. They could sit next to each other, allow their shoulders to touch or their
fingers to cross paths and all the conversation needed would be had. Every now and
then she would look at him a certain way and that was enough for him.
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Phyllis had been the one to cook for Douglas, to dress him and to nurse him back to
health whenever he was not feeling well. He wanted to return the favor, now that she
was no longer able to take care of herself. He took pleasure in bathing and dressing her,
in cooking and feeding her and making sure that she was physically as healthy as she
could be. Every morning they would walk to some of her favorite areas on their
property, stop at the well and get fresh, clean water and pick flowers from the garden
she had created and tended to for so many years. It was Douglas’ way of attempting to
keep her in tune with her past, which had escaped her.
“Dad, are you sure you don’t want the experts to take care of mom, in a nursing home?”
his adult kids would constantly ask, especially as the disease further victimized their
mother.
Douglas had stopped responding to such questions. He had made up his mind that there
was no one better to tend to the needs of his Sugar than him. He had also heard about
the treatment that many patients receive at some nursing homes and didn’t want to
subject his wife to that. He couldn’t live with himself thinking that someone else was
bathing and dressing Phyllis. She was so independent and always did everything she
needed done herself. If she couldn’t get something done then she would ask him to do
it. She would not agree to being sent to a nursing home.
A few months back, Phyllis had wandered off and was later found on their neighbor’s
property. Douglas kept a close eye on her ever since. He slept very lightly and would
wake up in the middle of the night to make sure she was still in the bed.
She reached over with her right hand and rested it on his left. They kept rocking back
and forth, smiling and enjoying each other. Both glasses were empty. They listened to
the birds sing and watched squirrels play in the trees. The sun was at its highest point
and seemed to be striking down directly on them. The ceiling fans above them fought
hard to generate a breeze against the hot sun.
Douglas noticed a bead of sweat begin to form on Phyllis’s neck. He too was beginning
to sweat. He considered getting more lemonade and started to reach for her glass.
Unexpectedly, she leaned towards him and kissed him on the lips. He felt the same
passion he had when she first did it so many years ago. After they separated, Phyllis
reached for his glass and stood up.
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“Do you want some more lemonade, Honey?” she asked him, and has she had done for
so many years, did not wait for his answer and walked into the kitchen and removed the
ice cold pitcher.
“You know I do, Sugar,” he whispered; the smile finding a way to grow across his face.
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