Page 3 - HIWT Spring 2015 World of Welding

Critical Thinking

….the objective “You in the corner,” the CEO yelled out. “How much do you make a
analysis and evaluation week?”
of an issue in order to
form a judgment Looking up in surprise, the guy replied that he made about $400 a
week. With a smirk the CEO reached into his pocket and pulled out
Critical Thinking is $1,000 in cash. “You’re fired!” he said. As the man in the baseball
panning for gold or cap took the money, the CEO noticed a funny grin on his face, but he
collecting information ignored it.
through “questioning
everything”. To do After his speech, the CEO called one of his Managers over. “So,
so, experts suggest how do you think I did?” he asked. “I sure made an example of that
utilizing the RED guy. By the way, who was he?”
Model, Recognizing
Assumptions, “That was Johnny, the pizza delivery guy.” Moral of the story and
Evaluating Arguments cardinal rule No. 1 in communicating: Before you speak, know your
and Drawing audience.
Conclusions. All this
By Scott A. Mazzulla, President is to lead you towards Critical thinking skills involve decision making and problem solving.
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology coming to a logical and The ability to make decisions is also an asset to an employer.
high quality decision. Critical thinking directly reflects on the lessons we teach our
Although there are many components to thinking critically, my focus students here at HIWT. Key lesson in educating them on how to
here is judgment of others. prepare themselves for employment starting with several factors.
It starts with their work ethic, booth time efficiency, attendance
Over the past 3 years studying and grasping this concept has led and communication. To an employer looking to hire our graduates,
me to a specific change in my thought process, more importantly we want to make sure these employers do not draw a distorted
learning to listen. Without asking questions and listening often conclusion or judge a graduate simply by not being “dressed like the
draws us to a conclusion and acting without having all the facts. rest of the audience”.

Stumbled across this short story as an example: A recent visitor to HIWT told me he knew a business owner that
paid low wages and could not keep skilled welders, this owner
Consider a new CEO, tasked with turning around an industry made the statement “I can pick a welder out immediately in the
laggard, who took to the podium at his first town hall meeting, with lobby”. You can draw your own conclusion or judgment on that.
a command-and-control style that showed that there was a new
sheriff in town and things were going to change. Perfecting your welding skill is a solid foundation. However, having
the necessary soft skills in place is critical for employers. If a
With hundreds of employees in the audience, the CEO began graduate has good attendance, good work ethic, communicates well
speaking. Suddenly, he noticed a man in the corner of the room and the ability to pass weld tests these generate a safe assumption
leaning against the wall, not paying attention to the presentation. in the employers eyes which translates to a low risk hire.
Furthermore, the man wasn’t dressed like the rest of the audience;
he was in jeans and a ragged T-shirt, with a baseball cap on Learning to weld is an art/craft, truly a remarkable skill to master.
sideways. Here was a perfect example, the CEO thought, to show To take your talents to the workforce you must prepare yourself to
employees that such laxity was no longer going to be permitted. be judged by others looking to hire.

Image Source - Pearson Education

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