Edward deBono has asked an elegantly complex question in its simplest terms," is traditional thinking still sufficient for our modern world?

Such a timely title for those interetsed in the collision of existing structures supporting learning and the growing oportunities for distributed non-linear collaboration that is presented to us by the rise of online technologies and the internet. De Bono begins with a charge that "western thinking is failing because it was not designed to deal with change."

Much of what de Bono writes of in these pages strikes at the heart of much that troubles me about our current, western schooling process. De Bono presents much that should be carefully considered by those that consider themselves 'educators'.

de Bono argues that we shoudl not force the world in to a set order of boxes, but that we can let information organise itself. If it doe not, then the key point of his work is to design a way forward.

from de Bono " ..the practical opertaion of traditional thinking often involves argument, adversarial clash and dialectic. This is seen as essential to the thinking porcess. In parallel thinking dialectic is not essential. Instead there is the cooperative attempt to explore the subject thoroughly and to develop new perceptions and new concepts."

 

de Bono's concern that we need to focus more on the 'design' side of thinking than 'judgement' resonates strongly with me. He strikes out at those that have joined the 'church of citicism' (my words) and says "..because criticism is so very easy, t has become a dominating habit of even intelligent people. There is a ridiculous belief that it is enough to get rid of the "bad things" and what will be left are the good things"...

This bodes ill for those that believe in the "critical thinking" approach to schooling.

Read this work and begin to consider designing a way forward.

 

Parallel Thinking : From Socratic to Debono thinking...