School and Critical Thinking in Kosovo

Critical thinking implies systematic recognition, or formulation, of opinions or statements based on rational criteria. It makes up for the assessment of conclusions, rationally and systematically examining problems, tests, and solutions.

The critical thought is guided by the principle that truth does not stand at the beginning of the discussion, but at its conclusion, it implies courage to disagree/conform with the rules of traditional thought. So unconformative thinking toward what moral, professorly, and political authorities say in order to open up opportunities for new and generating ideas. The emphasis on traditional common thinking is a vital condition toward critical thinking.

For Rene Dekart, the renowned French philosopher who is known as the founder of modern philosophy, the beginning of critical thought was the suspicion of all knowledge and knowledge that were inherited from the past. He's in his famous “work Legal on the” approach mentions four rules in which rational consideration should be made of claims that claim to have the status of knowledge and recognition.

The first rule highlights doubt as the basic element of the method, as the element of critical thinking about the finding of every truth.
The second rule expresses the analytical aspect of the method. It expresses a review of the process of recognition, but also a new human report with the world.
The third rule expresses the synthetic aspect, where the more simple knowledge increases toward the more complex.
The fourth rule requires that all elements of the subject be verified.
So in its entirety, these four rules represent the way critical thinking operates.

The other problem that can be discussed here is what prevents the advance of critical thought and why man cannot think outside the qualms, in this context we can develop some factors as social, as psychologically as it is: egocentric thinking, social conditioning, unilateral experiences, arrogance and intolerance and group thinking are just a few. There is real education and education to overcome these key obstacles.
The entire global education and education system has tenders to build schools and universities that help advance criticism.

In this context Albanian schools and universities are far from that goal, despite claims. We have today only educational institutions that students and students teach ready and memorizing truths, beyond this education here degenerates in tissue that young people learn to think with disfellowshipped categories.

This whole teaching model stifles creativity and promotes inactivity in young people, but it also harms them.

It's a real assessment and we have it on international tests. Where we list the latest in performance and critical thinking.

In 2000, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) organised the P test for the first time ISA (Program for International Students Rating).

The goal of which is to measure the skills of 15-year-old students to apply their knowledge in situations of everyday life.
Measurement takes place in three disciplines: reading, math, and science of nature.
In each participating state, a sample of 15-year-old students conducting the test is selected.
Hence, it is considered that the results in a closeness reflect the real state of the education system.

PISA is considered a major source of information to start changing policies in all educational systems

These include the one of Kosovo, which we attended for the first time in 2015, being ranked third with the lowest performance.

Currently, more than 78% of 15-year-olds in Kosovo are functional illiterates (World Bank, 2020).

(Autor is professor at the Mehmet Akif school)