The Basis of an Informed Opinion

One of the goals of education is the development of critical thinking skills, the process that an individual goes through to research and solve the problems in life.

Critical thinking: To evaluate and judge the accuracy of statements and the soundness of the reasoning that leads to conclusions. To reduce the chances that your judgments are based upon unsubstantiated opinion and sentiments.

Critical thinking skills separate the three types of responses identified in the Microsoft/AOL email example. In other words, though everyone is entitled to an opinion, some are informed opinions, and some are uninformed or unsubstantiated opinions. The difference has to do with the process or method through which the opinion was reached.

Reasoning: the drawing of inferences or conclusions from known or assumed facts; the use of reason.

As a critical thinker, the goal is to arrive at the most accurate conclusion possible, using the most current facts possible. That conclusion will be an informed opinion, and if the facts are accurate, that opinion should be as close as possible to Truth in the contemporary world.

The differences in opinion between informed individuals should only be due to differences in the facts, in how they are measured or interpreted.

So an essay becomes a "proof" of an "informed opinion" that uses "facts" as evidence. The conclusions of the essay should be able to be discussed by referring to the evidence presented.

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