M. Neil Browne

Distinguishing Features of Critical Thinking Classrooms

Critical thinking comes in many forms, but all possess a single core feature. They presume that human arguments require evaluation if they are to be worthy of widespread respect. Hence, critical thinking focuses on a set of skills and attitudes that enable a listener or reader to apply rational criteria to the reasoning of speakers and writer. Those classrooms that encourage critical thinking possess distinguishing features that assist programme evaluators and teachers themselves to assess whether critical thinking is a regular occurrence in a particular classroom. This article suggests that a critical thinking classroom commonly reflects the following attributes: frequent questions, developmental tension, fascination with the contingency of conclusions and active learning. These attributes reinforce one another to provide developmental stimuli for enhanced critical thinking.

Do we really want more leaders in business

In this article, we focus on the concept of leadership ethics and make observations about transformational, transactional and servant leadership. We consider differences in how each definition of leadership outlines what the leader is supposed to achieve, and how the leader treats people in the organization while striving to achieve the organizations goals. We also consider which leadership styles are likely to be more popular in organizations that strive to maximize short run profits. Our paper does not tout or degrade any of these leadership theories. Instead, it points out which theories allow reason to play more than a minimal role in ethical decision-making, as well as those that are most consistent with a firms desire to achieve efficiency in the short run. We explain our view that the way leadership is practiced in large, bureaucratic organizations suggests that ethics is often absent from the leaders decision-making process. Consequently, we suggest that before we engage in a meaningful dialogue about what kind of leaders we might really want in business, we must consider how much short-run profit we are willing to forego in exchange for more ethical corporate cultures.

A COMPARISON OF FRESHMEN AND SENIORS ON GENERAL AND SPECIFIC ESSAY TESTS OF CRITICAL THINKING

There is much interest in the impact of college on critical thinking ability. Freshmen and seniors at a mideastern university were given either a general instruction or multiple specific instructions for critically evaluating one of two articles. All critiques were in essay form. Seniors provided more appropriate criticisms to both kinds of instructions for both articles. However, the absolute level of performance of seniors reflected major deficiencies in applying critical evaluation skills. It was concluded that while college seems to be having an impact, greater emphasis is needed on more directly teaching critical thinking skills in the classroom.

Honesty, individualism, and pragmatic business ethics: Implications for corporate hierarchy

The boundaries of honesty are the focal point of this exploration of the individualistic origins of modernist ethics and the consequent need for a more pragmatic approach to business ethics. The tendency of modernist ethics to see honesty as an individual responsibility is described as a contextually naive approach, one that fails to account for the interactive effects between individual choices and corporate norms. By reviewing the empirical accounts of managerial struggles with ethical dilemmas, the article arrives at the contextual preconditions for encouraging the development of reflective moral agents in modern corporations.

Critical Thinking in Graduate Economic Programs: A Study of Faculty Perceptions

This article compares the importance of critical thinking skills in graduate education in economics with their significance in six other disciplines. Although some similarities are found with critical thinking skills taught in other disciplines, there is evidence that graduate programs in economics teach a form of problem solving that often does not offer exposure to the broader skills found in the other disciplines.

If Markets Are So Wonderful, Why Can't I Find Friends at the Store?

Now that all but the most stubborn ideologues have granted the importance of markets as a promising device for organizing efficient allocation, we run the danger of a particular form of analytical sloppiness. To claim that markets are powerful is far from saying they are omnipotent. In fact, the relative strengths of markets as an organizing device can be shrouded by hyperbolic claims of market puissance. The argument here is that markets have significant limits and that by acknowledging those limits we can focus on the important question of the nature of the optimal interaction between markets and governments. For illustrative purposes, this essay argues that consumers cannot typically expect to find the kinds of associative links we ordinarily seek from friends. The kind of caring that we anticipate from friendships can best be found somewhere other than at the store. Recognizing market limitations, such as this one, permits us to use markets in conjunction with other institutions to create a more fully human economy. Copyright 2002 The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc..

The Mandate for Interdisciplinarity in Science Education: The Case of Economic and Environmental Sciences.

Science educators often miss an opportunity to encourage the cognitive leaps associated with the formation of networks of meaning when they deliver scientific concepts as solitary sets of received wisdom. Interdisciplinary science education provides a rich setting for encouraging this formation of meaning within the minds of the students. A wonderful example of this rich interdisciplinary setting can be found when environmental science is informed by the study of economics within the classroom. The usefulness of particular concepts in economic science for environmental science is illustrative of what science students can gain from learning science in an interdisciplinary setting.

Achieving Excellence: Advice to New Teachers.

by most experienced teachers. Despite a consensus about behavior that contributes to superior teaching (1), most research that focuses on the teaching process is descrip tive, rather than prescriptive. Typically, such studies shy away from establishing a link between specific teacher behavior and probable educational outcome. This article makes some suggestions for new teachers who aspire to excellence. Our suggestions stem from our experiences as teachers in our respective disciplines and in interdisciplinary programs (Eble 1983). Our numer ous encounters with dedicated teachers expanded our appreciation for the shared prescriptions that developed

Once I Recognize the Need to Ask, Encourage, and Nurture Classroom Questions: How Do I Spring into Action?

Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.                Francis BaconCollege teachers yearn to give a special gift to those who find themselves in our classrooms. We aspire to liberat...

The Social Responsibility of Business: A Flawed Dissent

Paul F. Haas is an Associate Professor of Economics at Bowling Green State University. He holds a B.S. in Economics from John Carrol University, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston College. M. Neil Browne is Professor of Economics at Bowling Green State Unive rsity. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Houston University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Texas. Messrs. Haas and Browne have collaborated before on the topic of Social Responsibility, and their work has appeared in MSU Business Topics and the Review of Social Economy. In the Spring, 1977 issue of this journal Butler D. Shaiieri argued that businesses should not become involved in the