Critical Thinking in Facing the Modernization Era

Resolution for 2021: Critical Thinking in Facing the Modernization of Digital Era

Building optimal and advanced human resources is one of the challenges that is currently being faced by Indonesia to achieve and realize the dream of becoming a developed and superpower country. Education is a factor that continues to experience improvement from time to time because it is considered to have a very important role in the realization of an advanced Indonesia. It is hoped that the current policies taken in the education sector will reduce the number of human resources who are illiterate or unable to read. 

However, if the planning is to run according to plan, of course the government does not only pay attention to the quantity side but also must pay attention to the pressure on the quality side, especially if you want to be able to compete and move forward in facing challenges at present and in the future, namely industrial revolution 4.0.

One of the characteristics and forms of the 4.0 industrial revolution is the proliferation of technology in every inch of human life. In this case it certainly has an impact on existing employment opportunities. Many jobs that were in the form of skills normally done by human's services are now being replaced by machines. This is of course inseparable from the existence of increasingly developing technology. It is a necessity that in Indonesia, in the near future the only types of work that humans can still do are those that use creative and critical thinking power.

Unfortunately, in this case we still have problems because our education system still focuses on cognitive learning, namely memorization. This kind of situation could actually kill the critical power and creativity of the learners, in this case, namely the nation's future generations.

Being a critical thinker by asking question 

If we use a cognitive-based learning system, namely drilling or memorizing, students will always cling to the words "Anyway" so that the learning is dogmatic. In this case, it will close the possibility of asking questions from the learner or the students themselves. The origin of critical character is to ask questions. If students don't have the desire or desire to ask questions, then don't hope that when they grow into adults they will present critical, innovative and creative thoughts. Simply having an A scores in all lessons is a reflection for them that they have been successful and successful.

One indication of life in the digital age is the abundance of information. Through social media and smartphones, we will get all the information easily. The problem is that not all of the information we get is true, many of which are hoaxes. With a lot of information that we can receive quickly, the provisions that must be given since we are in school are to choose and sort out correct and incorrect information.

What can be expected from students who are accustomed to obeying, just accepting all learning material, never (and not being accustomed to) questioning it, and then (just) memorizing it to get good grades?. We don't need to be surprised if we find, for example, A, who was known to be smart and smart at school, when he grew up it seemed as if his intelligence had disappeared because he was easily consumed by hoaxes.

Having a good habit 

Humans have something machines cannot have, namely a social sense of each other. A caring attitude towards the environment as well as life is a very important factor as a human being, especially in this digital era. The government itself has carried out a policy that requires students to have aspects of feeling and a high social spirit. However, in its implementation there is still no visible implementation of these values.