Problem Solving Paper

Critical thinking is a necessary area of every human being since sometimes we are faced with situations that require one to question themselves as well as the decisions made to solve the problems. In some cases, someone may think that they have found a solution to a problem only to find that one is questioning the same answers or decisions made and re-evaluating them. However, critical thinking ultimately gives the best possible solution to a problem because one analyses a problem or dilemma from different angles trying to understand it as well as look for the most suitable way to go about it (Ruggiero, V. R., 2009). The kind of the problem I experienced was in high school where I was faced with the dilemma of being in the drama club or science club which were both very active and interested me equally. The problem was that I had to choose one of them because I still had my studies to concentrate on and I felt that I wouldn’t give both clubs equal attention. Each club required about two hours, two days of the week meetings at varying times with club members.

After a week of pondering what to do, I decided to find out the meeting times of both clubs and found out that they were at different times so I decided to join both clubs with a personal assurance that I will balance both as well as my studies. In the first one month after joining the two groups, I felt like there is too much pressure for me to perform in both as well as my studies. Everything was intensive and at some point I felt like giving up on both of them. However, within the second month, I felt that I gave more attention to the drama club. I found it more interesting and I had a personal attachment to it. On the other hand, I realized I got along more with most members of the Science club and we shared common interests, ideologies and worldviews.

This proved to be a personal challenge to me because I was battling within myself on what to choose. Is it to be in the drama club where I found everything interesting or the science club where I felt more attached to the members as well as their ideologies? The problem now was to either be in the science club or drama club. I could not be in both as I consumed a lot of time in both and I felt my studies were sidelined after joining both clubs because my class performance dropped during that period and this was raising concern at home from my parents. I decide to rethink my decisions once again. So I continued attending both the clubs meetings until the second month lapsed. My main decision lay on how I felt about both clubs. Various emotions came into me every time I attended either club meetings. When in drama club, I always felt excited and filled with expectation despite not having many friends there. It always felt like a competition among members as everyone was trying to outdo each other even if we were supposed to work as a team. In the science club however, there was good relations as well as team work. However, the activities weren’t as exciting as the drama club.

It now became a battle of conflicting personal interests. I pondered some questions in my mind. These questions were: Should I be in a club where I feel appreciated or where my interest lies? What matters most at this point in life? Is it happiness or fitting in? Is it personal interest or maintain good relations? Is it somewhere I will nurture my interest or somewhere I will improve my interpersonal relations? With all these questions lingering my mind, I rethought my decision about joining both clubs. As a certain point I thought of dropping them both since I could not come to a conclusive solution on which club to choose. I eventually took a sheet of paper and wrote down two columns, one for the drama club and the other for science club. I wrote all the good things I like about each club and what I disliked about both clubs too. I still couldn’t make a solid judgment based on this.

I tried to answer the questions I had earlier asked myself. I decided to carry out a personal evaluation test to find out what mattered more to me at that particular time with regard to being in the drama or science club. I decided to choose the club in which I felt I am more talented and can nurture my talent and personal growth. I decided to ask my circle of friends to just anonymously write down what they thought I am good at and what they thought I was poor at. This I thought would help me know where my strength lay so it would be easier to make my final decision. What came out of this was that I was a person who easily gets along with people, creative and good organizer as the stronger traits while the weak traits were that I was too jumpy and impatient sometimes. With this insight, I decided to pay more attention to what interests me and what I look forward to then work on interpersonal relations after that. I eventually chose to remain in the drama club which excited me more.

I managed to work out on relations with other drama members after the final school performance. After we performed a play for the school, I realized I was actually good in bringing out a character as it should be. I was made team leader by the drama teacher and I managed to create better rapport among team members and there was better interaction after that. This problem enabled me to understand critical and creative thinking towards solving a problem. This was through the analysis of the problem; that being, the cause, the various consequences and available solutions to the problem (Johnson, A., 2000). The main ideas that helped in solving this problem are asking friends opinions and analyzing my feeling about the drama and science clubs. I used the input from my friends because sometimes a person is not able to know all about themselves and on the other hand, it is important to get an outsider perspective about oneself sometimes. In my dilemma, leaving the science club was not the best decision, but I had to make a decision after critical thinking which eventually worked out positively.

References

Johnson, A. (2000). Up and out: Using creative and critical thinking skills to enhance learning. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Ruggiero, V. R. (2009). The art of thinking: A guide to critical and creative thought (9th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Longman.