Kayla McGill

Critical thinking isn't just about solving problems. It means focusing on the desire to help, finding an alternative way to accomplish things, and progressing forward to serve, instead of succumbing to inevitable failure.

An example from my life occurred during the year I lived in China as the leader of a group of English teachers. Our time in China was coming to an end, and we were preparing to fly home for Christmas. Unfortunately, after checking into the airport, going through security, and waiting for our delayed flight for 6 hours, we learned that our flights had been cancelled. Sadly, the next flights out were booked for days in advance, and all that the airline staff could think to do was waitlist our group for future flights.

Now, this may not seem like an extreme moment of crisis since flight delays and cancellations happen all the time. But add together my group of twenty teachers, another group of six teachers whose leader had abandoned them, the fact that we were stranded at the Shanghai airport without any luggage (everything had been checked), no cellphones, airport staff who, at 11:00 pm, were quite literally finished for the day, and the fact that most of these teachers hadn't seen their family and friends for over six months and wanted to be home for Christmas—well, it made for a perfect storm. As the only supervisor, everyone looked to me to find a solution where there didn't seem to be one.

I had the desire to help, so I began searching for alternatives to the problem. I knew if I couldn’t find alternative flights as soon as possible, my group and I would be stranded in Shanghai, China for an indeterminate amount of time. My first goal was to ensure all those I was responsible for were taken care of as a group instead of left on their own. Ultimately this involved working with the airline staff for over 5 hours until alternative routes home for every single one of the stranded English teachers were secured. It had appeared to be a problem with only one solution—to wait for days. But by thinking critically for other alternatives, we were all able to fly home the next morning.

I have applied these critical thinking skills, of looking for alternative methods where there were seemingly no solutions, to my coursework at the Bush School. I have learned how to use critical thinking regarding difficult policy, diplomatic, and intelligence problems, as well as applying the same thought processes to other areas of my life.