The Redhound Way: Critical Thinking in Action
- Corbin Independent Schools
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
Solving It With the Tools You've Got
Isaiah Angel, a Corbin High School senior and automotive shop foreman, shared this story at District Day as a real-life picture of what Critical Thinking looks like at Corbin High School.
A kid walked up to Isaiah Angel in the Corbin High School automotive shop with the words nobody wants to hear: "Isaiah, I don't know what to do here. How can I fix this?"
Isaiah, a Corbin High School senior and the shop's student foreman, looked at the broken tool and didn't have an answer either. Normally, a broken tool means a trip to his instructor, Nantz, and the question that always comes with it: "If you know anything about Nantz and his tools, it's always, well, how did this happen?"
Isaiah couldn't answer that. So he took the tool to Nantz anyway and said what had to be said: "Hey, we broke this tool." Nantz asked what he planned to do about it. Isaiah told him,: "I'm gonna use the other tools."
Instead of reaching for another specialty tool, Isaiah walked the student back to the engine and showed him something simpler: hammering the crankshaft into the engine block by hand, no specialty tool required. Isaiah is the first to admit it wasn't exactly textbook. "Should we probably do that? Not really. But it worked."
To Isaiah, that's Critical Thinking.
He defines it plainly: "Critical thinking means solving a problem . . . with the tools that you have at your hands." Whether it's the automotive shop or the welding shop, the skill isn't knowing the official fix. It's figuring out how to get around the obstacle without needing to ask Nantz or Hoskins for advice every time.
Isaiah says the habit doesn't stay in the shop. "I use it every day . . . at work, at the house. It's always critical thinking." He's got one more year at Corbin High School before he takes that habit with him into the workforce for good.
