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Developing critical thinking through a urban legend
“The ability to think critically is an essential life skill; current literature reveals that explicit instruction in and practice of critical thinking strategies in the high school classroom can improve students’ academic performance.” (Hove, Genal, 2011) One of the aims of education in the 21st century is to enable students to think critically. It is generally expected that students finish their secondary studies being able to decode information and analyze arguments, build refutation and strengthen their overall analytical and judgmental skills. As a matter of fact, it is also part of the learning-teaching process to develop these skills; i.e. critical thinking skills. To state Scriven & Richard Paul (1987) “Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skilfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness.” The high school classroom is the appropriate place to give young adults the possibility to speak up, to engage in discussions, to test their own understanding, to exchange information, to take a position and defend it. As Koelling (2004) argues “teens in the 12th grade are approaching adulthood with more confident and trust in their own adult abilities. They have critical thinking skills in place to solve problems and have a solid mastery of complex issues.” This means that young adults attending the last years of their secondary schools have the psychological ability to think critically. They only need to be encouraged and guided to develop it and become critical thinkers. Critical thinking can be developed by the use of literature. Encouraging students to read critically is a way to enhance their reading and thinking skills. Having in mind the students’ interests and developing stages, teachers are able to experience interesting literature classes with engaged and motivated students willing to develop their cognitive skills. Koelling says to educators that it is their job to understand and acknowledge each teen as a developing being - one whose interests and abilities are in process of vast change- before they can identify the
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students’ interest and abilities as readers and before they can make meaningful classroom connections. Urban legends are an interesting literary genre to help young adults to develop their critical thinking skills as they offer a significant number of issues that are of teenagers’ concerns. These legends, as in the case of folktales, have been “polished and shaped throughout time, and only the best, the most relevant, and often the most appropriate have been passed down through the ages and set in print.”(De Vos, 2003). There is a great variety of urban legends to work with and many of them are set in different times and places and, depending on these aspects, they deal with a lot of meaningful issues for society. These make the genre an interesting one to exploit in the literature and language classrooms and in the development of critical thinking skills. “Dancing with the devil” retold by S. E. Schlosser is one of these urban legends. This legend -as many others- can be found in different web pages that post legends, myth and folktales for teenagers. “Dancing with the devil” tells the story of a teenage girl whose mother has forbidden her to go to the school dance because of her religious beliefs and the preacher’s advice, arguing that dances are for the Devil. The girl accepts his mother’s words not to contradict her, but she secretly goes to the dance without knowing that that would be the last time someone would ever see her. What makes this story a good one to work with is the fact that it deals with interesting subjects to analyze and think about for teenagers and teachers. It makes reference to meaningful and current topics to establish discussions and debates in the classroom. Critical thinking and urban legends On the surface, “Dancing with the devil” is a scary story to provide a shivering atmosphere in the classroom or on a Halloween celebration. But digging a little deeper, there are several readings on the basic story which will help to develop critical thinking strategies. The main character in “Dancing with the devil” is a teenage girl undergoing a problematic situation that almost all young adults experience at least once; forbiddance. The girl’s mother forbids her to go to the school dance but she goes anyway. This is a topic that engages students to share their own experiences, to
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take a position and to analyze possibilities to solve the problem. When describing teens aged 16 to 17, Koelling (2004) claims that “teens in this stage of development can apply abstract thought, reasoning, and logic to real life situations. They are intellectually able to perceive shades of gray. They are no longer solely guessing at outcomes: decision making is based on experience.” Therefore, we can assume that exposing teenagers to these kinds of topics, which are closed to their own real life and experience, will help them to enhance their ability to think critically, to reason logically and to make decisions. The arguments that the mother gives to the girl not to go to the dance are controversial ones which is in fact one of the purposes of literature for teenagers, “YAL deals with many universal themes, including the eternal questions Who am I? and Where do I fit in? Some of these themes are: alienation from one’s society group, survival or meeting a challenge, social and/or political concerns about racial or ethnic discrimination; social concerns about AIDS, teenage pregnancy, divorce, substance abuse, family conflicts, dealing with death, and political injustice. These are issues and topics that all students can benefit from reading and discussing, not just students at lower academic levels.” (Herz & Gallo, 1996)In the case of “Dancing with the Devil”, the mother says that she has spoken to the preacher who advised her not to let the girl to attend the dance because the Devil was going to be there. Religion is always a contentious theme that contributes to the development of critical thinking skills. It gives the class the possibility to work on the ability to evaluate beliefs, to participate in discussions and to teach young adults how to elaborate ideas, to support them, to give examples, to clarify or ask for clarification, and to respect other’s ideas and speaking turns.
Other important topics that the legend makes reference to are romance and self esteem. The girl was wearing a brand new dress for the dance. She needed to gain confidence as her mother used to tell her that she was too awkward to get a boyfriend, and she felt it was like that, as no one ever noticed her. But that night, she felt different and the boys could see that as they were all wishing to dance with her. Adolescence is a difficult time as regards self esteem but a nice one to discover and experience romance. “There is a strong focus on relationships, especially romantic, and teens will spend a great deal of time navigating this territory. The need for personal space continuous to grow and these teens don’t just want personal freedom, they expect it. They have by now developed a sense of individual direction. Sex is quite common in this stage of development, for both boys and girls.” (Koelling,2004 ) In the story, the girl knows what is to attract boys
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and be noticed for the first time, her self esteem grows and she feels confident as if she were another person. She feels so excited about this new experience that she cannot see she is dancing with the devil. Literature, as in the case of “Dancing with the devil”, gives young adults the possibility to explore and discuss life’s most confounding and intriguing themes; students are able to debate and question their own personal dilemmas, to feel identify with the character and the situations she lives. Furthermore, “Dancing with the devil” is an urban legend that not only entertains, but also frightens its readers. At the school dance, the girl dances with the most handsome boy of the party: the Devil, who mysteriously disappears sending the girl to hell. As De Vos (2003) states, “the story must appeal to a young adult audience. They must touch young adults, either by frightening them or by enlightening them about themselves or their own or other cultures.” Deciding whether one likes or does not like a story or its ending is also part of the process of developing critical thinking. Bringing to the classroom the discussion about the characters, providing an analysis and evaluation of the development of the plot are strategies that take part on a class that promotes critical thinking among the students. For all the reasons stated before, we can say that “Dancing with the devil” is a urban legend that opens the door to teachers and secondary students to develop critical thinking. They provide themes and means to debate, analyze, elaborate and support ideas which give, as a result, interesting classes with critical thinkers. “Dancing with the devil” is an example of this as it deals with controversial and at the same time real life situation themes. Speaking and looking for solutions to these issues is what will make young adults to become critical readers and human beings as well.
References: De Vos, Gail, 2003, “Storytelling for young adults”, chapter 1: “Storytelling and the young adult” De Vos, Gail, 2003, “Storytelling for young adults”, chapter 2: “Telling the tales” Herz, Sarah and Gallo, Donald, 1996, “From Hinton to Hamlet: Building bridges between young adults literature and the classics”
Jésica Torres Language and written expression 4 Hove, Genal , 2011, “Developing critical thinking skills in the high school English classroom” Koelling, Holly, 2004, “Classic connections: Turning teens to great literature” “Dancing with the devil” www.americanfolklore.net