When what they point out as a model is deeply flawed, and yet sophisticated enough to take many in, it is a form of destructive pseudo critical thinking. Pseudo critical thinking is everywhere in the world, for everywhere there are people who take themselves to be models of good thinking and who are engaged in influencing others by their model. Sometimes they foster an approach to thinking quite explicitly - by, for example, designing a program that purports to foster critical thinking. But more often they simply implicitly propagandize for a form of flawed thinking, not aware of the thinking that they are modeling. In any case, it is a rare person, one who really does think critically, who recognizes fundamental flaws in his or her own thinking.
Most people are victims of their bad thinking.
They do not know how to analyze and assess thinking. Consequently, most believe that their thinking is instinctively and naturally of good quality. Most believe, in other words, that his or her own thinking is that of a fairminded person who judges persons and events in an impartial and accurate way. The pseudo critical thinking that I propose to concentrate on in this chapter is pseudo critical thinking in the educational establishment. I will use as my major illustration, the California State Department of Education's new assessment tool for reading and writing.