QUESTION: What are the 3 premises for the argument IN THE ARTICLE BELOW?

"

Excerpts from Study: "Nearly Half of Millennials Get an F In Critical Thinking"

In what seems like an eternity ago, false information was occasionally shared via viral email. The success of these misinformation campaigns was dependent on each recipient forwarding the email to a new group of readers in other words, failing to demonstrate critical thinking. At that time, a viral email containing fake news was problematic, but it only reached a limited audience.

However, social media has created a highly efficient way for false stories to reach millions in a hurry. Some fake news ends up trending on Twitter and Facebook. And millennials may play a critical role in this process, as both victims and unwitting accomplices.

According to a recent study by MindEdge, a Waltham, MA-based learning company founded in 1998 by Harvard and MIT educators, many millennials lack critical thinking skills.

When young adults between the ages of 19 and 30 (both current college students and recent grads) were given a test designed to test their ability to detect fake news:

• Only 24 percent were able to correctly answer eight out of nine questions
• 44 percent could not correctly answer six out of nine questions

The inability to discern false information is problematic for more than one reason:

• 55 percent of millennials rely on social media for news
• 51 percent share social media content very or fairly often
• 36 percent have accidentally shared inaccurate information

These findings by MindEdge are consistent with a Stanford University survey that found middle school, high school, and college students were unable to distinguish between a news story, an ad, and an opinion piece, and college students actually fared worse than high school students.

In order to survive in what is now called The Information Age, it is vital for people to have critical thinking skills. Thus, it is more than mildly alarming that college students would be less likely than their younger peers to discern between true and fake news. And according to the MindEdge survey, 61 percent of the test respondents took critical thinking in college although 13 percent arent sure if they took a critical thinking course or not while in college.

Is this a generational trend?

Research suggests that financial literacy may be a generational problem. Is the lack of critical thinking skills unique to millennials, or have young adults always lacked this ability? That question cant be answered conclusively because there is no generational data that could be used for comparison, according to Frank Connolly, a senior editor at MindEdge, where he manages curriculum design and content creation for a variety of courses.

But it doesnt seem likely that millennials are afflicted by some strange critical-thinking deficit that distinguishes them from their older counterparts, states Connolly. Rather, whats changed for millennials is the sheer amount of information both false and legitimate that they will encounter over the course of their careers and lifetimes.

Whether this issue is generational or not, its vitally important for these young adults to learn how to analyze the material they receive. The ability to distinguish between true information and misinformation is more vital for millennials precisely because theyve got to deal with far more information than earlier generations ever did, Connolly explains.

Were living in the information age and, like it or not, the ability to make sense of information to understand it, to use it, and to distinguish the good from the bad is the key to getting ahead in todays economy.

Fortunately, most millennials understand their need to develop this trait, since 64 percent admit its very important to their career success. Forty years ago, you didnt need advanced critical thinking skills to earn a good living on an assembly line, Connolly says. But in todays knowledge-based economy, critical thinking skills are at a premium: according to a survey of chief human resources and strategy officers by the World Economic Forum, by 2020, complex problem- solving and critical thinking will be the top two skills workers need.

Luckily, students can take a more proactive role in the development of these skills. Connolly says some of his tips are just common sense:

• Be skeptical.
• Ask more questions.
• Double-check sources.
• Dont take information at face value.

In addition, Connolly suggests that there are many free online courses available to the public to help improve critical thinking skills.

Perhaps we could all benefit from improving our thinking.

"