Professors who choose to do a multiple choice quiz will make that available during week 2 classes.  Following is a case study with open-ended questions designed to get you thinking about the parts of critical thinking.

Cornerstone 2011 – Critical Thinking Case Study
The Feeding Children Organization Charity

 Background

You receive an unsolicited phone call from a call center representing the Feeding Children Organization (FCO) charity asking for your financial support.  The goal of the FCO is to educate and the public and raise general awareness about the causes and effects of childhood hunger.  Further, they seek to provide financial resources to local agencies working to end hunger in poverty-stricken areas by coordinating with national, regional, and state agencies.

After agreeing to make a pledge and providing your mailing address, you politely end the conversation feeling good about your decision to support a worthy cause.  The call center agent assured you that an envelope would reach you within a week, and that he appreciated your promise to return it with your contribution as soon as possible.

Description

Four days later, an FCO envelope arrives with several flyers, a small brochure filled with informative descriptions and images of needy children receiving food from volunteers, and a cover letter thanking you for your generous donation.  A quick perusal of the contents leads you to the fine print, on the reverse of the cover letter.  You notice that the FCO is a “501 (C) (3) nonprofit organization,” the most common type of nonprofit organization.  After reading through the purpose statement, you come to the following sentence:  “A very significant portion of your contribution will be utilized to help continue our ongoing public awareness and fundraising campaign.”

The FCO website is listed at the bottom of the page, and a few clicks later, you are viewing a functional, if somewhat bland, website.  The navigation panel includes links to “resources,” “news,” “blogs,” and “apply for assistance.”  The first three categories link you, respectively, to the US Department of Health and Human Services, a Yahoo news search for “childhood hunger,” and a blog site associated with the National Institutes for Health.  The “apply for assistance” links to a one paragraph PDF file that instructs all inquiries for assistance to be processed through the FCO office by emailing Margot Bridgewater, FCO Director.

Conclusion

Since you’re already on the web, you decide to visit one of the state agencies that collects information about charities to see what information might be posted.  You find a few bits that indicate the FCO gives 20 cents for every dollar raised to fund programs fighting childhood hunger.  It is unclear as to where the rest of the money goes.

You begin rethinking your decision to donate.

Questions

• What assumptions are at work in your initial conversation with the call-center employee?
• Do those assumptions change throughout the case study?
• What evidence is provided that might change your assumptions?
• Does the quality of the evidence you find support your initial decision to donate?
• What additional evidence would be helpful to guide your rethinking process?
• What are some possible implications of maintaining your decision to donate?  Not to donate?