The Problem of the Solution

Thinking and analysis entail specific mental skills that can be taught and learned. Working toward the problem of the solution involves an important subset of thinking skills. Moreover, professional problem analysis requires a special pattern or configuration of thinking and analysis. For principals, problem analysis is a daily issue. Lend an ear to Professor Kingsfield’s classic speech at the beginning of the film, “Paper Chase,” which ends with the statement that when you finally come of age in this great profession, “You’ll be thinking like lawyers.” Do lawyers actually use a process or procedure for thinking that differs from ordinary people’s processes? Do doctors, engineers, architects, and other professionals think in special ways? These professionals think in problem-analysis/problem-solving modes that differ dramatically from how nonprofessional people think about problems, and it takes extensive, arduous training and practice to learn a professional mode of problem analysis (Reynolds and Silver, 1987).