One of Loyola’s central themes is critical thinking-how it should be practiced in an academic environment and applied for the improvement of the human condition and all that entails.

In my classes, I stress nine concepts which I believe effectively engaged people must understand. They serve as my “9-step process” to arrive at a deeper understanding.

No. 1. Tradeoffs: For every action we take, no matter how beneficial it may be to someone or some group, there will be a tradeoff. When we restore beaches in front of beachfront homes, we make some people very happy. But at what cost? There’s only so much money, so what was deprived of funding so that the beach could be replaced? Education? Health care? Highways?

No. 2. Unintended consequences: A classic example is that when we leveed the river to protect ourselves from flooding, we didn’t intend that, 70 years later, we would be flooded from the Gulf of Mexico as the sediment-deprived coast continued to sink.

No. 3. Unforeseen events: A common failing in our society is the art of planning, long-range thinking and effective forecasting. We can never be clairvoyant, but we must be better at using our past experience to predict the long-term results of actions taken today. The problem is, it’s so rarely done. We tend to plan activities with the primary target being short-term gains.

No. 4. Value of being able to connect the dots: It’s a maxim of critical thinking that one must have the ability to understand relationships and interactions among components of an issue. It took decades for citizens to accept that a loss of coastal wetlands weakens our economy in so many ways, and that, in our region, the weakened economy adversely impacts the quality of our culture, and that it’s basically the culture of our region that drives tourism, and so on. Connecting the dots has value.

No. 5. Hidden values: Some events and things have obvious value, but others don’t. In the not-so-distant past, who knew that the “worthless wetlands” of our coast (at one time selling at five cents per acre) were actually supporting the largest fishery in the continental U.S. We now know that they’re our first line of defense against hurricanes. We must look deeper than the obvious.

No. 6. Our political process: Most Americans accept that we have the best political system in the world-and we may. But, it’s not exceptionally effective. Many locals say that “America has forgotten New Orleans.” I doubt that. On any given day, there are thousands of Americans in our city working to restore the needs of its people. No, Americans haven’t forgotten us. The failing is in our form of representative government. The first rule of politics is to get re-elected. Congressmen are not rewarded with re-election by sending money to noble projects, they are reelected for sending money home to their districts. It’s funny how that works. Americans typically want to help New Orleans, but members of Congress focus on helping their districts.

No. 7. Enlightened & capable leadership: We can’t expect anything of note from unenlightened or incapable leaders, but it’s clear that we keep electing them. Until the population demands (and elects) leaders who think and act critically as they seek solutions to challenges, those of us who dream of a just existence for all will be continually disappointed.

No. 8. What we should expect of ourselves: Critically thinking people, at some point, come to understand that they must not transfer strategically important decisions or actions to others. Too many people in our society expect others to make decisions and carry out good works. It’s obvious that this is an unworkable position. Bill Clinton’s new book, “Giving,” discusses the capacity of each and every human to make a positive impact on his or her social environment. It doesn’t always require money; it simply requires the motivation to do good works with what we have.

No. 9. Social justice: This is the cornerstone of a Jesuit education, and the key to a better, sustainable society. Of the range of definitions for social justice, the common denominator is that people treat other people justly, and that this practice be transferred and applied to all transactions.

Critical thinking should be a lifestyle, not a slogan. Professors, apply it; students, demand it.

Dr. Robert Thomas the Interm Director of the School of Mass Communication and the Director of the Center for Environmental Communications.