I decided to pose this question to some friends, acquaintances, and teachers to find out what they think about this. It will come as no surprise that the answers differed from person to person. Nevertheless, among the variety of answers, a common element emerged: You are a critical thinker if you do not accept everything blindly. You seem to deserve the label just by meeting this modest condition. That may explain why we so easily consider ourselves critical thinkers because no one just blindly accepts anything. At least, I hope so. 

In an effort to dig further, I took to the internet to read about the critical thinker, looking for illuminating criteria to assess when one is a critical thinker. Again, not surprisingly, the answers were as varied as what I heard from people. But here, too, a common element could be discerned in the variety of answers. You are a critical thinker if you correctly apply skills such as analyzing, evaluating, assessing, and concluding. 
 
Yes, not very surprising, I thought. Common knowledge, right? 
 
You know, maybe you can not be a critical thinker at all but only strive to want to be one, realizing that you will never be able to achieve that goal.