| Dear Friends and Colleagues in Critical Thinking,
The 38th Annual international Conference on Critical Thinking is fast approaching, and we need you to be an essential part of the learning community at this year's conference . I have never missed a conference since I began learning critical thinking in 1994, and would not miss this rare learning opportunity where people come together to study a robust conception of critical thinking and thereafter create change within their circles of influence. People attend our conference from every primary and many specialized academic disciplines, and from other backgrounds of all kinds: public service, the professions, and so forth. We invite people from every walk of personal and professional life, from every country in the world, to join us this year.
We often fail to appreciate how fortunate we are in the United States to be able to freely travel and meet together in conference, to openly explore and develop scholarship in critical thinking. Many people from around the globe contact us each year, telling us that they would dearly love to attend our conference, but that they cannot get the requisite visa from our embassies to attend. These scholars are denied travel to join us, even when we send multiple letters to U.S. embassies supporting their attendance. In fact, we have been told by one embassy that our letters of support only "make matters worse." Many of the affected scholars have been approved for Concurrent Sessions and Roundtable Discussions, but we will never know what they had to say, nor how they might have contributed to our own development and intellectual growth.
It is a very sad day in human history when intellectuals and scholars are barred from traveling, with freedom and dignity, to meet and confer with one another - for these scholars and their thinking are essential to the realization of fairminded critical societies across the world. But this is the world we humans have collectively created; indeed, it is a melancholy song sung throughout history. It seems we humans may be incapable of grasping the vital lessons we should be learning by studying historical patterns and trends.
It is only through our critical reasoning, coupled with a strong ethical orientation, that we can hope to turn things around. So we hope that those of you who can make it to our conference will join us this year. Next year we will be overseas for our annual conference, so do not miss this year's opportunity to be part of this rare chance to learn with the world's leading authorities on critical thinking.
See new information that has been posted on the conference in the upper-left column of this newsletter (not of the website itself): plan your flight with the Daily Schedule, learn about the hotel venue, see the most frequently-asked questions, and more.
Finally, stay tuned for even more updates, including this year's Concurrent Sessions and the formal Program and Proceedings of the 38th Annual International Conference .
Dr. Linda Elder, Senior Fellow and President
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