At the present time there is increased emphasis on the need to teach critical thinking in schools. "Critical thinking" is proclaimed as the new answer to what ails the schools of the United States. The problem, however, is how does one define critical thinking, and even if a definition can be given, how does one teach it? The idea that it is important to teach students to think is not a new one in education, nor is it new in home economics. Each of the instructional orientations that has been espoused can be found in home economics education: the process-based, the subject-based, and the development-based. Increasingly, educators are exploring the dimensions of what might be called an ethical-based point of view. When choosing an instructional approach, however, one might ask questions such as the following in determining its appropriateness for home economics education: (1) what importance does the approach assign to the learning of process? of subject matter?; (2) what importance does the approach assign to the developmental qualities of the learner?; (3) what importance does the approach assign to the societal or cultural context of problem solving?; (4) what importance does the approach assign to addressing the practical problems of everyday life faced by individuals and families?; and (5) what importance does the approach assign to the unexpected, the "irrational," the unique? There are no answers, only more questions. But within this context, the appropriateness of certain approaches will be more evident. (KC)