What's independent thinking?

Independent thinking is a skill developed over time where that we question the status quo from the classroom to the media outlets, both social and professional. We don't assume the truth, rather we question what the underlying actions are that prove a truth or possibly disprove it. We do not sit quietly in the classroom just because the facilitator of the class has multiple degrees and assume that facilitator is truly enlightened themselves and not maybe just repeating the same memorized data that he is she did not question. As the saying goes ... The greatest obstacle to learning is the illusion of knowledge.