During the 1994-1995 school year, Punahou Academy principal Win Healy encouraged the academy faculty to reconsider the way the school was organized and to propose a new model for what the school might look like. In March of 1995, after a long series of deliberations, a draft proposal was completed which suggested that the traditional structure of departments at the high school be replaced, at least in grades nine and ten, by a structure of five "groups":

Group I - The Cultural World: People and their Institutions
Group II - The Natural World
Group III - Spiritual Awareness and Ethical Values
Group IV - Non-Linear Thinking (Courses emphasizing visualization and other alternate learning styles)
Group V - Critical Thinking

Although after much discussion the administration and faculty chose not to implement the proposal in its entirety, the decision was made to institute a graduation requirement in the areas represented by Group III (spirtual awareness and ethical values) and Group V (critical thinking). Faculty members associated with Group III came to refer to themselves as the "Seekers," (from SECR, the acronym for Spiritual, Ethical and Community Requirement), and faculty members associated with Group V came to be known as "Critters."

By 1997, the Critical Thinking group had formalized its plans for the graduation requirement, and had published Statement of Purpose which served as the conceptual frame for the "Critters" group for the next three years.

While the graduation requirement was perhaps a necessary first step in institutionalizing Critical Thinking at Punahou, it was not without problems. Some faculty members objected to the graduation requirement on principle. Others supported the principle, but believed that any attempt to work CT into their own classes would force them to sacrifice course content, a compromise they were unwilling to make. (See 1997 memo from Win Healy for additional background.) And given the fact that there were a limited number of CT and SECR courses available, many students encountered problems trying to complete the CT and SECR requirements by the end of senior year.

In the fall of 2000, the Critical Thinking group began discussing the concept of a "gateway course" in CT for all students. They looked at a variety of models, and eventually recommended that the sophomore English CT English course be the gateway course for CT at Punahou. The Critical Thinking group came up with a proposal which was, after some discussion and modification, accepted unanimously by the English department. One of the effects of this new course was to eliminate the need for a graduation requirement, since all students will receive instruction in CT during sophomore year.

A one-year exposure to CT in one subject is, however, only an introduction. Punahou has an institutional commitment to the development of critical thinking skills across the curriculum. Kevin Conway, in a letter to the faculty in November of 2001, articulated this commitment as follows:

"Our purpose remains the same: to intentionally develop students' understanding of what thinking is and to promote the intellectual traits required for effective reasoning...We will now face the challenge of developing courses across the curriculum that build on the Sophomore English experience by extending and deepening student's abilities to understand how they think and use knowledge effectively."

The individual departments now face the interesting challenge of deciding where critical thinking fits into their departmental standards and how they intend to provide students with the opportunity to follow up on and practice the CT skills they have begun to develop in the sophomore English class. The Punahou Critical Thinking Institute is intended to provide time and resources to allow participants to explore ways in which the learning of CT skills might be effectively encouraged throughout the curriculum.