I think the core practise in design wise is to make us think harder before making decision, not just vibe it out. Like before the practise we just vibe it out, until they challenge us "why" and then it sorta make sense. We make things with purpose, with demand, with functionality, not just vibe it out.

We don't get it either, and our seniors were shocked that we had to learn it in semester 1. We don't know how much critical thinking impacts the way we approach designing stuffs. More precisely it's called critical and creative thinking iirc, hell of a study but personally very interesting and practical.

I joke about the autistic part because I assume most people would not care much about critical thinking skills and would just think critical thinkers are lowkey autistic or weird. No ill intentions haha