well yes, plenty of people can memory endlessly and regurgitate the knowledge on demand and go through many years of school

but of course that's not "critical thinking"

and plenty of "gut thinkers" feel they are critical thinkers but lack of education instead defeats them

however questioning and evaluating things for oneself does tend to lead to better results, like say not destroying 5G wireless, following cults religious or political, etc. - doesn't take a Ph.d but does take critical thinking