I love the goal of thoughtfulness, but as someone entering into college, it seems naive to want to spend so much money on developing a, "muscle," with no specific end other than said development. I love the idea of developing the mind, but nowadays that seems to be a byproduct of honing a particular skill by collaborating with and learning from experts, and I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing.

The article you link to outlines some negative behavior as perceived by the professor, but I think that they're taking a very high-minded view of what education ought to be. For example, take this quote:

Not long ago, she said, she asked students to try to go for an entire class without letting the word “like” drop needlessly — part conjunction, part stutter — into their speech. One of them responded that Hall was a “cultural capitalist” defending her particular “cultural capital.

They're painting it in a negative light, and although I think their criticisms about the academic rigor expected in college have some basis, they're too eager to pretend that students who are thinking in a way they disagree with aren't learning to be thoughtful, or that somehow they've developed in the wrong way.

Additionally, we have to think about the fact that college might not be the route for everyone. I think it's an inherently privileged mindset that thinks that the only way to obtain higher understanding or thoughtfulness is by putting in the time and money to at a university. I'd argue that thoughtfulness comes from many factors, and people are going to develop it differently--and most people will develop it as a product of aging and encountering new experiences.