This week, the students participated in a class discussion on pitfalls in persuasion. Teacher comments in italics.

Morning Class Notes (Afternoon)

Humans need water, air, and food. (Fact)

Vancouver is rated by the United Nations as the best city in the world to live. (Fact, but contains elements of opinion)

Vancouver is the best city in which to live. (opinion)

Taxi drivers are making more money during the transit strike. (Fact)

Taxi drivers are happy during the transit strike. (opinion)

Immigration to Canada. Without immigration, Canada’s population would fall from its present level. (Fact)

China’s census says the population is 1.3 billion. (fact, but many questions remain on whether certain people were counted)

Obviously is not obvious to everyone, so it is a danger word, too.

I used Copernic (multi-search engine) to search on Kuwaiti incubator. (10 good sources, but I had to examine each one to make sure it was credible)

Afternoon Class Notes

BC Transit drivers in the CAW union are on strike. (Fact)

The Americans put an 80% duty on softwood lumber on the 1st of April. (Fact)

BC Transit drivers asked for 18% increase over three years. (Fact) This is too much to pay. (Opinion)

Vancouver is the best city to live in the world. (opinion)

According to a United Nations study, Vancouver is the best city to live in the world. (This is a fact, but their study is an opinion)

If you say, TV violence causes violence in children, many studies will support you. However, a significant number (20%) say that TV does not cause violence in children. And, of course, children have always been violent to some extent, so it is very difficult to show behaviour by science.

A conscientious bunch of students checks in before class! (opinion)

Obviously, means that is should be obvious to the person who is reading that word. If not, the word becomes an insult. (danger word)

Needless to say, apparently (also danger words)

For the Kuwaiti incubator incident, I used two sources: one from a university in Australia; the other the record of Congress in the United States government. These should be reliable in most cases.

 

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