Wake Technical Community College Newspaper Editorial Outline Critical Thinking Chapter 7 focuses on analyzing arguments. The daily editorials in a local ne

Wake Technical Community College Newspaper Editorial Outline Critical Thinking Chapter 7 focuses on analyzing arguments. The daily editorials in a local newspaper are excellent examples of short arguments. Editorials are unsigned as they are written by the editorial staff of the paper. (Letters to the editor and “op-ed” columnists are not editorials). For this exercise, you will choose an editorial from the News & Observer (opens in a new window) http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/ or Durham Herald Sun (opens in a new window) http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/. The editorial must have been published in the four weeks preceding the assignment due date. Provide the title of the editorial, the date it was published, and the newspaper name in the opening sentence. You will not need any other citation. Read through the editorial and gain a sense of what the argument is about. Then write a short (4 – 5 sentences) summary of the editorial. What is the event or person being referenced? How does it impact our community? You may need to research online to understand the context of the argument by reading news articles relating to the content. Consult the newspaper website for this background information. Write a detailed outline analyzing the editorial. This is not an evaluation of the argument so you are not commenting on whether you agree. The outline analysis organizes all of the relevant support given in the argument. In your outline, do not use the diagrams introduced in the textbook. Instead, simply identify premise statements with a (P), detailed support for the premises with an (S) and the conclusion with a (C). Look at the attached example for clarification. You will only have one conclusion (see Editorial Example above). Try to articulate the conclusion of the argument keeping in mind it may not be explicitly stated (enthymeme). Remember that no new support should be introduced in the conclusion. 3) Read the article below for a better understanding of editorials.**The attachment is an example of an argument analysis. I have included the editorial and a detailed analysis of the argument showing premise statements (P), detailed support (S), and the conclusion (C).I have also included the editorial so you can read it and see how the outline is constructed as well as chapter 7 notes for reference. The merger of the Raleigh and Wake County schools in 1976 was charged with race. The city
schools had been increasingly enrolled with a larger percentage of minority students and the
county schools were mostly white. The merger faced much public opposition, but Raleigh
leaders including Tom Bradshaw, a still-active popular former mayor, and the late and legendary
Willie York had gumption and pushed the issue up the hill. A steep hill.
Today, race and poverty still are defining issues in public education, evidenced by what appears
to be the resegregation of Wake County schools. Once a model of diversity, and praised and
emulated nationally for its efforts to achieve racial and economic balance in schools, the system
is run by good people with bad choices.
As reported by The News & Observer’s Keung Hui and David Raynor, Wake is seeing more
racial and economic imbalance, with some schools having huge percentages of students in the
category of needing free and reduced-price lunches, something virtually all experts know is not
good in terms of academic performance. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds do better if
they are not isolated among themselves. And the board finds itself with suburban schools that are
overwhelmingly white. That’s hardly what leaders had in mind with desegregated schools, which
were supposed to expose students to a school “society” that was much like the one in which
they’d live and work.
But the county school board is in a quandary not of its making. Economic diversity is one of the
four “pillars” the board considered in approving a new but modest plan for reassigning students
to newly opened schools. But the goal of diversity in schools is increasingly offset by housing
patterns in which suburban communities, especially is western Wake, lack affordable housing
and transportation options for low-income people.
Now the board is running out of tools that keep the housing patterns from being mirrored in the
schools. Busing to help build economic diversity is still done, but less of it. Magnet schools have
been used to draw students into areas that once would have had primarily minority schools, and
they’ve worked pretty well, though they alone can’t halt a trend toward resegregation in a school
district growing by 3,000 students a year.
The Wake school board, a progressive group, has to worry that returning to more busing would
lead to parents pulling their kids from mainstream public schools and putting them into charters
or private schools. This concern has produced a worrisome choice for school board members:
Increase busing and reassignments and alienate some parents or hold busing to a minimum and
accept a partial resegregation of schools.
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article31497476.html#storylink=cpy
P1) Merger of city and county schools in 1976, unpopular with many, decreased racial and economic
segregation
S1) The merger faced public opposition
S2) Wake County leaders pushed the legislation through
S3) Wake County became a model of diversity
P2) Racial / Economic imbalance hurts students
S1) Race and poverty still are defining issues in public education
S2) One major indicator of a segregated school is the percentage of students on
free/reduced lunch. Some schools have large percentages of students in this category.
S3) Segregated schools result in poor performance for poor / minority students
S4) Isolation of disadvantaged students not good for their academic development
P3) Though “economic diversity” is one of pillars of the student assignment plan, housing patterns
and rapid growth challenge the effectiveness of traditional tools
S1) Western Wake lacks affordable housing and public transportation, so it is particularly
segregated
S2) Busing still effective, but not popular with residents
S3) Magnet schools are popular, but cannot solely reverse the trend
C) While wanting the best for every child regardless of race or economic status, housing trends in
Wake county leave good people with bad choices. The school board members must either
accept partial resegregation and the negative impacts on poor and minority children or risk
alienating some parents (voters).
Critical Thinking
Chapter 7
Analyzing Arguments
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.
Analyzing Shorter Arguments
You can analyze shorter arguments by
numbering the premises and conclusion, and
representing their relationships with arrows.
? Example: (C) The death penalty should be
abolished because (P1) it is racially
discriminatory (P2) it is not a deterrent and (P3)
innocent people are sometimes executed by
mistake.
?
7-2
The difference between independent support
and dependent (linked) support.
?
?
?
?
Take two statements that support a third. If the removal of one
of the statements indicates that the third is no longer
supported—if the one statement by itself doesn’t support the
third—then the two statements are dependent (linked).
Example: (P1) Most Democrats are liberals. (P2) Dumdiddle is
a Democrat. Therefore (C) Dumdiddle is a liberal.
Since the mere fact that most Democrats are liberals doesn’t
tell us anything about Dumdiddle…
And since Dumdiddle being a Democrat doesn’t tell us that
Dumdiddle is a liberal (unless we already know (P1))…
7-3
The difference between independent support
and dependent (linked) support.
?
?
?
?
If two statements support a third, but the removal of one
doesn’t prevent the other from support the third, we say
they provide independent support of the conclusion.
Example: (P1) Ten witness say that Blotto robbed the
Bank (P2) Blotto’s fingerprints were found on the note
the robber handed to the teller. (C) Therefore Blotto
robbed the bank.
Since (P1) is good reason by itself to conclude (C)
and
Since (P2) is good reason by itself to conclude (C)
7-4
Tips for Diagramming
?
?
?
Find the conclusion first.
Pay attention to premise and conclusion indicators.
Remember that “sentences” don’t always express a single statement.
?
Sometimes they express more than one (watch out for “and”)
?
?
?
Sometimes they don’t express anything at all.
?
?
If I win the lottery I will move to Tahiti
?
?
Error! Either (1) Boston will win or (2) Cleveland will win.
Don’t number or diagram any sentence that is not a statement.
Leave out irrelevant statements.
?
?
Error! If (1) I win the lottery (2) I will move to Tahiti.
Either Boston will win or Cleveland will win
?
?
e.g., What time is it?
Don’t break up conditional (if, then) or disjunctive (either, or) statements; they
express one thought.
?
?
e.g., “They are never on time and they smell” should be broken up:
(1) They are never on time and (2) they smell.
Sometimes people include statements that count neither for nor against the conclusion; just
leave that stuff out! If it doesn’t support the conclusion, don’t diagram it like it does.
Don’t diagram redundant statements. If the same thing is said twice, just represent it
in the diagram once.
7-5
Argument Summaries;
Standardization
?
Diagramming longer arguments becomes
tedious; it is better to summarize them.
Here we will learn a few skills for doing so:
? Paraphrasing
? Finding
missing premises and conclusions
7-6
Paraphrasing
?
?
It’s difficult to lay down guidelines that teach “how” to
paraphrase if you don’t already have the basic idea,
but here are some helpful hints.
Be accurate: don’t misrepresent (like straw man)
? e.g.,
Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have
no, or a very remote relation to ours.
?
?
?
Error: Europe’s vital interests are totally different than ours.
Ok: Europe has a set of vital interests which are of little or no concern
to us.
Be clear: Take un-clarity and make it clear.
? e.g.,
High-quality learning environments are a necessary
precondition for facilitation and enhancement of the ongoing
learning process.
? Paraphrase: Kids need good schools to learn properly.
7-7
Paraphrasing
?
Be Concise: get to the bare essentials.
? e.g.,
The office wasn’t open at that point in time, owing to the
fact that there was no electrical power in the building.
? Paraphrase: The office was closed then because there was
no electricity in the building.
?
Be Charitable: Again, don’t straw man.
? e.g.,
Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. Therefore, if you
continue to smoke, you are endangering your health.
? Bad paraphrase: Cigarette smoking guarantees that you will
get lung cancer. Continue to smoke and you will be
unhealthy.
? Good paraphrase: Cigarette smoking is a positive causal
factor that increases the risk of lung cancer. If you continue to
smoke, you risk being unhealthy.
7-8
Finding missing premises and
conclusions.
?
People often leave premises or conclusions out of their
arguments. Such arguments are called “Enthymemes” (?n’th?m?ms‘)
?
?
?
?
?
?
e.g., You’re under 21. Therefore I can’t sell you beer.
Missing premise: “I can’t sell beer to anyone under 21.”
Identifying missing premises: If there isn’t enough to support
the conclusion, determine what is needed to support the
conclusion.
Identify missing conclusions: If the statements entail something,
but that thing is not stated, there is a missing conclusion.
Be faithful to the arguer: Don’t put in anything that contradicts
what they already said.
Be charitable. Make sure the premise you add doesn’t make
the argument worse.
7-9
Summarizing Extended Arguments:
What To Do
?
?
?
?
?
Read carefully; identify the main conclusion (or if
it is missing).
Omit unnecessary/irrelevant material
Number the steps; put the conclusion last.
Fill in any missing premises or conclusions.
Add parenthetical justifications (1,2) for each
sub-conclusion and the conclusion.
7-10
Summarizing Extended Arguments:
What To Avoid
?
Don’t write in incomplete sentences
?
Error:
1.
2.
?
Correct:
1.
2.
?
Because animals can experience pain and suffering.
Therefore, it’s wrong to kill or mistreat animals. (from 1)
Animals can experience pain an suffering.
Therefore, it’s wrong to kill or mistreat animals. (from 1)
Don’t include more than one statement per line.
?
?
Error: The president should resign since he no longer
enjoys the confidence of the Board of Trustees.
Correct:
1.
2.
The president no longer enjoys the confidence of the Board of
Trustees.
Therefore, the president should resign. (from 1)
7-11
Summarizing Extended Arguments:
What To Avoid
Don’t include non-statements.
?
?
Error:
1.
2.
?
Democrats and Republicans are all the same.
Therefore, why should I care about politics? (from 1)
Correct:
1.
2.
Democrats and Republicans are all the same.
Therefore, I have no reason to care about politics. (from 1)
Don’t include anything that is not a premise or a conclusion.
?
?
Error:
1.
2.
3.
4.
?
Many people argue that capital punishment is morally wrong.
But the Good Book says, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
What the Good Book says is true.
Therefore, capital punishment is not morally wrong. (from 2,3)
(1) might be more motivation for giving the argument, but it doesn’t
support the conclusion, so leave it out of the standardized argument.7-12
Practice – 7.4, #1, p 188
P1 – Asking the question “Will this be on the
exam?” indicates that your main interest is in
getting through the course with a good grade
rather than in learning what the instructor has to
teach.
P2 – The question frustrates the teacher who
has worked hard to put you in a position to
appreciate the material—its intrinsic interest, its
subtlety, its complexity.
7-13
P3 – This question reveals students are missing
the purpose of education.
C – Therefore, you should not ask, nor be
tempted to ask, the question: “Will this be on
the exam?”
7-14

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