Beyond Feelings - Vincent Ruggiero [45]
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that states must provide free public education not only to all children of citizens and aliens legally residing in this country but to the children of illegal aliens as well.2 Do you support this decision?
As many as 50 percent of those teaching high school math and science lack the proper qualifications. The problem is that qualified math and science teachers are leaving teaching for higher-paying jobs in industry. To attract qualified teachers, some experts propose that schools offer math and science teachers, some experts propose that schools offer math and science teachers a special salary scale, higher that that offered to teachers in other disciplines. Do you support this proposal?
In some states the law now requires motorists to secure each young child riding in their cars in an approved child restraint seat. Do you support such mandatory restraint laws?
Some conservative Christian churches practice snake handling as a part of their religious rituals. That is, they pass poisonous snakes like moccasins and rattlers from one person to another as a test of their religious faith. This practice of snake handling, however, is illegal in all states but one, West Virginia. Should it made illegal there too?
Women employees of the National Broadcasting Company are eligible for six months of maternity leave with job and seniority guarantees. However, when a male engineer with the company applied for paternity leave with the same guarantees (so that he could care for his baby and ease his wife's return to work), he was turned down.3 Is the idea of paternity leave a reasonable one?
A minister in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, proposed some years ago that convicted murderers be executed publicly on prime time television. The chock of seeing such executions, he reasoned, would deter others from crime.4 Do you agree?
Group discussion exercise: Select one of the cases you analyzed in application 2 and discuss it with two or three of your classmates. Try to reach a consensus, but be careful to avoid oversimplification. Be prepared to present your idea(s) to the class.
1 "FAA's Regulations Ruffle Feathers of Hang Gliders," Binghamton Press, September 3, 1982, p.1A.
2 "States Must Educate Illegal Alien Children," The (Oneonta) Star, June 16, 1982, p.1.
3 "Paternity Battle," New York Times, December 12, 1982, p.57
4 "Minister Proposes Public Executions," The (Oneonta) Star, June 16, 1982, p.1.
P2-C11-4
CHAPTER TWELVE
HASTY CONCLUSIONS
A hasty conclusion is a premature judgment – that is, one drawn before sufficient evidence is obtained. Exactly what constitutes sufficient evidence varies from case to case. In general, we may say the evidence is clearly insufficient when there are two or more possible conclusions and the evidence does not clearly favor any one of them.
For example, consider a conclusion some people accept quite readily: "The average American college student is in college to have a good time." Most who accept this probably arrive at their position from a mixture of the stereotype of the carefree, fun-loving college student and some acquaintance with a few college students. They may know a neighbor who failed out of a couple of colleges, have heard stories about wild irresponsibility among other young people, and believe their own sons or daughters pay too little attention to their studies.
Is that enough evidence to support the conclusion? Hardly. The judgment may not even fit the known students. The neighbor may have been enrolled in programs beyond his capacity and failed despite arduous effort. The stories about the other students may be inaccurate or oversimplified. And the people's own children may be more conscientious than they appear to be. Yet even if the judgment fits all those individuals, that does not prove that their behavior is typical of the "average American college student."
The close study of a wider sampling of college students would undoubtedly