...important life skill after interpersonal skill. In a 1994 survey of over 11,000 college graduates, the "ability to think critically” ranked as the second most important skill out of 16 in their daily life (#1 was interpersonal skills). Source: Cooperative Institutional Research Program, "1994 Nine Year Follow-Up Survey (of 1985 Freshmen),” Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 1995. 3.Learning and discussing controversial issues in school helps students become more informed and more active citizens. A 2007 survey of 5,400 secondary students found that: "Students who regularly take part in classroom discussion are more likely to: •Vote in later life •Support basic democratic values •Take part in political discussions •Follow political news in the media •Be interested in the political process •Have confidence in their ability to influence public policy” Source: Keith Barton and Alan McCully, "Teaching Controversial Issues...Where Controversial Issues Really Matter," Teaching History, June 2007. 4.Learning about controversial topics in school increases students’ political participation. Studies by Lee Ehman in 1966...
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...potentially correct genetic disorders. This procedure is fairly new and illegal in the United States; therefore, causing a controversy in the genetic department of sciences. In the article, “Controversial gene therapy might help women have healthy children” posted in The Washington Post, explains the positives that can come from this experimental solution and also the negative consequences. The focal point of the article is discussing a specific issue with the mitochondria of women’s egg cells. The mitochondria are the energy powerhouses of the cell that synthesizes all of the cell’s adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The...
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...How to deceive and disinformation tactics Hear no evil see no evil, speak no evil, don’t discuss it- especially if you are a public figure, news anchor ,etc. if its not reported, it didn’t happen, and you never have to deal with the issues. Become incredulous and indignant avoid discussing key issues and instead focus on side issues which can be used show the topic as being critical of some otherwise sacrosanct group or theme. This is also known as the “ how dare you “ gambit Create rumor mongers. Avoid discussing issues by describing all charges, regardless of venue or evidence, as mere rumors and wild accusations find or create a seeming element of your opponents argument which you can easily knock down to make yourself look good and the opponent to look bad. Either make up an issue you may safely imply exists based on your interpretation of the opponents/arguments/ or select the weakest aspect of the weakest charges. Amplify their significance and destroy them in a way which appears to debunk all the charges, real and fabricated alike, while actually avoiding discussion of the real issue. Sidetrack opponents with name calling and ridicule associate opponents with unpopular titles such as “kooks” , “right-wing”, “liberal”, “leftwing”, “terrorists”, “conspiracy buffs”, “radicals” ,”militia”, “racist”, “religious fanatics”, shill disinfo Hit and run, in any public forum, make a brief attack of your opponent of the opponent position and then scamper off before an answer...
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...brand manager wants. “T hey assume that controversy garners discussion,” he says. “We actually f ound out it’s more complicated than that.” Berger and Z oey Chen, a marketing doctoral student at the Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology, discuss these f indings in the paper, “When, Why, and How Controversy Causes Conversation,” published in the October edition of the Journal of Consumer Research. Berger and Chen set up a series of experiments to judge the relationship between controversy and conversation. First, they collected about 200 articles posted on Topix.com, an online news resource, and coded how controversial each was using two independent raters. T hey then cataloged the number of comments each article received in its f irst 15 days online. T he initial experiment showed a correlation between controversial topics and online comments up to a moderate level of controversy — a 4.6 on a seven-point scale, to be exact. Articles with higher levels of...
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...Christina Calderon HCS 440 December 8, 2012 John Branner/ Instructor Healthcare Expenditure Healthcare in the United States can be a controversial issue and individual’s views differ from the policymakers. The controversial issue is some agree with the money being spent and some do not agree with the money being spent on Healthcare. This paper will be discussing to support of healthcare expenditure and how it is necessary for the American population. Current Level of National Healthcare Expenditures: Healthcare costs have been one of the most expensive things and is still continuing to be expensive. It cost patients over $8,000 dollars for each patient per year, which is more than double of other nations. Staying healthy in the United States has its sacrifices and do so is very expensive. In fact, in 2009, the average annual cost of health care was $7,960 dollars per person which is two and a half times what it was in Japan for the same year ("Healthcare Expenditure", 2012) 15%to 25% of the American population has no healthcare coverage due to a lack of any form of universal health care America spent $2.6 trillion dollars on health care in 2011; about one in every six dollars went into the healthcare system (Kliff, 2012). A third of that spending $750 billion did nothing to make anyone healthier. That $750 billion was just wasteful and who knows where it was spent. Spending Too Much or Not Enough? I think the United States takes advantage of the opportunity each...
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...Abortion, the intentional and deliberate termination of a pregnancy has been an extremely controversial topic in both religious and secular views for centuries, and is continuously causing discussing regarding the moral and ethical values it impedes on. This method of murdering an innocent unborn child has developed multiple standpoints in many different religions. Specifically highlighting the Catholic Church’s stance as well the stance of Buddhist practices showing the similarities and dissimilarities of each religion. In an increasingly secular world a utilitarian stance will also be evaluated. Catholic church: (200 words) (82) The Catholic Church defines abortion as an unspeakable evil that is a crime to the creator. The Catholic Church...
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...DEALING WITH CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN SOCIAL STUDIES BY: SURBHI MOHINDROO SECTION- A ROLL NO. – 37 GUIDED BY- DR. KUSUM WHAT ARE CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES Controversial issues are those that have a political, social or personal impact and arouse feeling and/or deal with questions of value or belief. Controversial issues can be local or global, such as bullying, religion, politics, personal lifestyle or values. They are usually complicated with no easy answers and are issues on which people often hold strong views based on different sets of experiences, interests and values. Almost any topic can become controversial if individual groups offer differing explanations about events, what should happen next and how issues should be resolved, or if one side of an issue is presented in a way that raises the emotional response of those who might disagree. CAUSES OF CONTROVERSIES Following are the causes...
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...Trophy hunting is a controversial subject. While some—often the hunters—feel the act is a noble and fun sport that instills a sense of pride in the hunter; others feel that the activity is dreadfully barbaric and should be outlawed. In 2015, Dame Jane Goodall, a British anthropologist, ethologist, and primatologist, released a post on her blog detailing trophy hunting and her opinion on it. This entry is perfect for analyzing rhetorical devices and will be the subject of this essay. Within her article, Dame Goodall attempts to inform the reader of trophy hunting and the idiocy she associates with it. Discussing topics like the Cecil the Lion tragedy, wherein a Minneapolis dentist killed a lion used for scientific study, and two other events...
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...The Day I Will Never Forget by filmmaker Kim Longinotto and Born in the USA by filmmakers Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider both attempt to address controversial issues in women’s health. The Day I Will Never Forget examines the continued practice of female genital mutilation in Kenya. Born in the USA focuses on birthing practices in the United States. Each filmmaker attempts to present a balanced view on the issues, however, both end up presenting a stronger opinion leaning one way or the other: Longinotto’s film advocates for the eradication of female genital mutilation, and Jarmel and Schneider’s film argue for more use of midwives. Female genital mutilation is a procedure that involves the partial or complete removal of the external female...
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...When things go wrong, at the time we can be furious but eventually we are usually able to look back and laugh, even if it is a rather wary laugh. Black comedy may position an audience to laugh at something they’re not ready to laugh at, or at something they’re not really allowed to laugh at. Black comedies can show us the errors and misjudgements that lead to our downfalls and give us an opportunity to laugh at the silliness of human existence. The only difference between comedy and black comedy is the seriousness of the consequences of the misunderstanding. Black comedy explores modern comic plays from different countries that deal with what is often uncomfortable or suppressed. The nature of comedy and the use of humour is used to confront an audience with human experiences of pain, loss, forms, styles, techniques and conventions. Black Comedy is all about how you get your audience into a position to observe the confusion, to be aware of the misunderstanding leading to these terrible events. And the difference (sometimes) between the confusion and the reactions of the confusion is what creates the comedy. The term for the positioning the audience so they are aware of a significance that the characters are ignorant, is of course Dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is a theatrical technique that can be used in a variety of styles of theatre, from tragedy to comedy. It is the form of irony where the audience is aware of the significance of something that the characters are ignorant...
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...Since as long as we can remember, bullying has always been an issue within any school, but with the rise of technology hurtful comments are being anonymously posted that can leave an everlasting effect on a person. Cyberbullying is the most common form of bullying in today’s society, because of the rapid growth in technology. With the growth of cyberbullying comes people wanting to make a change, however there are many contrasting ideas that are causing lots of controversy. Many believe that cyberbullying cases aren’t criminal contrasting to the idea that cyberbully laws and policies are too weak, therefore we need cyberbullying legislation. Whatever the case may be, the controversial topic of cyberbullying has impacted our criminal justice system and has caused people to second guess our bullying...
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...Since the existence of trans people have come into the public’s eyes, everything down to their daily autonomous functions (for example, bathroom procedurals) have been brought into question. With a lack of information of what it truly means to be trans and the understandable fear of the unknown it is no wonder why the concept is so controversial. There are several different reasons why people do and do not oppose the laws put in place in some states to attempt to solve the societal anxiety trans people’s identity can cause. These anxieties become increasingly more complicated when they are challenged in the private sectors and public sectors. This will be addressed with three of the biggest arguments for anti-bathroom laws; protection, privacy,...
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...the development of our children? Censorship is a concern for parents, schools, librarians, and school administrators. Public education is vital to the future of society. Students must be allowed to develop the spirit of independent intellectual thinking and be exposed to a variety of conflicting ideas, images and viewpoints, in return giving them the knowledge to make the best choices in life (Reichman, 2001). b. Should parents censor what books their children read? Research suggests that censorship can have a negative impact on teenagers because the topics teenagers are facing today are the very ones that parents are trying to shelter them from. c. Main points: i. Censorship limits teenager’s ability to understand societal issues. ii. Censorship limits the knowledge teenagers have to make up their own minds and discuss their thoughts and opinions openly. II. According to the American Library Association, the following books are the 10 most challenged books of 2011. The graph represents the reasons why they are challenged. 1. ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle 2. The Color of Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa 3. The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins 4. My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad Butler 5. The Absolutely True diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie 6. Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 7. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley 8....
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...He addresses this by looking at how we answer those questions that we face in our life that is moral issues and or controversial moral issues. (e.g abortion, cloning, physician aid death) Applied ethics are helpful because they help “hit upon a true moral principle, we get moral guidance; we learn what to do” (Tännsjö 2011, 398). That being said it helps identify right and wrong characteristics and gives us moral guidance and moral understanding to answer the moral issue at hand. Tännsjö (2011) states that applied ethics can help us answer practical questions, but can also help us bring consistency and clarity into practical issues that already exist. The author faces challenges from intuitionism and particularism. Intuitionism, suggest that people have different moral principles and yield conflicting practical conclusions to the moral issue that is at hand. As well that some of our intuitions are unreliable. Particularism “claims [that] there are no true moral principles” (Tännsjö 2011, 401). Thus, that there is inconsistency with all moral...
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...Facebook, Public or Private? People, and especially parents, have concerns and fears of privacy on social networking. The issue is not clear and well understood among people, what is visible and what is invisible on these sites? When I first joined Facebook, I started by creating an account or a "profile" as you all did, in which I provided my personal information; name, birth date, hometown, religion, etc. The process continued, uploading my photos, and making my friends list; of existing friends, and I began accepting people I didn't know. “Friending” someone means that you give them access to your profile and thus your personal information, and vice versa. After sometime I began questioning Facebook's privacy settings, and whether accepting strangers was right or not. Whether Facebook is public or private is a controversial issue that requires a close look on its privacy settings. In Danah Boyd's article Facebook's Privacy Trainwreck: Exposure, Invasion, and Social Convergence about the use of Facebook and privacy, the author is attacking Facebook's privacy settings. The article was published in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 2008. Boyd is an American social media researcher. Boyd is discussing in her article people's anxiety of the privacy settings on Facebook from two different angles: Exposure and Invasion. Being exposed to anyone on Facebook is really bothering. Boyd provided an example in her journal article Facebook's...
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