Category: P06: Refutation Argument

Rebuttal Argument- Nreina34

My Worthy Opponent is Wrong

Rebuttal Argument: Police officers are not allowed to make mistakes

A main rebuttal argument to my thesis here is that police officers are not allowed to make mistakes which is in fact, a very controversial topic in today’s society.  But, what most people do not realize is that they are people too, nobody is perfect. There are going to be times in our lives that we make the wrong decision and it is just something that is apart of life.  We learn from our mistakes and gain knowledge from the experiences as we go through life and grow up. Actually, there are rules that back policemen and the people for mistakes made by law enforcement. The Exclusionary Rule is a legal rule tied to the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution.  In an article published by the Legal Information Institute it states, “The decision in Mapp v. Ohio established that the exclusionary rule applies to evidence gained from an unreasonable search or seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment”. This both protects the officer and the defendant by freeing of them of their mistakes from this situation.  The officer would probably be disciplined accordingly for violating a constitutional right and at the end of the day the officer made a mistake and they’ll learn from it.  This also protects the person because they are freed of the possible charges that would have been brought upon them, the law enforcement violated their rights and they were compensated for it.  As you can see, rules are even set in place for the mistakes law enforcement makes because we know that they happen. It is an ignorant statement to say a person can be trained to the extent that they will never make another mistake in their life, police officers are people too and they need to start getting treated like one.

Works Cited

Carlson, David. “Exclusionary Rule.” LII / Legal Information Institute, 22 June 2017, www.law.cornell.edu/wex/exclusionary_rule

Rebuttal argument-jdormann

American football players have been plagued with concussions for years. Typically, these concussions occur during tackles. The padding that players wear gives them a false sense of security and some even use their head as a tackling tool. On the other hand, rugby players do not suffer as many concussions, but they wear no padding. The tackling technique rugby players use is safer for the head and spine. There are some football coaches and teams that have adopted the rugby-style of tackling, but it is not practical for all teams to do this.

Football requires a team to move the ball a minimum of 10 yards for a first down and they have four tries to do this. Each and every yard in a football game matters. Stopping an opponent one yard can make or break a game. There is no first down in rugby, so there is nothing bad about giving up a couple yards. Rugby players can sacrifice yards and it will not effect the game. Of course, the team wants to get the ball to the end zone, but they can take as many tries as they need to.

In a rugby match, the attacking player will not try to squeeze every last inch out of a run because it will not effect the game, and they do not want to risk getting injured. Football players need to push for the extra inches and get the most out of every play. The battle for that extra little bit can cause injuries and unsafe play. Although it may be dangerous at times, football players must hold the attacking team to the minimum amount of yards on every play. The tackling technique football players employ is to stop the runner as soon as possible, with them gaining the least amount of yards. This requires tremendous force to be output by the defender and does not always result in safe play. The risk of personal safety is a price that football players pay to be good athletes. If a player is giving up the slightest amount of yardage, they are not doing their job to the best of their ability.

When rugby players attempt to make a tackle, they are risking their body without padding, and are careful and follow the proper technique. Players risk gruesome injuries in a tackle that could be prevented by using proper technique. The rugby tackle is a wrap technique that is not aimed at stopping the attacker immediately, but by safely stopping the attacker and keeping the defender in a safe position. It eliminates the use of the head in the tackle and does not force excessive pressure on the spine. Living With Sports Injuries,a book written by Elizabeth Shimer Bowers and Clifford D. Stark, reads, “Players frequently experience concussions, as well as neck and shoulder injuries, usually as a result of open field tackling.” Open field tackling can mean high speed collisions and poor technique. When an attacker is running full speed and the defender must make the stop, they will do it by any means necessary and not pay attention to technique. The lack of a safe technique often leads to injuries. The injuries that football players suffer from include fractured bones, dislocations, concussions, and “stingers”, the loss of feeling and inability to move the arm.

Although the fate of a football game may be decided from a few yards, the impact of how players tackle can leave a mark on them forever. Football has a major concussion problem because of how they tackle, and the mindset of the players during the game. Every inch matters to them, but not every brain cell. The rugby style of tackling is much safer for the brain. Rugby players still suffer from concussions, but not nearly as many as football players. The rugby-style tackling technique may result in the loss of a couple yards, or even the loss of a game. The sacrifice of losing one game can save a player the sacrifice of destroying their brain for the rest of their life.

Rebuttal- Dancers

Skepticism may occur when it’s stated that at home abuse can lead a child to become a bully later in life. Considering what constitutes a case to become child abuse, what exactly it means when a child becomes a victim of abuse is hard to pinpoint.

Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child. This abuse can come in many forms including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse. Physical abuse of a child is when a caregiver causes non-accidental physical injuries to a child. Signs of physical abuse in a child will behave differently they may show signs of aggression toward peers or pets. Cases of sexual abuse is when an adult uses a child for sexual purposes or involves a child in sexual acts. After a child is sexually abused their behavior can become withdrawn, depressed or anxious. They can also show signs of aggression, delinquency, and have poor peer relationships. Emotional abuse is when a parent or caregiver harms a child’s mental and social development or causes severe emotional harm. Behavioral signs for children who have been emotionally abused include destructive or anti-social behaviors, violence and cruelty.

Abuse at home does not include a child being reprimanded for the way they were acting by being spanked or yelled at. It means that the child is consistently being hurt at home in which they start to fear for their survival within the home. Abuse within a home can come in many different forms they may have loving parent but abusive siblings or one parent may be caring but the other may not be. It’s difficult to precisely determine what fully qualifies at home abuse.

Believing that all children exposed to abuse at home become bullies may be naive. Not every child will grow up to be a bully some of these children may escape their fate. Or it may be argued that some children who bully do not experience abuse at home at all.

According to a study by researchers from the University of Washington and Indiana University, children who are exposed to violence in the home engaged higher levels of physical bullying than children who were not witnesses to this behavior. This study was the first to examine the association between child exposure to intimate partner violence and the involvement in bullying.

In the study they found the thirty-four percent of children that were studied engaged in bullying and seventy-three percent reported being the victim of some form of bullying with in previous years. It also found that ninety-seven percent of the bullies said that they were also victims of bullying themselves.

Lead author of the study, former UW pediatrician and now an assistant professor of pediatrics at Indian and Riley Children’s Hospital Nerissa Bauer states “Parents are very powerful role models and children will mimic the behavior of parents, wanting to be like them. They may believe that violence is OK and they can use it with peers. After all, they may think, ‘If Daddy can do this, perhaps I can hit this kid to get my way.’ When parents engage in violence, children may assume violence is the right way to do thing.”

Data from the study was drawn from the ongoing Seattle Social Development Project and the Intergenerational Projects, tracing youth development and social/ antisocial behavior. “Participants in these long-term studies were recruited from Seattle elementary schools, and 808 students (generation 2), their parents (generation 1) and their children (generation 3) have been followed since 1985.” The study looked at the behavior of 112 children form the third generation between the ages of six and thirteen, ages who are not normally studied in bullying research.

The study particularly focused on partner violence which is a broader term for domestic violence, physical, emotional or sexual acts of violence including couples who aren’t married or living together.  In 2000 a federal study showed an estimate between 3.3 and 10 million children are exposed to intimate partner violence.

The study found that seeing domestic violence does not lead to children becoming bullies. “Physicians and teachers should be sensitive that when children display behavior issues that the possibility of domestic violence in the family exists. Not all children exposed to violence will respond in the same way, but there are many indirect effects and problems that you can see, such as engaging in bullying, not being able to make friends, not eating or those with extended school absences. But not all bullies come from violent families.”  Bauer stated.

This study shows that in some cases children who are exposed to domestic violence may become aggressive toward other children. It is hard to determine what constitutes at home abuse and effectively take statistics of the children who bully that were also victims of bullying at home. But it shows that children who are exposed to at home violence may be more likely to become aggressive towards others.

References

Schwarz, J. (2006, September 12). Violence in the home leads to higher rates of childhood bullying. Retrieved March 22, 2018, from https://www.washington.edu/news/2006/09/12/violence-in-the-home-leads-to-higher-rates-of-childhood-bullying/

What is Child Abuse. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse/

 

Rebuttal Argument- DoubleA

Arguments Against Grass Fields in the NFL

People tend to believe that artificial turf fields are better surfaces to play on because they look nice. Great, they look nice and you think you look good, you play good, right? Well all that doesn’t matter when you take one cut on the turf surface and your knee buckles and you’re down on the turf crying for the trainer.

The biggest refutation to my hypothesis of grass fields being safer than turf fields is of course that grass fields are more dangerous. This seems obvious to a lot of people grass fields are choppy and unkempt. Well this isn’t the case for NFL stadiums. They literally hire people to keep the field in great playing conditions.

Opposers will also say that there is just too much maintenance into it. In order to keep fields polished and playable you hire a grounds crew to take care of it throughout the weather conditions and the toll of an NFL season. Baseball has all grass fields besides a couple and they are taken care of daily. Also, baseball field grass is changed and replaced a lot so that it is nicely kept and there is not a lot of patchy holes in the grass which can cause injury. With field turf you have to worry about maintenance as well and there is always a grey area on when you should replace the turf because even with turf you have to fix the patchy spots because they get worn down.

In an article written about the Houston Texans. Texans cornerback D.J. Swearinger talked about the awful field conditions at NRG stadium. They have turf square panels that get put in for every game. They essentially have seams in them as would Astroturf and everyone knows how awful Astroturf was to play on. Swearinger says in the article, “We actually said that the day before (the injury). If somebody was running right here and (they) plant, their ACL or MCL is gone just because of how deep the holes are.” Swearinger is referring to an injury that happened to top pick Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney was running for a tackle and got his leg caught in a seam and twisted his knee the wrong way and tore his meniscus.

People may also say that grass can get real cold in areas like Minnesota and Green Bay. Yes, this is true, and it is almost like you are playing on bricks but in Minnesota they just installed nice turf and first game of the year top pick Dalvin Cook tears his ACL cutting non contact on the turf. Injuries like this are popping up everywhere. There is no reason why you cannot sport some nice Bermuda grass is a dome stadium. It doesn’t make you cooler to have turf in your billion dollar dome, what matters is player safety. Players all over the league past and present have questioned player safety with concussions. Knee injuries are the second most occurring injury in the NFL and they require surgery and months of rehab, the time to speak up is now.

NRG Stadium’s Playing Surface An ‘Abomination’

Rebuttal – DudeInTheBack

The  Redbull-Meth-Drug That Will Save Our ADHD Ridden Children

The biggest refutation to my argument of Adderall being unsafe, and a terrible prescription is those who believe in Adderall’s therapeutic abilities. If it is as bad as I argue, then why is it still legal? It has to be helping out those with ADHD, and others who take the drug for performance enhancing.

The Invention of Adderall became what it was to compete in the market for ADD/ADHD medications, and eventually rose to being one of the most prescribed, and e medications to treat ADD/ADHD. This hype over the medicine can be credited to its surprising results. In an Analog Classroom Assessment of Adderall in Children With ADHD, the effectiveness of the drug was tested. In this study of 30 children with ADHD, the effects of different dosages (5mg, 10mg, 15mg, 20mg), and a placebo were tested to see how the drug preformed.

For each treatment condition, a capsule was administered in the morning and assessments were performed in an analog classroom setting every 1.5 hours across the day. Subjective (teacher ratings of deportment and attention) and objective (scores on math tests) measures were obtained for each classroom session, and these measures were used to evaluate time-response and dose- response effects of Adderall.” In conclusion, “For doses of Adderall greater than 5 mg, significant time course effects were observed. Rapid improvements on teacher ratings and math performance were observed by 1.5 hours after administration, and these effects dissipated by the end of the day. The specific pattern of time course effects depended on dose: the time of peak effects and the duration of action increased with dose of Adderall.

In conclusion to this study, the addition of Adderall has shown that class performance has greatly increased.

We cannot overlook the benefits Adderall has on those with ADHD. Although there are long term effects of taking the drug, giving your child that boost in their start of schooling is pertinent. In an article posted by Attitude Magazine, an ADHD blog,  they say “Experts agree that parents should consider ADHD medications when symptoms interfere with their child’s social, emotional, or academic life.” Starting your child off with medications to quill their hyperactive tendencies could prevent interferences in their development that would come if symptoms were not dealt with. It is definitely the right option to put a child on medication to benefit their performance for the future.

With this being said, Adderall Is a drug that can save the academic progression of ADD/ADHD patients. Making life easier for them is not something to overlook. If a drug is helping our children in school, and it is safe for the time being, we should look to prescribe.

Refrences

McCarthy, L. F. (2018, March 08). Top 10 Questions About ADHD Medications for Children… Answered! Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.additudemag.com/top-10-questions-about-meds-answered/

http://www.jaacap.com/article/S0890-8567(09)62951-8/abstract

Rebuttal- amongothers13

(Un)Justifying Property Tax Funding for Public Schools

Although property taxes for public school funding are commonly frowned upon, especially when concerning the low-income families struggling to obtain stability, most fail to see the importance of property taxes when it comes to funding schools. Property taxes contribute to a constant flow of income to schools. In a report published by The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy,  titled “The Property Tax-School Funding Dilemma,” it states that half of all property tax revenue in the United States is used to fund public primary and secondary schools.” This means that if property taxes were to be diminished or cut, in turn, the money would have to come from somewhere else- perhaps another form of tax under a different name than “property tax”. Another benefit of property tax is that those who do have a large amount of money inherited are able to pay more to the community, which would give the schools more money in the long run. People who own houses usually obtain more cash than those who rent homes, hence why homeowners are taxed more. If they make more money, they can give more back to the schools. Another reason property taxes fund schools is because the more money is put into a school system, the better it benefits the children. More money coming in will purchase supplies and books for the children that are vital to their education.

In a frequently asked questions tab on the National Conference of State Legislature website, it states that the property tax funding of schools is here, in use, and they plan on keeping it this way for a long time. If we were to eliminate the property tax funding, the funds would have to come from some other tax, whether it be income, sales or excise tax, which are more likely to change than property taxes. If property taxes were gone, sales tax would need to be increased more than just the 7% it is now. Everything would then be more expensive than what we pay now, and there is no say on how much more things would cost. It could be 15% tax, perhaps even a startling 20%. The property tax method is more stable and secure than the sales tax or income tax would be, and for that reason, people have a hard time imagining what it would be like if we were to abolish the property tax funding of schools.

The National Association of Home Builders Discusses Economics and Housing Policy(NAHB) website shows data that in 2009, $591 billion dollars were collected in the U.S used specifically for elementary and secondary education. These property taxes were accountable for 65% of the school revenues as well as 29% of school funding. The data shows that the more property taxes taken out correlates to the size and accomplishments of the school systems.

People can argue property taxes have many benefits when it comes down to a firm way to produce a constant income of money to the school systems. With that being said, I would like to introduce why property taxes do the opposite of good. The property taxes in different areas vary, higher-income areas give more money than low-income families simply because they have more money to give. They live in nicer areas, with bigger communities and nicer things. Low-income families struggle to feed their children, to put clean clothes on them in the morning. Due to property taxes being so high, they can only afford so much. These children, in turn, are sent to school with the least qualified teachers, with the least amount of history, and the least amount of school supplies. They then receive less of an education than those that live in high-income communities. This is exactly what causes the widening achievement gap- the difference in money going into schools. Low-income schools have less money to spend per student than high-income schools do. An article on Huffington Post titled “School Funding Inequality Makes Education ‘Separate and Unequal,'” states that 6.6 million students from low-income areas in 23 states are harmed directly by local fundings. It is said that federal funding could be used to help pay for schools, but it is not supposed to be used to balance the local and state funds. Instead, this method would take away from the schools. We need to realize that children from low-income families live a difficult life. Some, if not most, walk into school in the morning with an empty stomach and thin, tapered clothing. Most of them encounter abuse at home, and live in run-down neighborhoods filled with crime and drug use. Then, they are sent to a school that does not allow them to grow due to the lack of resources in said school. This is why property tax funding of schools needs to be eliminated. Children in high-income areas have more resources than they actually use and need at the schools they attend while low-income students, just as deserving of a full education, sit in old, rocky desks, struggling to get by with the materials they do have, which is very little. We need to realize it is time to give back to the children, and property taxes are destroying America’s youth and their chances at becoming successful.  

So, while others may argue that property taxes are “the only way”, I find it hard to believe that the only way to help students in schools is by taking away from them, by not giving them what they need. Arne Duncan states that “The children who need the most seem to be getting less and less, and the children who need the least get more and more.” There simply must be another way. These children deserve an equal education.

 

Sources:

http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/funding-approaches-the-property-tax-and-public-ed.aspx

http://eyeonhousing.org/2011/09/the-importance-of-property-taxes-for-schools/

https://www.sapling.com/12053235/advantages-disadvantages-property-taxes-used-fund-education

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/arne-duncan-school-funding-disparities_n_6864866.html

Rebuttal-Dohertyk9

Questioning Consent

Say Jane and John have intercourse. They discuss nothing before or after regarding whether or not they give consent. Is there consent? Now assume they’ve had consensual sex before. Now is there consent? And if Jane and John are married, does that mean they have both consented? What if I told you Jane was completely drunk? Consent still? Now how about if John was equally drunk?

If John and Jane did have perfectly consensual sex without saying a word, what if John then says he does not consent? Is consent revocable? If so, is it revocable only during sex or after the fact as well?

Consent is one of the most ambiguous concepts for humanity to define. Unlike murder and assault, rape is surrounded by far less intuitive boundaries.

While The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention take into account incapacitation due to the influence of drugs/alcohol, the FBI considers rape to be “penetration, no matter how slight” and ignores drugs/alcohol in its count. The result is that the FBI counted only 85,593 rapes in 2010, which is markedly different than The CDC’s count of 1.3 million.

Wikipedia explains the problem in its own terms even as it reports this data in its article titled “Rape Statistics”:

Inconsistent definitions of rape, different rates of reporting, recording, prosecution and conviction for rape create controversial statistical disparities, and lead to accusations that many rape statistics are unreliable or misleading. In some jurisdictions, male-female rape is the only form of rape counted in the statistics. Countries may not define forced sex on a spouse as “rape.”

The article, “Denying Rape but Endorsing Forceful Intercourse: Exploring Differences Among Responders”, in the book, “Violence and Gender, Volume 1, Issue 4”, contains a table that further illustrates the ambiguity of rape’s meaning. Table 1 indicates that 31.7% of the participants in the survey would be willing to force a woman into sexual intercourse, yet only 13.6% of the participants would rape a woman.

The further the definition of consent is considered, the more unclear it seems. Inversely, the definition of non-consent becomes ever clearer.

But how can non-consent be clear if consent is so difficult to define?

Simple; because consent is invalid if it is not constantly expressed in a clear and explicit manner, non-consent is any situation in which this is the case.

The video “Tea and Consent” on consentiseverything.com claims that consent is ‘as simple as tea’. It uses the analogy of making someone a cup of tea to explain consent and non-consent. The video states that “unconscious people don’t want tea,” further explaining that even if the person was awake when asked if he/she wanted tea, this does not mean that he/she wants tea while unconscious. According to the video, consent given before the person became unconscious is invalidated as soon as the person falls asleep.

But has every person that has ever been unconscious during sex considered it to be rape?

The website offers at bulleted list of ultimatums about consent:

Make sure the other person is participating freely and readily. You can confirm if you have consent both verbally and by checking the other person’s body language. Someone on drugs or too drunk to make decisions doesn’t have the mental capacity to give consent. If someone is on drugs or seems too drunk to consent, or you’re not sure, stop. Wait until they are sober and ask them again. Somebody who is asleep or unconscious cannot give consent. Other things can also affect a person’s capacity to consent. Examples include a serious mental health problem, learning disability or a head injury. Having capacity means the person can make and communicate a decision, understanding the consequences and knowing they have a choice. If they cannot do this they cannot give consent. Your partner has the right to withdraw their consent at any time. Once consent is withdrawn you must stop engaging in sexual activity immediately.

But what if someone does not realize that his/her partner is not sober? And what if a person’s consent is withdrawn, and his/her partner stops, yet the person still charges for rape?

The video also claims that nothing short of an enthusiastic “Yes!” qualifies as consent. Anything along the lines of “okay” or “sure” would therefore not be valid. But again, has every person that has answered in such a half-hearted manner felt as though they were raped?

The only way to be certain that every case is treated similarly and fairly is to use the aforementioned definition of consent (clear, constant expression), which would create a very structured, almost robotic approach to one of the most human acts in existence.

The alternative to such a restrictive definition is to choose one of the many definitions of consent and apply it as objectively as possible. However objectively it is applied, it is nearly impossible to be consistent from case to case, and very difficult to be fair to every party involved. Although a restrictive definition is impractical in its application in daily life, it would certainly simplify and standardize court rulings on the matter.

 

 

References

Edwards, S. R., Bradshaw, K. A., & Hinsz, V. B. (2014, December 15). Denying Rape but Endorsing Forceful Intercourse: Exploring Differences Among Responders. Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www-liebertpub-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2014.0022

#Consentiseverything. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2018, from http://www.consentiseverything.com/

Rape statistics. (2018, March 15). Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_statistics

 

Rebuttal – PaulaJean

-Raymond Nickerson blames ineffective medical procedures. If a patient recovered, doctors counted the treatment as successful instead of looking for alternative explanations. Example: The disease had actually just run it’s course but the treatment was still unsuccessful.

-Confirmation bias may also cause doctors to perform unnecessary medical procedures due to pressure.

-According to Aaron Beck, biased information processing is a factor in depression. He suggested that you treat every problem equally.

Phobias and Hypochondrias have been shown to involve confirmation bias for threatening information.

Confirmation bias is often described as a result of automatic, unintentional strategies rather than deliberate deception.

On social media, confirmation bias is amplified by the use of “algorithmic editing”, which shows individuals information that they are more likely to agree with, while excluding opposing views.

Nobody likes to be wrong…

Wording of a sentence triggers confirmation bias and allows the reader or audience to subconsciously believe that what’s said is true.

Prior goals or thoughts will influence how one reacts.

 

Reference

Arguing against confirmation bias: The effect of argumentative discourse goals on the use of disconfirming evidence in written argument. (2016, July 18). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035516300453

 

Rebuttal- LBirch

Rather Be Safe Than Sorry

It is a great responsibility to be a homeowner, to actually be cautious of the safety of the all the occupants. The one main safety feature that seems to go unnoticed is a smoke detector. To some homeowners, they seem to think it is a good idea to put their detectors up and completely forget about them. The main argument in favor of wired smoke detectors is that they will stay powered forever and there is no need to change the batteries. But they never seem to think about if the power goes out, or the back-up batteries aren’t properly functioning. According to an article on Do It Yourself, the detector will begin to go off when the power goes off and the back-up battery (if there is one) is dead. So why have a hardwired detector if it will not work in all scenarios? This does prove that no matter what type of detector you have, hardwired or battery powered, proper care and maintenance is needed.

New and improved detectors are always coming onto the market, usually advancing with technology. In a article by Haramis Electric, these detectors will alert emergency services automatically if a smoke detector is activated in your home. Of course these new detectors will cost more, but in the end the price of a detector is worth it. But there are some disadvantages to these “smart” detectors. The main disadvantage comes when the power goes out. Some new systems run on WiFi, but are no good when they are getting no power.

Of course, we cannot argue all detectors are a hazard and we should not use them. They save many lives a year from house fires. But we can argue certain aspects are dangerous, such as when the power goes out. Safety does come first, no matter the cost, so detectors should not go unnoticed or forgotten.

Work Cited

Advantages/Disadvantages of Smart Smoke Detectors. (2016, September 08). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from http://www.haramiselectric.com/blog/advantagesdisadvantages-smart-smoke-detectors/

Smoke Detector Beeping: Maintenance Is Likely Required. (2009, June 22). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.doityourself.com/stry/smoke-detector-beeping-maintenance-is-likely-required

Rebuttal – picklerick

Teaching Students to Really Read

When it comes to teaching students to read, many teachers have the wrong idea. It’s a popular belief that in order to show kids the joy of reading, they should be assigned to read whatever they want. Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post claims, “the easiest path is to make independent reading at least half of every day’s homework by putting strict limits on subject matter assignments.” This seems logical; giving students freedom to read what they want will make them more attached to the story, right? As it turns out, there are actually significant downsides to letting students read what they want. As Mark Pennington explains in his article from the Pennington Publishing Blog, “Students often choose books with reading levels far below or far above own their reading levels and so do not experience optimal reading growth.” If you give a student the assignment to read freely, of course they’re going to choose a book that’s simple to read. Also, as a teacher, you have no way of knowing whether or not the student comprehended the text. This is why it the best method to teach kids how to read properly is to insure that they have the close reading skills necessary to read books that are on their reading level. The best way to do this is to assign them short, nonfiction texts which challenge their ability to analyze, comprehend, and make inferences.

 

References

Strauss, V. (2014, September 08). Why kids should choose their own books to read in school. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/09/08/why-kids-should-choose-their-own-books-to-read-in-school/?utm_term=.a1d60b23343c

Pennington Publishing Blog. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2018, from http://blog.penningtonpublishing.com/reading/why-sustained-silent-reading-ssr-doesnt-work/

Dakin, C. (2013). The Effects of Comprehension Through Close Reading (Unpublished masters thesis). St. John Fisher College.
https://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1238&context=education_ETD_masters