High Schools Hate Wiki

Other than the class discussions, the only experiences that I can  recall are my high school English classes . Any time there was an assigned research project or essay my teachers made sure to point out that Wikipedia was not an accurate source. One of my AP teachers Mr. Jung would always rant about how anyone could alter articles, so the information we found could be invalid. I don't really remember a name, but there was one somewhat big news story of the student who created a fake article that many believed to be factual. It caused a lot of controversy as to whether we could all trust Wikipedia and definitely gave my teachers a lot to rant about. Mr. Jung wanted to make clear that we needed reliable sources that could be quoted from actual scientists or witnesses, not second hand accounts from random contributors. Still I think the real reason was Wikipedia was too easy to get info from and high school teachers wanted us to actually "look" for research. 

False Dichotomy-Logical Fallacy

link to source
"So here we are pouring shiploads of cash into yet another war, this time in Libya, while simultaneously demolishing school budgets, closing libraries, laying off teachers and police officers, and generally letting the bottom fall out of the quality of life here at home,"(Herbert).


In the introduction to this NY Times article, columnist Bob Herbert addresses problems with government spending. Unfortunately, he commits the logical fallacy of false dichotomy within his argument. In a false dichotomy fallacy the speaker  narrows their reasoning so that only two courses of action seem possible. Herbert states that the government is spending all of it's money on the war and as a result, won't be able to allocate funds to schools. This is a fallacy because he insinuates that the only two options will be funding the war or funding schools. This narrows it down to only two options when realistically the government could still put money into both. 

Mending Cultural Wounds

In regards to the shameful acts that Japan has committed against millions, I have narrowed it down to a specific group that is in desperate need of an apology. This group consists of sex slaves known as comfort women, who were not only scarred physically and emotionally, but to this day have yet to receive a proper apology. If the Japanese government could put their pride aside for one moment, many individuals and their families would finally have the resolution they deserved. An apology would free these women from accusations of being prostitutes and return the dignity that was stolen from them all those years ago. In addition a real apology would  most likely improve the ties between Japan and Korea, the country most of these women were from. Looking at Germany as an example shows the potential benefits an apology could have. Japan just has to swallow their pride and admit their wrong because the benefit will be mutually shared.