The contemporary system of education is quite advanced, yet it cannot exclude human factor, this is why it remain subjective and judgmental at times. Schools often teach flawed reasoning also known as logic fallacies certain misinterpretations in the students’ minds (Bonn, 2014).
Fallacy 1
The fallacy called “Two Wrongs Make a Right” occurs when the teachers of history try to justify the nuclear attack the United States committed on Japan during the Second World War. The educators explain this happening stating that the actions of the Japanese military troops and leaders that occurred in the American Pearl Harbor were bad enough to provoke an attack in response. This way a wrong doing from the side of Japan is taught to be viewed as a reason serving as a justification of the following actions of the United States army, which is a logic fallacy stating that one negative behavior can be justified if it follows another negative behavior, which causes misinformation (Logical Fallacies, 2014).
Fallacy 2
One more message often carried out in schools is based on the statement that the individuals that choose not to continue studying and skip the college will face a lot of challenges in their adult life some of which are unemployment and financial insecurity. Promoting such statements the educators commit logical fallacy called “Appeal to Force”. Basically, the flawed statement in this case is designed to threaten the learners and force them to continue their education, this fallacy is also known as “Might-Makes-Right” fallacy (Logical Fallacies Handlist, 2014).
Fallacy 3
Bifurcation is another very popular kind of logical fallacy that can be found in the educational process. Bifurcation occurs when an event or concept is viewed categorically and divided into two opposite notions. This fallacy is also called “false dichotomy” because it excludes the points of view settling in the middle of the two opposite opinions (Fallacies, n. d.).
This fallacy becomes obvious when one of the main questions of the contemporary world such as religion versus science is discussed. Stating that the individuals ought to choose between supporting creationism or supporting the theory of evolution and leaving them no middle choice is the fallacy bifurcation that occurs in the statement “if you do not believe in evolution, then you believe in God”. Such categorization is incorrect, illogical and extremely radical; it teaches the students to perceive the world as a mix of black and white.
Fallacy 4
The logical fallacy of sweeping generalization occurs when an educator makes an unsupported conclusion and announces it to the learners as the truthful argument. For example, they can state that a neighboring school is a better school because many students there have higher grades. Such assumptions are not considered logically good arguments, because to create the best argument one must accumulate a sufficient amount of data supporting that argument (Booth, Colomb & Willims, 2009).
The fallacy of sweeping generalization, which is also known as dicto simpliciter assumes that the statement true in a collective meaning would also be true for a specific case and the other way around. Teaching generalization is very harmful for the mentalities of the students because this is how they learn to adopt ignorant beliefs and assumptions such as stereotypes and prejudices that the contemporary society is trying to reduce to the minimum. A successful educator’s role is to teach critical thinking, which is incompatible with generalization and is based on the reason and data collection.
Reference List
Bonn, A. (2014). What are Logical Fallacies? – Define, Identify and Avoid Them. Web.
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. C. and Williams, J. M. (2009). The Craft of Research. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
Logical Fallacies. (2014). LEO. Web.
Logical Fallacies Handlist. (2014). CN. Web.
Fallacies. (n. d.). Webspace. Web.