Monday, August 4, 2014
Reviewing junior year of ToK
Find an article or opinion piece in the news that makes a knowledge claim about a complex real life situation. Read the text carefully (annotate if appropriate) State the claim and where it comes from. Write a 500-800-word post in which you unpack the claim by applying ideas we’ve talked about in our review the last two classes. (Go to the swamp, bring some tools, start whacking) In the last section of your post, assess your certainty of the accuracy of this claim. Identify what you would need to know in order to evaluate this claim more effectively.
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ReplyDeleteNick Reinhart
ReplyDeletehttp://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/catherine-rampell-stop-the-campus-rape-numbers-game/2014/08/04/da82dcfc-1c0d-11e4-ae54-0cfe1f974f8a_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop
This article Stop the Campus Rape Numbers Game, by Catherine Rampell, primarily disuses the major issue of sexual assault and rape that happens at universities across the United States. Conversely, instead of simply trying to raise awareness of this issue, the article primarily raises the problem that current data taken from surveys here and there simply isn't enough to provide an accurate perspective how bad, or good, the numbers are for each school individually.
This article in particular makes the claim the knowledge of sexual assault and rape crimes we have is not sufficient to provide an accurate perspective on the entire issue. Rampell argues that each university should run surveys that each student can anonymously respond too. Through this way anyone who has been subject to this crime is able to speak up without the embarrassment that they may feel comes along with it. Of course given that this is an opinion both sides of the case can easily be argued. The knowledge claim is entirely reliant on what the author or reader believes is a sufficient amount of data.
On a personal basis I would have to agree with the claim that Rampell is making. The limited data that is available makes our knowledge of how many women actually do experience this awful crime very restricted. Having virtually every student take a survey would only be beneficial in giving us the best data possible. The only trouble I see with doing this is possibly making extra work for universities. However to avoid too much extra hassle, you could simply require that the survey be done along with any other kind of formal documents students need to hand to attend the school.
The source itself I can say is fairly reliable. The article originates from The Washington Post’s opinion section and was written by Catherine Rampell on August 4, 2014. Despite the credibility of the Washington Post, Catherine Rampell possibly shows some bias on this topic given her background as a young female. She does not talk about the sexual assault on men; even though it is less common, it still does happen. In addition it is important to note that this did come from the opinion section of the newspaper, and therefore is not incorrect in voicing a strong opinion.
In general, the article does cohere to what I already know. It seems strange but not completely surprising that universities or the government have not pushed forward against sexual assault or rape, given that, as the article states, around 41% of cases aren't even reported, not to mention that the subject in itself is very sensitive and needs to be treated with not only the up most care but also respect. It is not unreasonable to believe that something could be done to get an even better statistic that is more representative of the actual number of women who suffer, which could lead to better solutions. Even though it may not be extremely practical to go about seeking further information on this topic, using surveys as a medium is the most practical option and would work the best reinforcing the truth behind this article’s knowledge claim
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Nick, this is great, but can you take it off of here and post it as a new post (the little orange button) instead of a comment? That way your post will stack will all the others.
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