Posted: April 17th, 2016

“What if we thought about things this way?

Patrolling the Borders

These discussion boards have been designed to explore controversial topics. Often these debates have the potential to become heated. In the act of creating ideas, heat can be a good thing, but not at the expense of hurt feelings or frustration. Remember that any argument asks that we change something about ourselves. If we are asking our readers to change, we need to be civil about it. Likewise, when we are challenged by others with a different opinion, we need to keep an open mind. Remember, we are not changing the world here, only examining it.

Some important rules to follow:

You may not attack other people or their ideas in this course. To do so may result in failure of the assignment. You may, however, disagree with the ideas of others, but do so in a constructive manner. (e.g. “I don’t agree with your post. I think instead that . . . ” NOT “That’s a dumb way of looking at this.” Debate in academia is important, but let’s all be adults here.

Ask open-ended questions (e. g. “What if we thought about things this way?”), and avoid making statements meant to be absolute or closed-ended questions (“There is no other way to think about this,” or “Do you agree with me?”).

Remember to consider the lessons we’ve worked on throughout the rest of the class. Rather than simply reacting to the readings and the responses of your classmates, think about the arguments being made. Really consider the effectiveness of these arguments.

Go to the EBSCOhost database, find and read the following articles, then, using the questions below as a guide, write a 75-100 word response about the issue being discussed. Next, please take the time to respond to your classmates.