Critique Practice

1. Critique Practice Dr. John Eigenauer Taft College

2. Facts strung together • The author claims that defensive gun use prevents more crime than police. 3.6 million crimes are prevented each year by armed individuals. Felons even state that they fear victims more than they fear the police. Police must go through protocol before they fire their guns. Individual people are more likely to just shoot if they feel like they are being threatened.

3. Converting facts to a critique • The author claims that defensive gun use prevents more crime than police. The data that he uses to support this claim indicates that 3.6 million crimes are prevented each year by armed individuals. He does not, however, mention how many crimes the police prevent. If every police agency in the United States prevented only one crime per day, they would prevent more than twice that many crimes. Nonetheless, despite the fact that the data is misleading, it may true that armed citizens, especially in strategic places like small retail establishments, prevent significant amounts of crime. This implies that lack of strict gun control laws may help deter crime even though there is no good comparison with police deterrence.

4. Converting facts to a critique • The author promotes an anti-gun control message by using the fact that felons state that they fear victims more than they fear the police. This may be because police must follow protocol before firing their guns, whereas individuals are more likely to just shoot if they feel threatened. If this is true, it is strong argument against strict gun control laws because it shows that criminals are aware of the dangers of an armed citizenry.

5. Critique Practice • There is no doubt in my mind that our university needs a new grading policy. Far too many students are failing classes. In the past ten years, the percentage of students failing classes has risen from 3.4% to 15.7%. This has lead to increased dropout rates, to lower attendance, and indirectly to higher tuition costs.

6. Critique Practice • Yesterday, an 11 year old boy was killed when he raised a gun at a police officer and pretended to fire. His friends said that he was pretending to do what he heard in a rap song: kill a cop. This is a tragic example of what can happen when children are exposed to the terribly violent lyrics in rap songs. And it shows that we need to restrict the presence of such songs on our airwaves. Nothing good can come from promoting violence. It’s time to put an end to this terrible message that masquerades as entertainment.

7. Critique Practice • Extracurricular activities such as sports, band, chorus, and debate are essential parts of the high school experience. They help our children grow intellectually and socially, and provide rich arenas for growth. Unfortunately, most schools have eliminated extracurricular activities because of lack of funding. Because of the benefits that these activities bring, the state of California needs to do everything necessary to reinstate funding levels that will allow all schools to offer these programs.