Lab Activity 59: Bias in Political Cartoons

Chapter 12: The Basics of Argument
Lab Activity 59: Bias in Political Cartoons

Objective:
To recognize bias in political cartoons.

Step 2: Refer to the political cartoon in Step 2 in the Student Lab Manual to answer the following questions. Your instructor will tell you whether to write your answers in your book or to submit your answers online for electronic grading.

6. The topic of the cartoon is

a. testing in the public schools.

b. college admissions.

c. the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT).

d. intelligence tests.

7. The claim in the argument that this cartoon makes is that

a. IQ tests do not really measure innate intelligence.

b. standardized tests in the public schools are a necessary protection against poor instruction.

c. college admissions boards place too much emphasis on the SAT, which is not necessarily a good measure of future academic success, although that is its purpose.

d. the SAT is an excellent measure of intelligence, and its critics should be silenced.

8. How many items of support for the claim are presented in the cartoon?

a. One

b. Two

c. Three

d. Four

9. The comment "A test of innate intelligence that you can study for" implies that

a. natural intelligence can be improved with coaching.

b. if a test is designed to measure natural intelligence, studying for it should not improve the results.

c. not all IQ tests are alike.

d. IQ tests do not provide accurate results.

10. The comment "A test you can study for better if you can afford the special courses" implies what bias?

a. Rich people perform better than poor people on the SAT.

b. Students should take special courses to prepare for the SAT.

c. Students who can afford the special courses to prepare for the SAT have an advantage over those who cannot.

d. The SAT actually measures income rather than academic potential.