Troublemakers What pit bulls can teach us about profiling

Transcription

1 Let s Get Real Troublemakers What pit bulls can teach us about profiling READ THINK WRITE DISCUSS Expository Reading & Writing Depth-of-Knowledge Questions Common Core Aligned Full, 45-minute lesson materials Due to copyright law, I am unable to offer a full-text version of the Malcolm Gladwell article here. You have purchased my lesson materials to use with the article, not the article itself. If you enter Troublemakers Malcolm Gladwell into any search engine, you will find numerous copies of the article available for you to print and use in class. During my last product update, these were two websites that were hosting full-text versions of the story. Just copy-and-paste either of the addresses below to access a copy of the story to print and use in class:

2 Assignment Level 1 Assignment Level 1

3 Troublemakers article Level 1 KEY Answers will vary, all the way from kids who fear the animals and completely avoid them to other kids who might even own one. Different elements of the article will, obviously, reach different students. Any reasonable answer here should be given credit. A flibbertigibbet is a hyper, overly talkative or yappy person. Any spazzy dog breed, like chihuahua or even my own labradoodle (she s a mess), could be described this way. Again, answers will vary a bit here. Gladwell doesn t specifically state the source of the study, but it s likely the A.S.P.C.A., since that s the next expert quoted in the following paragraph. Students will have to read closely to piece this together. It s strange that only those two years data is analyzed. Gladwell s trying to show the unpredictability of which breed is the most violent, but a reader should wonder about all of the other years in the study between 1982 and Were pit bulls the leading biters in all of those years, or were entirely different breeds the lead biters for each of the various years? A skepical reader (which is what we want our students to become) should be suspicious of the information. A chart showing the leading dangerous breed each year for a full decade would be more helpful to readers and help remove doubts that Gladwell is presenting select statistics solely to support his thesis instead of giving the full picture. The other three elements are if the dog is male, if the dog had not been neutered, and if the dog was regularly chained. Generally, males tend to be more hostile and dominant than females, so perhaps the male dogs are more likely to aggressively defend their territory. That male aggression is increased in male dogs that haven t been fixed because there s more testosterone coursing through the animals. Finally, the chaining of a dog would be frustrating and stressful for the animal. Such a dog wouldn t necessary have warm and fuzzy feelings for people. He s a little snarky at the end and basically calls out the Ottawan officials for being too busy/too lazy to follow through on their responsibilities. The last line is the clincher. Some students will find this snarkiness appealing, while others will not. Gladwell likely omitted the follow-up information because it s rather anti-climatic. There s much more pathos involved if we think the mother and child died. He s using our emotions to hold our attention. Knowing that the family is fine might make this issue less urgent for readers; however, the key issues remain and are worthy of our time and attention.

4 Assignment Level 2 Assignment Level 2

5 Troublemakers article Level 2 KEY Schauer means that, in many cases, we need to make generalizations about people. There s too many people and situations for us not to have some general rules about how certain people will behave. Yes, these are stereotypes, but stereotypes are often For example, if a young lady is walking through a rough section of town at night and a drunken pack of five rowdy men start following her, she should be alarmed. She should generalize in this situation that these men do not hold her best interests at heart. When we match behaviors to a group (or category) of people, we have to be careful about whether there s a real link between the two. It s the classic correlation does not imply causation idea. For pit bulls, the issue is even murkier because it s hard to identify the category at all. The breed is actually a mix of a bunch of different breeds. Identifying the aggressive elements in a pit bull as solely being pit-bull-related is nearly impossible because there s so many other aggressive dog genes running through the animals, Gladwell argues. There s two possible answers that work here. First, little boys might be more likely to poke a dog through a fence or yell at it or throw stuff at it. Boys are more active and boisterous, so to speak. These behaviors will likely rile up an aggressive animal. Second, there might be a biological element at play. If a male dog senses another male approaching, even if it s a human and not a dog, there might be a macho, testosterone-thing going on in the animal s brain. He s arguing here that environment trumps biology. Your students answers to the second part of the question will vary and be rather interesting, depending of their maturity and relationship with their parents. In a way, Lockwood is right. Jayden s father wasn t as responsible as he should have been. If he s been right next to Jayden, there s less of a chance that the toddler would ve lingered by the fence and/or become targeted by the animals. That being said, Cafe is clearly the most responsible (or, irresponsible) player in this drama. As a judge, I d probably say the father was 10 percent responsible, city officials were 10 percent responsible, and Cafe was 80 percent responsible. The girlfriend was underage and, therefore, she s not a factor for me. Expect your students to have passionate opinions about this one. This question will lead to a lively discussion/debate if you choose to review the answers as a class. (Note: This is the same question #6 as on the Level 1 sheet. I included it here, too, because I think it s important for all classes to know how the story ended.) Gladwell likely omitted the follow-up information because it s rather anti-climatic. There s much more pathos involved if we think the mother and child died. He s using our emotions to hold our attention. Knowing that the family is fine might make this issue less urgent for readers; however, the key issues remain and are worthy of our time and attention.