The young woman kept saying, “I don’t know why you corrected that because I spell it with the P in it.”
philosophy
Description
Quiz 3 PHIL 100 July
2019 Due: by 10:00 am, Wednesday July 24
You may print
this out and write your answers to turn in at the start of class on Wednesday
if you wish (be sure your name is on it!), or email your answers to me at laura.shanner@viu.ca .
Read the following article and answer the 9 questions
below (27 points total)
_____________________________________________________________________________
This Helicopter Mom Raised a Daughter Incapable of
Normal Business Behavior. A Warning. | Inc.com
https://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/this-helicopter-mom-raised-a-daughter-incapable-of-normal-business-behavior-a-warning.html
"There is no
'P' in hamster." This is not a controversial statement. Any dictionary
will agree with it. Any pet store will too. But Carol Blymire overheard a conversation between a young
employee with her boss,
and this came up.
The boss wanted a
correction. The employee insisted that the word should remain
"hampster" because that was how she spelled hamster.
And that was what mattered.
The young woman kept saying, “I don’t know why you corrected that because I
spell it with the P in it.”
The boss said (calmly), “But that’s not how the word is spelled. There is
no P in hamster.”
Young woman: “But you don’t know that! I learned to spell it with a P in it
so that’s how I spell it.”
The boss (remaining very calm and professional), let’s go to http://dictionary.com and look it up together.
The young woman insists she doesn’t need to look it up because it’s FINE to
spell it with a P because that’s HOW SHE WANTED TO SPELL IT.
The boss, according
to Blymire, continued calmly, bringing the employee almost to tears.
We could dismiss
this as someone who just can't take feedback at
all, but then we'd
have to ask how you make it into your 20s without wanting to trust a
dictionary, but the saga continues with the employee going back to her desk and
texting her mom. Mom calls her and the employee
puts her on speakerphone
where mom proceeds to tell her that she should report the boss.
The mother tells
her that her boss is an idiot and she [the daughter] doesn’t have to listen to
[the boss] and she should go to the boss’ boss to file a complaint about not
allowing creativity in her writing.
OK. Now we know the
problem. This woman has received so much support and validation from her mother
that she couldn't fathom that she could be wrong about something. What she
wanted was more important than what the actual truth was.
Now, you can
certainly argue that language evolves, and maybe in 100 years we'll all spell
hamster as hampster, but your boss gets to decide what evolves and what doesn't
in the workplace. (And I seriously doubt this is where English is going.)
Learning how to
take negative feedback is a critical part of being an adult. Learning how to
say, "Oops, you're right. I was wrong," is a valuable life skill.
There are times when you should stand your ground, but not when it comes to
spelling. The dictionary wins every time. And if the dictionary says there are
multiple correct spellings, the boss gets to choose which one you use in the
office.
This mother, in
trying to help and support her daughter, made her very difficult to work with.
And as Blymire points out, teachers and professors undoubtedly bowed to the
mother's whims rather than do battle. All of them did her no favors. Hopefully,
she'll figure it out soon enough, but until then, her poor boss.
Published on: Jul 15, 2019
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists
are their own, not those of Inc.com.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Question 1 (3 pts): Identify a fallacy committed by the young
employee, and explain why this is an example of that type of fallacy.
Question 2 (3 pts):
Identify a fallacy committed by the employee’s mother, and explain why this is
an example of that type of fallacy.
Question 3 (2 pts): Identify the author’s main conclusion.
Question 4 (4 pts): What
claims or premises does the author give to support this conclusion? (You may
list premises, diagram the argument, &/or describe the support).
Question 5 (2 pts): Identify a causal claim in the author’s
position.
Question 6: (3 pts):
Discuss the relevance of the evidence or assumptions the author gave.
Question7: (3 pts):
Discuss the adequacy of the evidence or assumptions the author gave.
Question 8 (2 pts): Did
the author commit any fallacies we have studied? If so, please identify the
fallacy and explain why it is an example of that type of fallacy.
Question 9 (5 pts): Overall, how persuasive is the author’s
argument in supporting the conclusion? Explain your answer.
