CONSOLIDATE

PRACTICE

1.**  After a discussion on what makes a good teacher, a group consolidated its thinking as follows:

         "You can tell at once. It depends a lot on the subject. A good teacher makes things interesting. A bad teacher is boring and confusing. But a good teacher does not have to be nice. Sometimes you do not learn anything from a nice teacher."

         What gaps can you find in this group's thinking?

2.      After a discussion on whether young children should help at home with the housework, a group consolidated its thinking as follows "Some of the group felt that it was not fair because being young was for enjoying yourself and after a hard time at school you should be allowed to have fun. But others said that since parents were working to pay all the bills the children should help where they could - like doing housework."

         What gaps can you find in this group's thinking?

3.**  From the following consolidation, pick out any one point that needs thinking about more fully. The subject is bird sanctuaries.

         "Very few people go bird-watching. Most people would not recognise a rare bird and do not care whether a particular species comes to this country or not. It is a waste of land which could be used by people in other ways."

4.      From the following consolidation, pick out any point that needs thinking about more fully. The subject is sports at school.

         "Only those who want to play should have to - the rest should do as they like. People say exercise is good for you and makes you healthy, so everyone should do it. If only a few wanted to do it, should money be spent on expensive facilities?"

5.      With a telephoto lens a photographer can take pictures of famous people from a long distance and when they are not expecting it. As a result such people have no privacy. Should such photographs be banned or do people have a right to see photographs of public people, no matter how they were taken? Discuss this and then consolidate your thinking.

6.**  Iceland claims that its livelihood depends on fish and that the coastal waters are being over-fished. So the territorial waters were extended to a fifty-mile limit. But other nations which have always fished these waters say Iceland has no right to do this. Discuss this and then consolidate your thinking.

7.      Do you think it is better to have individual friends or to go around in gangs? Discuss this and then consolidate your thinking.

8.      In a discussion on whether parents should be more involved in schools, two people separately consolidate the group's thinking.

         A. "Not sure in what way parents could be involved. Many parents live too far away or would not be interested in any case. What would he the benefit? A few parents might have too much influence. But parents should know what is happening to their children."

         B. "Does involvement mean knowledge of what goes on at school or influence on it? Do all parents have to be involved or only those most interested? Would this be fair? What would be the advantage of parent involvement?"

         Which of these two consolidations do you think is best?