Assignment 1: Chapter 4 of Alan Jacobs, How to Think, is entitled, “The Money of Fools.”  What are Jacobs most important points and arguments?  What is their value, and why are they important?

Assignment 2: Chapter 4 of Alan Jacobs, How to Think is entitled “The Money of Fools.”  In this chapter, he writes of the importance of being able to summarize another person’s argument to their satisfaction. please review videos of Malala Yousafzai and Bryan Stevenson.  Summarize their arguments and positions in ways that you believe would be satisfying to them.  What do you learn from this exercise, and why is it important?
Malala Yousafzai video Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech
Bryan Stevenson video – The Forum: Professor of Clinical Law Bryan Stevenson on Just Mercy

Assignment 3: Please rewrite the following statement without plagiarizing:
In Chapter 4, The Money of Fools, Jacobs makes a case that the intellectual currency of words may incline a person either to wisdom or foolishness. The keywords in our vocabularies may cultivate and reinforce our prejudices (8991). While keywords have a place, as they sum up areas of meaning, they also have a tendency to become parasitic: they enter the mind and displace thought (95). When it comes to differing with others we lose something of our humanity by militarizing discussion and debate; and we lose something of our humanity by dehumanizing our interlocutors (98). By dichotomizing arguments we distance ourselves from our opponents and dismiss complexities and nuances.

Assignment 4: Review links to a talk by Alan Jacobs, an NPR segment, and an article by Washington Post columnist Max Boot.  After reviewing the three links, compose a forum which answers these questions: What are the facts and thinking processes that each piece embodies?  What is the message and/or argument of each piece?  What is its value for life in America today?  What are your most important take-aways from each piece.  What are your personal feelings about each piece?

Alan Jacobs: How To Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds – Alan Jacobs (ACU Summit 2018

NPR Segment: The history of using dehumanizing language to stoke fear and hatred of outsiders – Code Switch .

Washington Post Article by Max Boot Why send her back is even worse than lock her up