Criteria Corner Activities:
Click on each intellectual standards term above for activities focused on each one.
Internalize These Essential Intellectual Standards for Thought:
Accuracy
The intellectual standard of accuracy derives from the fact that we are trying to understand or
communicate things as they actually are. Inaccurate thought defeats that purpose.
Activity: Recognizing Inaccurate Statements
Can you identify a statement that you heard recently that was clear but inaccurate?
You will find an abundance of examples in everyday statements that people often
make in praise or criticism. People in general have a tendency to make two kinds of
inaccurate statements: false positives about the people they personally like (these
would be untrue positive statements about people they like) and false negatives
about the people they personally dislike (untrue negative things about people they
don’t like). Politically motivated statements tend to follow a similar pattern.
Identify one or a few inaccurate statements.
See if you can think of examples of inaccurate statements from your recent
experiences. Write out your answer.
When we need to be accurate we want to hit our bull’s-eye exactly. We don’t want our thinking to be distorted in any way.
