7yr old's homework questions

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Here's a little bit of homework for the clever folk of WP, just for fun. This might actually be a debate for PPR, but here goes.

My 7yr old daughter has been handed a sheet of 10 statements about her class topic - Glasgow. She has to say whether each one is a fact or opinion. Most are straight forward e.g. Glasgow is the best city in Scotland (opinion) and the River Clyde runs through Glasgow (fact). But there are a couple of puzzlers, for whom the answer is neither a fact nor an opinion.

It always rains in Glasgow - this is not a fact, because it doesn't rain all the time

The bird on the coat of arms is a pigeon - this is not a fact, because the bird is a robin

They're not opinions either, because they can be proven to be wrong. My 7yr old figured this out right away and is trying to decide what to say. I think the teachers are expecting the kids to write 'opinion' for those two, but my daughter (and her Dad and I) would not be happy with that. If it was my own homework assignment, I'd write 'factually incorrent', but she's 7yrs, so I'm sure they'll think we've told her to write that (even though she knows this is right).

What would you write?

i do not understand how "opinions" can not be proven to be wrong.



i would say that they are "opinions", but opinions are based upon beliefs, and the beliefs that those opinions are based upon are incorrect.

I had hoped for a bit of a debate about this, so that I could understand the teacher's point of view (that those 2 statements are opinions). According to dictionary definitions, an opinion is a belief about matters commonly considered to be subjective, i.e. based on that which is less than absolutely certain. Neither my husband, daughter nor I could conclude that those 2 were opinions, as the facts are easily determined. If a statement is just wrong and can be proven to be so, it's not valid as an opinion (but that's my opinion, I suppose). E.g. 'the earth is flat' used to be an opinion or a belief, but as we know it's not, how can anyone say, 'In my opinion, the earth is flat'. In the case of this homework, how could anyone be correct in saying, 'In my opinion, that's a pigeon', when the matter isn't up for debate. It's not their opinion, they've just got their facts wrong.

I would just write "false" and then offer the correct answer. It is not a fact, and if it can be easily proven one way or another, then it is not an opinion, either. It is just wrong.
o·pin·ion
[uh-pin-yuh n] noun.
1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.

i do not understand how "opinions" can not be proven to be wrong.



i would say that they are "opinions", but opinions are based upon beliefs, and the beliefs that those opinions are based upon are incorrect.


i have little capacity for fuzzy reasoning, and so i am sorry that i have been the only person to have replied so far (except for the other respondent)
i would not think that the teacher has cloaked any philosophical content in their question that is designed to uncover exceptional or gifted ways of thinking.

opinions are not based on fact. they are based on beliefs.



i define an opinion as a series of intellectual attitudes that are based on beliefs, and beliefs are not necessarily factual.

to say "it ALWAYS rains in glassgow" is actually a belief and not an opinion i think. if it was an opinion, it would most probably have to be preceded with "i think that". "i think that it always rains in glassgow" is an opinion, and "it always rains in glassgow" is a belief.

opinions are, by their very nature, presented with an unspoken disclaimer that makes them subordinate to both beliefs and more so, proclamations.

opinions exist whether they are valid or not. opinions are simply the reactive interpretations of beliefs, and beliefs also exist whether they are valid or not.




i do not think that the archaic idea that the world is flat was an opinion. i think it was a belief. beliefs are more fundamental than opinions, and opinions spring from beliefs. the opinion that it is frivolous to build ships that can hold enough resources to sail for months away from their port may be based on the belief that the world is flat, and therefore the ships would fall of the edge of the world.
the belief that the world is flat may be born from a simple observational inability to perceive the curvature of the horizon.

i think beliefs are based on perceptions, and opinions are based on beliefs.

because they have not been exposed to evidence to the contrary.



opinions are inherently fallible, and even though factual evidence dispels the validity of an opinion, it does not disintegrate the opinion. opinions are systems of attitudes based upon the beliefs held by those who opine.

it is not advisable to question the definition of "opinion" in your daughters response to the questions she has been asked because i do not think there is any buried nugget of gold that can be extracted from the questions she has been asked.


people have many and varied opinions and many of them are wrong, but they are still opinions none the less.

with respect to the 2 examples you have posited, i may say that they are not opinions, but rather beliefs, but from my experience, it is better to just answer the questions rather than to question their integrity because the teachers are not mining for geniuses and so will toss out of their pan anything that does not directly answer their question.

hopefully someone else will address your question because i am simple and probably wrong.

B9, I was glad that you replied, not criticising you. I was hoping for a debate and you jumped in for the challenge, I was just pointing that out. I've not worded my post well enough to make that clear, sorry.

i deleted my previous post that was a reply to your most recent post.

wrong idea.

i wonder if i published a magazine called "wrong idea" whether it would attract a healthy readership?

I understand your logical reasoning. What the three of your are doing is taking it as though it always rains in Glasgow and never stops. Factually and logically it would be false. You're correct in the literal sense. The problem your hubby, your daughter and you are having is context and subtext. The teacher is not intending this statement to be literal. It is figurative language meant to be an exaggeration and I think it is a metaphor as well. What it is stating is that it seems like it rains a lot. This is my take on it.

Believe me, I have problems with this crap as well.

When i did those in a class, the teacher disregarded one of the questions since it was a false statement. It is neither a fact nor opinion.

I can maybe see that on the first statement, but not the second one myself, but how would a pigeon be a metaphor involving a robin? The only descriptor I could think of involving either would be the phrase "stool pigeon" which completely doesn't fit. I'm glad I never had homework like that because I'd so be arguing with the teacher.

I was only referring to the 1st one only.

I will say this. In order for something to be a fact it has to both be provable(it is possible to obtain a true or false) and true. An opinion is a person's feelings about something and attitude towards something.

I want to sweeten the pot a bit to this and have a bit of logical fun.

It is true that it is false that It always rains in Glasgow. Now, would this be a fact?