Separating Biases From Facts

By Doug Buehl,
Madison East High School teacher
Member, Wisconsin State Reading Association

April 2003

That’s just my opinion.” “We all have an equal right to our opinions.” “My opinion is just as good as yours.” “She is such an opinionated person.” “Who has an opinion about . . .”

Opinions – sometimes it seems that our daily lives are awash in them. Editorials and columnists, talk radio and call-in commentators, politicos and the folks standing next to you in a check-out line – everybody, it seems, has an opinion.

Varied opinions, of course, imply variant ways of interpreting what we see, and the exchange of our perspectives contributes to the richness of our dialogue with others. Yet as we all know, some opinions are clearly more justifiable than others. Upon what basis do we hold many of our opinions and how well-founded are the beliefs that we posit as our opinions?

Opinions are related to the essential reading comprehension trait of synthesis. As we read, we reduce a text to its gist, to its essence – we summarize key ideas and information so that we can make conclusions and draw generalizations. When we synthesize, we develop our own personal “take” on what we have read. Many of us develop our “opinions” based on these critical text interpretations combined with our experiences of the world.

The Strategy
Our students, of course, are more than eager to share their opinions about a sometimes startling array of topics. Soliciting student opinions related to aspects of a unit of study provides an opportunity for students to make personal connections to the material and may instill motivation for further learning. However, as teachers we frequently encounter opinions that can interfere with learning – stereotypes, misconceptions, naïve explanations, and erroneous “knowledge.” At such times, students may proclaim that their misguided opinions are just as good as anyone else’s. After all, these are just “opinions.”

Helping students learn to support the generalizations and conclusions they create is fundamental to what proficient readers do when they synthesize. The following steps encourage students to meld their personal ideas and opinions into a more encompassing synthesis of their learning.

Step 1: Initially, students need to explore the nature of opinions. We all, indeed, have the right to our opinions, but that does not make all opinions equal. Students need to realize that some “opinions” are more defensible than others.

For example, ask students to generate opinions that many people once held that are no longer regarded as true. “The Earth is flat” is an opinion once believed by many, if not most, people. This opinion was consistent with people’s personal experiences, but was eventually disproved when a wider range of knowledge became available.

Such an example underscores the need to extend beyond immediate personal experiences when making generalizations or drawing conclusions. As you discuss this issue with students, make a distinction between “opinion statements,” which tend to be based on personal experiences, and “supported statements,” which combine personal experiences with a more expansive knowledge base.

Step 2: Students must learn to differentiate between opinion and supported statements. A personal interpretation of a text ought to consider both the reader (what an individual knows and believes) and the author (what a writer provides for information and ideas).

This step can be especially crucial for students who offer “outrageous” interpretations of a text, based predominately on their own ideas and beliefs while discounting or ignoring what was actually presented in a text. During discussions and other activities, prompt students to justify their interpretations based on author evidence.

In addition, reinforce with students that a single “correct” interpretation of a text may not be possible, or even desirable. Multiple interpretations of a text are frequently likely, because individual readers bring different backgrounds and experiences to their reading. However, interpretations that cannot be backed up with textual evidence qualify as “opinion” statements rather than text interpretations.

Step 3: Next, students need to become aware of how their perspectives, or personal opinions, influence their synthesis of what they read. Gilovich (1991), in his engaging book “How We Know What Isn’t So,” warns us of the ways our personal predilections interfere with our comprehension:

• Our personal experiences tend to override information to the contrary, no matter how persuasive it may be.
  
• We have a tendency to make up our minds on insufficient evidence.
  
• We are more likely to seek out, and notice, information that confirms what we already believe.
  
• We are also likely to overlook, or downgrade, information that contradicts what we already believe.
  
• We tend to be less critical of information that supports our pre-existing beliefs and more critical of information that challenges them.
  

Discuss with students how their opinions and beliefs can warp the way they interact with a text. Such differences often emerge during class discussions, as students may offer dramatically different interpretations of a text. An awareness of how a reader brings a bias to a text can help students evaluate whether they brought a close-minded or open-minded attitude to an author’s message.

Step 4: Text Interpretations can also help students detect perspective and bias on the part of an author. As students examine a text to establish support for their generalizations and conclusions, they will also become more adept at spotting the basis for an author’s generalizations and conclusions. To what extent does the author create a compelling and well-documented argument and to what extent does the author merely rely on personal opinion? Training students to be sensitive to attitudes and beliefs implied by authors conditions youngsters to become critical readers as they develop their interpretations of a text.

Posted April 4, 2003