Conventional wisdom, two words which are defined as “generally a theory or a belief” is one of the themes in this book which is often wrong. According to John Kenneth Galbraith, conventional wisdom is comfortable and simple and not necessarily true. The definition Galbraith gave, surprisingly, seems to be accurate. Many people in this world have their own beliefs and theories which don’t necessarily have to be true. What one beliefs as true may not be considered as the truth in someone else’s life. For example, my mom’s beliefs are completely different from her older brother’s, so therefore as Galbraith said, I now understand why conventional wisdom is humble and convenient rather than always being true. In this chapter, the simple and the …show more content…
The authors, in order to distinguish the reason the significant drop in crime, conducted experiments and concluded that three out of all the reason, were erroneously interpreted as causation. As a citizen and as a student in this country, I thought that the increase in the number of police is what caused the crime rate to go down. However, from this chapter, Levitt and Dubner thought me that the three cases - increased reliance on prisons, increased number of police, and changes in illegal drug markets – correlation was interrupted incorrectly. Furthermore, the fact that the effect of legalized abortion, is the explanation of the crime drop left me astonished. In fact learning that the legalization of abortion had a large, statistically significant effect on crime is quiet disturbing. All in all however, it’s nice that legalizing abortion not only reduces the crime rate, but also gives women the right to do what they want. What I did like in this chapter was how the authors gave us two scenarios and they decided to pick one and to expand on it. The way the authors chose to present the information was very helpful because after introducing the three cases, they explained the real cause for the crime rate to drop. As readers and as citizens we would expect the three cases to the solution to crime rate but it was unanticipated to find out at last that abortion and crime rate …show more content…
I found it unusual how the successful school children appeared more to me created than raised. This chapter talked about what parents do verses what parents are and I found it interesting how few factors from the parents’ effect how a child is and how the child is educated. For example, I found it interesting how having books in the home appears to have a positive effect on performance, while reading to the child does not. I thought that reading to a child will make them learn quickly and understand at a faster pace, but apparently it helps to have a bunch of books in the house. In addition, it was mentioned that, what motivates parents and others to worry more about certain risks than others, is focusing on the effects of fear and a misinterpretation of available data. Since the parents are the ones responsible for another creature, they spend a lot of time being scared when it comes to parenting. As a matter of fact, everyone is scared when it comes to parenting but I do agree with the overall message that how the combination of asymmetric information and fear can lead to inefficient outcomes. However what I did like in this chapter was how Levitt and Dubner both concluded the chapter by providing a logical explanation for the empirical
The book’s fourth chapter, “Where have All the Criminals Gone?” in particular, includes several subjects the authors acknowledge will “provoke a variety of reactions, ranging from disbelief to revulsion, and a variety of objections” (140). By this point, readers already know the authors’ view that the legalization of abortion in Roe v. Wade caused the drop in crime during the 1990s because this idea first appears on page four. Rather than simply explaining why abortion lowered crime rates, Levitt and Dubner use a chart to introduce seven explanations commonly cited by experts for the sudden drop in crime during the 1990s, then examine the authenticity of each one. The first possible cause is “a fairly uncontroversial one: the strong economy”
In chapter 4 we revisit the authors’ argument that, when Roe V. Wade legalized abortion in 1973 many pregnancies were terminated in the U.S. that would otherwise have led to the birth of “unwanted children”. These children, born under less than ideal circumstances, would have been more likely to commit crimes when grown. Therefore, removing them pre-emptively from the population led to our lowered crime rates. One of the most controversial points of discussion in the book , first presented in the introductory chapter, is reintroduced slowly and by way of Romania.
Throughout this chapter, Levitt and Dubner effectively present their ideas with a good use of logic, evidence, and organization. Since the writers are both economists, they stick to a factual way of thinking but clearly explain it for their intended general audience. In this specific chapter, they inform the audience about the fewer criminal cases in the U.S. in an entertaining way. They also make sure
Children need guidance to become successful in life. One exceptional man wrote about the wrong type of parenting that causes children to be unproductive. In this article, he talks about how these styles can ruin a child’s life, because they are not being taught to be survive everyday life. Throughout this piece, the audience begins to understand his argument, because he uses many examples and rhetorical questions to persuade the readers. During the reading, he also brings up that severe parents are overprotective, since they think they are helping their children become wise, but they are actually afraid of teaching them about the necessities of the world. Furthermore, he supports his idea by saying things such as the wrong type of parenting
One of the main reasons behind the drop in crime rates was the legalization of birth control laws. When children are born without a mother, a caring family, and a decent place to live in, their chances of becoming a criminal increase due to the lack of love and care during their early childhood years. Levitt and Dubner stated that “Legalized abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crimes; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime” (Levitt, 139). In order to test this theory to prove whether or not legalizing abortion would decrease the crime rates, some states had to act as early-legalizing states that supported the legalization of abortion. “Between 1988 and 1994, violent crime in the early-legalizing states fell 13 percent compared to the other states; between 1994 and 1997, their murder rates fell 23 percent more than those of other states” (Levitt, 140). Once the few early-legalizing states took action and legalized abortion laws, the crime rates began to plummet. From my perspective, because of Levitt and Dubner’s extensive use of facts and statistics to support the reasoning behind the disappearance of criminals, they were able to
The phrase, “conventional wisdom” was evoked by the question, “Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?” 20th-century economist John Kenneth Galbraith described this phrase as information that reinforces a person’s own interest and well-being. This means that, while conventional wisdom must be comforting and convenient, it does not necessarily need to be true. Surprisingly, the term “conventional wisdom” was previously exploited by authors under the meaning ‘common knowledge’. In the article “John Kenneth Galbraith's Contributions to Economics,” John Kenneth Galbraith was responsible for redefining conventional wisdom to emphasize commonplace beliefs that are acceptable and comforting to society, thus enhancing an individual’s ability
Many parents disagree would disagree with the authors perspective of how children should be raised, however
These two styles of parenting are both ineffective in fostering the talent and passions of their children at early ages. One unable to maintain a stable, healthy relationship during early childhood years and the other being too overbearing over the child's decisions in life caused the children to both undergo an avoidable difficult childhood. The result of each mother’s parenting is the opposite of what the mother’s had hoped their parental
In chapter 4 the chapter considers a variety of possible explanations for the significant drop in crime and crime rates that occurred in the 1990s. Based on articles that appeared in the country’s largest newspapers, the authors compile a list of the leading, commonly offered explanations. The next step is to systematically examine each explanation and consider whether available data support the explanation. What the authors, in fact, demonstrate is that in all but three cases–increased reliance on prisons, increased number of police, and changes in illegal drug markets–correlation was erroneously interpreted as causation and in some cases, the correlation wasn’t even that strong.
When it comes to sensitive topics, there are few that draw on people’s emotions as much as abortion. Why it this so? It is the nature of the topic. Abortion is a topic in which people’s views are just as diverse as the population itself. Most people avoid writing about such topics altogether, especially when they are in support of such an act. However when economist Steven D. Levitt and writer Stephen J Dubner wrote chapter 4 of “Freakonomics” titled “Where have all the Criminals Gone?” they did just that. The chapter details historical examples of bans on abortion, possible reasons for the sharp decline in crime in the US, and a strong final argument for why abortion is the reason the crime rate dropped so suddenly. The emotionally
In Levitt and Dubner’s novel, Freakonomics, they deal with the sensitive subject of abortions in chapter four. During this section, Levitt and Dubner are purposing that the drop of crime is not because of the many popular ideas they address but instead because of abortions becoming legalized. Providing proof to their argument, they list out all the popular ideas that many people believe to be the cause of the drop in crime and then one by one explain why these ideas could not fit into the massive crime drop. After explaining the list of popular ideas, they finally come out and state what their take on the crime drop is and explaining why they believe this explanation instead of the ones listed before (115-145). Levitt and Dubner’s flow of writing and logic are shown very strong in this section and provide an easy and understandable read to the audience. Using this form of writing also creates an easier understanding for when they get to their point and distracts the reader into taking account of what they say instead of how offensive it is.
This paper has presented an argument on how a child’s development is strongly influenced by environmental and cultural influences as well as parenting styles and education. Children begin to learn and experiment with social skills at school, allowing them to learn and understand social skills necessary for later life in life. Children who receive schooling at an early age perform better later in academics. I hope that by teaching in the ways that I described will help me accomplish this. I want my classroom of students to be excited to come to my class everyday to learn something that I hope will impact them for the rest of their lives. I want my classroom to be a very caring environment. I want my students to feel important and smart and to influence them to be the best that they can be. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from
First, he points out the issue on how inner-city schools are still failing because they are lousy schools that use the same approach each year and still no improvement. Furthermore, science says that students lose ground in the summer, which causes them to lose what they learned the previous school year. Although, science has proven this to be true businesses to use science to better inner-city schools education. In addition to, inner schools failing and losing what they learned poor people are not aware of how critical and important the first three years of brain development. However, wealthy people and educated people are aware of the role of language, stimulus, and response. This causes those who are educated and wealthy children to have an advantage over poor
This research compared the crime rate before and after legalized abortion. Base on the data, after legalized abortion the greater of abortion rate the lower of crime rate between 1973 to1985 and have significantly impact the crime rate, especially for violent crime and murder.
The answer was plain, "it takes a village to bring up a child - accentuating the estimation of community, significant others and joint effort for learning and advancement "(2012, Autumn). It took some number persons within my extended family to raise and nurture me throughout my infancy years. This demonstrates that everyone has a vital part in molding you and aiding in becoming the best image of yourself (Boyd-Franklin, 2006; Mcadoo & Younge, 2009). Reading the book, I can see that my parents may have used some of the techniques given but may have unconsciously applied the methods or practices at that time. Poverty is one of the environmental factors that never affected us. The change to parenthood is significant, the same number of guardians know. Formative researchers view it as a standout amongst the hugest redesigns in the life expectancy, changing the brains, endocrine frameworks, practices, personalities, connections, and that's only the tip of the iceberg, of everybody included. The progress to parenthood is an immense change. What's more, America, with no extensive youngster family approach and no government paid family leave strategy - is an especially unsupportive place to have a tyke. Be that as it may, the collecting research is indicating exactly how delicate and vital this period is for families. With a little information and