Hi Mike,

Since you were talking about teaching critical reasoning to kids in the fourth grade, I remembered this joke someone emailed to me a while back...


"Deductive Reasoning."
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Man:  "Hi there new neighbor, it sure is a mighty nice day to be moving"
Neighbor 1:  "Yes, it is and people around here seem extremely friendly"
Man:  "So what is it you do for a living?"
Neighbor 1:  "I am a professor at the University, I teach deductive reasoning"
Man:  "Deductive reasoning, what is that?"
Neighbor 1:  "Let me give you and example.  I see you have a dog house out back.  By that I deduce that   you have a dog."
Man:  "That is right"
Neighbor 1:  "The fact that you have a dog, leads me to deduce that you have a family"
Man:  "Right again"
Neighbor 1:  "Since you have a family I deduce that you have a wife"
Man:  "Correct"
Neighbor 1:  "And since you have a wife I can deduce that you are heterosexual."
Man:  "Yup"
Neighbor 1:  "That is deductive reasoning"
Man:  "Cool"

Later that same day....
Man:  "Hey I was talking to that new guy who moved in next door"
Neighbor 2:  "Is he a nice guy?"
Man:  "Yes, and he has an interesting job"
Neighbor 2:  "Oh, yeah what does he do?"
Man:  "He is a professor of deductive reasoning at the University"
Neighbor 2:  "Deductive reasoning, what is that?"
Man:  "Let me give you an example.  Do you have a dog house?"
Neighbor 2:  "No"
Man:  "Fag."

Have fun!

Alex