Add this to things I never thought I would say: watching the Presidential Debate with middle schoolers is a ton of fun! Perhaps it would better stated; watching the Presidential Debate with middle schoolers who have read The Fallacy Detective is a ton of fun!
I understand tone can be lost, so I want to emphasize there isn’t an ounce of sarcasm in that statement. I didn’t even have good snacks (they asked us to pause it part way through and ran to grab bananas and almond butter!) But I am seeing this echoed in many of my friends who stayed up and watched with their own kids – it was a worthwhile experience for parents and kids to engage in together and I know many are planning on watching the follow on debates with their kids, too.
And it’s not because the debate was good. It’s because there’s a growing desire to raise informed citizens and Tuesday night was an eye opening education for many young people.
In light of the conversations the debate inspired in our home I made our family a set of Fallacy Bingo cards and, having chatted with several friends about it, decided it might be a useful printable to share here! You can click here to get The Fallacy Bingo printable pdf, or keep reading and grab them at the bottom, too!
While watching the first Presidential debate on Tuesday evening with our boys, the Bingo cards from Babylonian Bee kept us pretty engaged (the boys kept up with the Bingo long after Paul and I gave up!) But through the whole debate the boys would reference different fallacies that occurred – thanks entirely to The Fallacy Detective by Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn. I know this book is used with a variety of curriculum, and for us following Ambleside Online it is used in grade 7. So Judah has completed it and Wesley is part way through it. It is AMAZING to me to see how this book has impacted their ability to see fallacies, and I would highly recommend this book if your teen has not yet read it.
These Bingo cards have 24 of the named and defined fallacies and that appear in The Fallacy Detective. I created four different layouts so family members can “compete” to fill in a Bingo card first. At the bottom of the page I wrote out the twenty four fallacy names in case you want to create a cheat sheet and write a brief definition beside each one. In the spirit of “what a child digs for becomes his own possession,” you will have to look up and copy the definitions yourself. To be honest, my plan is to just follow my kids. If they call out a fallacy, I’ll mark it on my own Bingo sheet. I’m not wasting middle school brain power.
I don’t have any comments to make on the debate itself other than the fact that it so clearly illuminated how much these men need our prayers. This summer I studied through the book of Daniel and was struck by the character of King Nebuchadnezzar. Talk about a mess of a ruler! If there was ever a ruling power whom we would think there was no chance of humbling himself, it would be King Nebuchadnezzar. His life has moments of humbling himself and acknowledging the power of the Most High God, and then exalting himself and blaspheming God. God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar remarkable things about His power, and yet Nebuchadnezzar would turn around and let his pride take over.
Nebuchadnezzar spent 7 years as a mad man wandering the wilds and eating grass. And yet he was still considered king. How crazy is that!?
And yet look at what Nebuchadnezzar testifies to at the end of his life in Daniel chapter 4:
I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” … Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.
This, from a powerful ruler of the ancient world! There is literally no person on earth so proud that they cannot be humbled, so far gone that their eyes cannot be opened to the greatness of God. The story of Nebuchadnezzar is an encouragement and a reminder to me that God loves and cares for those who are in positions of power and He wants them to humble themselves before Himself, and this is something we can and should be praying for those in authority in our nation.
The set of four Fallacy Bingo cards can either be printed or saved on your phone (save in photos, open edit program, mark each bingo square as they come up). I tried to think of something clever to put in the center “free” spot, but couldn’t think of anything so left it blank.
You can click here to get the Fallacy Bingo PDF.
