More on true/false facts

[Neal Whitman]

Reading a newspaper story to my son, in which a school district investigating a bullying incident said sometimes not all facts or available, or some facts are contradictory. I interjected that be definition, facts couldn't be contradictory. My son said that according to "all" his teachers who had ever taught fact vs opinion, there could be "false facts."

Based on my son's further explanation, this seems to be an attempt to finesse the awkward situation for statements such as "2+2=1." In principle, I approve of having a category for students to use here, but "false facts" isn't it, to be prescriptive. Even worse is that they also consider statements like "I think we should have year-round school" to be opinions. I'd say that "we should have year-round school" is an
opinion, but "I think [whatever]" is a fact (if the speaker really holds this opinion).

Neal

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