Exercise 2: Claim Continuum. This chapter discussed a continuum within which three types of claims could be identified: fact, value, and policy. Fact claims make inferences about past, present, or future conditions or relationships; they can be explanatory, predictive, or historical. Value claims judge an idea, object, person, or practice by some value standard or set of criteria. Policy claims advocate a course of action that is not currently followed. Where would you place each of the following criteria on the continuum of claims?

1. *Extraterrestrial beings visited Earth during prehistoric times.

2. Every state should require that all teachers pass a proficiency examination.

3. All nations should destroy their biological weapons.

4. Illegal immigrants generally take jobs U.S. citizens do not want.

5. Discrimination is never justified.

6. Marijuana should be legalized in all fifty states.

7. Mandatory seat belt laws violate our constitutional rights.

8. Polygraph evidence is better than eyewitness testimony in criminal trials.

9. Pornography causes sex crimes.

10. Required automotive emissions tests are an inefficient means of ensuring clean air.
11. The U.S. welfare system has abandoned the poor.
12. The United States should not interfere in the social, political, and economic affairs of other nations.
13. Movies made today in America have more graphic violence and gratuitous sex than they did ten years ago.
14. Higher education in America is the best in the world.
15. Colleges and universities should stress technical and applied subjects over the liberal arts.