Making Contrasts: A Tool for Deep Learning and Ambitious Teaching

Contrasts always reframe the status quo, comparisons often reproduce it. To compare apples and oranges, as everyone knows, changes nothing. To compare oranges and oranges, first we must identify the situated meaning of the polarity. In this case, we are comparing orange hair to determine if both gentlemen use the same shade of chemical refresher (Boris Johnson or Donald Trump).

Grounding reading or writing assignments in comparison/contrast psychokinetic cognitive activity brings with it a push all its own, a pull of spreading activation waking up neurons, inheriting information from memory’s deep freeze, an invitation to have some fun while becoming absorbed in figuring things out. As an instructor of remedial writing at Napa Valley College, I got a lot of mileage out of this strategy. Great course with eager students which we could eliminate the need for in an alternate world…Plus it’s a firm structure for writing standard paragraphs adhering in patterns to other paragraphs in a high degree of unity. You have your point of contrast (vitamins) and your findings (all about lemons then all about oranges). Next point…

For example, let’s change apples and oranges to oranges and lemons. Why not “apples and lemons”? Why seems it possible intuitively to compare and contrast oranges and lemons for a reasonable purpose? Who does not know apples have nothing to do with oranges? Apples and lemons in the minds of gourmet chefs may bear the strain of likeness in some fashion inconceivable vis a vis oranges. Weird. The “assignment” I’m concocting in this post is for illustrative purposes only vis a vis a teaching strategy. I would lose my job if I did this in a classroom as a credentialed public school teacher.

Here is an example of what we’re calling the “CompCon Game.” In teams decide which statements would more likely be said by Donald Trump or Joe Biden. These are completely fictional, possibly hallucinatory. They were created at first by Claude3.5, an extremely capable bot, who could not provide exact quotes, but fictional quotes which could float between Joe and the orange turd. The construction of context for this task took quite a while, but now that I know how to structure the prompt it will soon become second nature.the bot took a long time. Here is a sample of negotiating with the bot over flagging certain content:

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This fictional device, aka “text,” prepared for entertainment purposes only with research and a modicum of Claude’s creative output, gives you a chance to contrast apples, oranges, sapiens, orangutans.

PRACTICE SET

"We're a nation of immigrants. That's our strength, not our weakness."

"We're not letting them scatter into our country like dandelion seeds in the wind."

"Dreamers are Americans. They belong here."

"Our country is full. Our area is full. The sector is full. Can't take you anymore."

Discussion: Obviously, there are correct answers, but I’m required, to save what’s left of my dignity as an unbiased writer, to state unequivocally: There are no answers at all but what you say to yourself. You will live in history. Which voter do you wish to be?

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"I'll restore the soul of our immigration system - it's about dignity, not cruelty."

"They're bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They're rapists."

Contrast Question: Contrast the emotional tones in each statement. Significant loaded terms are indicated in boldface, though ignore them as you wish. Distill these contrasting emotions into images of two animals, two bodies of water, or any other set of images that capture your emotional timbre.

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“We need smart border security📡, not a wall🥅 that doesn't work."

“We're going to build the wall🥅, and we'll make it even bigger and better."

"We don't need a wall🥅. We need a door 🚪that swings both ways for trade and workers."

"They're not sending their best💣. We need to protect 🧌American jobs and American safety."

"The Statue of Liberty 🗽isn't holding a stop sign, she's holding a torch🙋🏽‍♀️."

"We must end chain migration and move to a merit-based system🤴🏼."

Discussion: How do you respond to the word “wall” juxtaposed with “door”? What about the stop sign and the torch? Merit-based system and sending the best? Smart vs dumb?

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Here are a few extras. I think they would make good bumper stickers in urban and suburban locations across the country. These are all bot. I never tinkered with them as I did with others above. Here’s to Comparison-Contrast, one of the funnest rhetorical structures with built-in forward movement ESPECIALLY when there is choice of objects, issues, questions, or topics.

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"Our borders shouldn't be barriers, they should be bridges to opportunity."

"We're separating children from parents at the border. That's not border security, that's child abuse."

"America is a big table, and there's always room for one more chair."

"The American Dream doesn't have a velvet rope. It has a welcome mat."

"Our immigration system is a road, not a wall. Let's pave it, not block it."

"We're a nation of immigrants, not a fortress of fear."

"The American melting pot isn't just a metaphor, it's our secret sauce."

"Our diversity is like a garden. The more variety, the more beautiful and strong it grows."