Appeal to Tradition Question Pack: Critical Thinking, Comic, Comprehension
Appeal to Tradition Question Pack: Critical Thinking, Comic, Comprehension
Appeal to Tradition Question Pack: Critical Thinking, Comic, Comprehension
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Description
Ignaz Semmelweis proved that unwashed hands were killing up to 30% of mothers in Vienna's hospitals. The medical establishment rejected him - not because his data was wrong, but because doctors had always healed with their hands.
The Appeal to Tradition is the mistake of assuming something is good, correct, or worth keeping simply because it's old. Age is not evidence. Familiarity is not evidence. Neither is the fact that no one has complained yet. The fallacy works by treating survival as proof of quality - something lasted, therefore it works. But things last for all kinds of reasons: habit, inertia, the fact that nobody with power wanted to change them.
You hear it everywhere: "We've always done Christmas this way. Why would we change now?" "My grandfather smoked and lived to 90." "If it was that bad, people would have stopped doing it years ago." Age tells you a practice persisted. It doesn't tell you it was ever good.
This free expansion pack teaches you to ask "is this actually good - or is it just familiar?" - through a true historical story, real-life examples, and activities that feel nothing like homework. It's the companion to the full Appeal to Tradition Activity Pack and a free preview of the upcoming book, 24 Fallacies and the Historical Disasters That Followed.
⭐ Rated 5.0 by people who now win arguments
THE STORY INSIDE
Vienna, 1847. Two clinics shared the same hospital building - one staffed by doctors, one by midwives. In the doctors' ward, up to 30% of mothers died of childbed fever. In the midwives' ward, the rate was a fraction of that.
A Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis tracked the difference to a single habit: doctors were moving directly from performing autopsies to delivering babies without washing their hands. He introduced a chlorinated lime solution as a handwash. Death rates in his ward fell almost immediately.
The medical establishment rejected him. Not because his data was wrong. Because the idea that doctors' hands were killing patients contradicted the way medicine had always been done. Doctors healed with their hands. That had always been true. That was enough.
Semmelweis died in 1865, likely from the same kind of infection he'd spent years trying to prevent. Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch's germ theory eventually proved him right - but by then, thousands of mothers had died because an old habit was treated as an answer.
The pack closes with the one question that cuts through an Appeal to Tradition every time: "Is this actually good - or is it just familiar?" Because "we've always done it this way" is a description of the past. It has never been a reason to keep going.
WHAT'S INSIDE
📖 Illustrated True Story - how the medical establishment's defence of tradition killed thousands of mothers after Ignaz Semmelweis proved handwashing saved lives
🔍 Real-Life Examples - spot the Appeal to Tradition fallacy in advertising, social media, news, and everyday conversation
✏️ Activities - written questions, Going Deeper analysis, Spot it in the Wild, graphic organiser, and Draw Your Own Comic Strip
📋 Answer Sheet - for whoever's playing referee
WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT
Most fallacy resources are a definition on a slide and a matching worksheet. This pack shows the fallacy destroy lives in a true story, makes you recognise it in your own conversations, then sends you hunting for it in the wild. That's how it sticks.
WHO IT'S FOR
→ Anyone 11+ who's sick of losing arguments they were right about
→ The smartest person you know - this is their gift (see also: the other 23)
→ Homeschool families and teachers who want critical thinking that doesn't feel like a chore - yes, it works in classrooms too
WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE
Free digital download. Includes A4 and US Letter sizes at 300 dpi - print as a booklet or as individual pages. Arrives in your email.
COLLECT THE FULL SET
This is one of 24 free expansion packs - one for every logical fallacy in the series. Each has a matching full activity pack with an illustrated comic, true history story, and more activities. Find the full series at duchessandbruno.com.
Coming soon: 24 Fallacies and the Historical Disasters That Followed - the book behind the series.
FOR THE TEACHERS
Aligns with ACARA Critical and Creative Thinking, UK National Curriculum English/Citizenship, and US Common Core ELA (Grades 6+). We promise the students will never know it's curriculum-aligned.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "We're now catching ourselves using the fallacies which I didn't think would happen. A 10/10 resource!" - Kylie
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Really clever and funny comics. I wasn't expecting them to be so funny." - Sandra
NEED HELP?
Contact us at info@duchessandbruno.com - we'll sort it out.
TERMS OF USE
For personal or single-classroom use only. Not for sharing, reselling, or commercial use.
Connect with us:
Instagram: @duchessbruno
Facebook: Duchess and Bruno
Website: www.duchessandbruno.com
Description
Ignaz Semmelweis proved that unwashed hands were killing up to 30% of mothers in Vienna's hospitals. The medical establishment rejected him - not because his data was wrong, but because doctors had always healed with their hands.
The Appeal to Tradition is the mistake of assuming something is good, correct, or worth keeping simply because it's old. Age is not evidence. Familiarity is not evidence. Neither is the fact that no one has complained yet. The fallacy works by treating survival as proof of quality - something lasted, therefore it works. But things last for all kinds of reasons: habit, inertia, the fact that nobody with power wanted to change them.
You hear it everywhere: "We've always done Christmas this way. Why would we change now?" "My grandfather smoked and lived to 90." "If it was that bad, people would have stopped doing it years ago." Age tells you a practice persisted. It doesn't tell you it was ever good.
This free expansion pack teaches you to ask "is this actually good - or is it just familiar?" - through a true historical story, real-life examples, and activities that feel nothing like homework. It's the companion to the full Appeal to Tradition Activity Pack and a free preview of the upcoming book, 24 Fallacies and the Historical Disasters That Followed.
⭐ Rated 5.0 by people who now win arguments
THE STORY INSIDE
Vienna, 1847. Two clinics shared the same hospital building - one staffed by doctors, one by midwives. In the doctors' ward, up to 30% of mothers died of childbed fever. In the midwives' ward, the rate was a fraction of that.
A Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis tracked the difference to a single habit: doctors were moving directly from performing autopsies to delivering babies without washing their hands. He introduced a chlorinated lime solution as a handwash. Death rates in his ward fell almost immediately.
The medical establishment rejected him. Not because his data was wrong. Because the idea that doctors' hands were killing patients contradicted the way medicine had always been done. Doctors healed with their hands. That had always been true. That was enough.
Semmelweis died in 1865, likely from the same kind of infection he'd spent years trying to prevent. Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch's germ theory eventually proved him right - but by then, thousands of mothers had died because an old habit was treated as an answer.
The pack closes with the one question that cuts through an Appeal to Tradition every time: "Is this actually good - or is it just familiar?" Because "we've always done it this way" is a description of the past. It has never been a reason to keep going.
WHAT'S INSIDE
📖 Illustrated True Story - how the medical establishment's defence of tradition killed thousands of mothers after Ignaz Semmelweis proved handwashing saved lives
🔍 Real-Life Examples - spot the Appeal to Tradition fallacy in advertising, social media, news, and everyday conversation
✏️ Activities - written questions, Going Deeper analysis, Spot it in the Wild, graphic organiser, and Draw Your Own Comic Strip
📋 Answer Sheet - for whoever's playing referee
WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT
Most fallacy resources are a definition on a slide and a matching worksheet. This pack shows the fallacy destroy lives in a true story, makes you recognise it in your own conversations, then sends you hunting for it in the wild. That's how it sticks.
WHO IT'S FOR
→ Anyone 11+ who's sick of losing arguments they were right about
→ The smartest person you know - this is their gift (see also: the other 23)
→ Homeschool families and teachers who want critical thinking that doesn't feel like a chore - yes, it works in classrooms too
WHAT YOU'LL RECEIVE
Free digital download. Includes A4 and US Letter sizes at 300 dpi - print as a booklet or as individual pages. Arrives in your email.
COLLECT THE FULL SET
This is one of 24 free expansion packs - one for every logical fallacy in the series. Each has a matching full activity pack with an illustrated comic, true history story, and more activities. Find the full series at duchessandbruno.com.
Coming soon: 24 Fallacies and the Historical Disasters That Followed - the book behind the series.
FOR THE TEACHERS
Aligns with ACARA Critical and Creative Thinking, UK National Curriculum English/Citizenship, and US Common Core ELA (Grades 6+). We promise the students will never know it's curriculum-aligned.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "We're now catching ourselves using the fallacies which I didn't think would happen. A 10/10 resource!" - Kylie
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Really clever and funny comics. I wasn't expecting them to be so funny." - Sandra
NEED HELP?
Contact us at info@duchessandbruno.com - we'll sort it out.
TERMS OF USE
For personal or single-classroom use only. Not for sharing, reselling, or commercial use.
Connect with us:
Instagram: @duchessbruno
Facebook: Duchess and Bruno
Website: www.duchessandbruno.com