Question

Are the following statements normative or positive? If a statement is normative, change it to a positive statement. a. The government should provide free tuition to all college students. b. An effective way to increase the skills of the workforce is to provide free tuition to all college students. c. The government must provide job training if we are to compete with other countries.

Short answer

If a statement is normative, change it into a positive statement. a) The government should provide free tuition to all college students. b) An effective way to increase the skills of the workforce is to provide free tuition to all college students. c) The government must provide job training if we are to compete with other countries.

Step-by-step solution

Determine if the statement is normative or positive

This statement is expressing a value judgement that the government should take a particular action, so it is a normative statement.

Change the statement to a positive statement

A positive version of the statement could be: "Providing free tuition to all college students would increase the number of students attending college." Statement b: An effective way to increase the skills of the workforce is to provide free tuition to all college students.

Determine if the statement is normative or positive

This statement is making a factual claim about the relationship between free tuition and workforce skills, so it is a positive statement. No changes needed. Statement c: The government must provide job training if we are to compete with other countries.

Determine if the statement is normative or positive

This statement is expressing a value judgement that the government needs to take a specific action, so it is a normative statement.

Change the statement to a positive statement

A positive version of the statement could be: "Providing job training has been shown to improve a country's competitiveness in the global market."