"Ignorant attitudes"???

[Morna]

I am giving extra English tuition to rural kids in Malaysia. My unfortunate 15-year olds have been given a debate topic at their school -

"Ignorant attitudes triggers criminal behavior".

My understanding of "ignorant" is "does not know / lack of knowledge" and of "attitudes" is "behavior".

My point here is that I don't believe there can be such a thing as an "ignorant attitude" - only a person or living being can be ignorant?

Am I right?? Comments welcome, this title seems to be sparking a debate of its own!

 

[David L.]

I agree - and further, I cannot see how an "attitude" of whatever kind in itself can "trigger" criminal behaviour, as opposed to 'underlying' it or being a factor in it.

 

[Anglika]

A debate could be run here on this.

I do see a case for the phrase "ignorant attitudes" - "opinions that lack knowledge or understanding"; and for the use of "trigger". We can all think of reports where some criminal activity [racial attacks, for instance] have been triggered by an assailant's "ignorant attitude" about another person or group.

Clearly the participants in the school debate will need to establish whether they agree on the meaning of the terms in the topic before they can debate it!