A Persuasive Writing Challenge: Who Was to Blame for the Titanic Tragedy?

There have been many debates and much speculation over who was to blame for the sinking of RMS Titanic. In this one time class, we take a slightly different look at the disaster and ask who should carry the blame for the sad loss of so many lives. Whose action - or inaction- meant that the tragedy was so much more than the loss of a ship?
Students will explore the importance of persuasive writing and the essential elements of opinion versus facts, finding evidence, and developing it to present a well-rounded argument for their point of view. 
We will look at four of the candidates and students will decide which they believe, based on the evidence we look at and a class discussion, is most responsible for the tragic death toll.
Students will choose between:
The men who put RMS Titanic together- the shipbuilders
The manager of the White Star Line - Bruce Ismay
The man at the helm- Captain Smith
The ship which sat 20 miles away and stayed there- Captain Lord and his crew.

Learners will write a brief piece outlining their choice and why they have made that decision.

No previous knowledge of the Titanic disaster is necessary as information on these candidates will be provided. Due to time constraints, we will only discuss the four candidates listed. If students have a prior interest in the Titanic tragedy, however, and would like to suggest a different candidate for their piece of writing, they may do so as long as they can apply the same criteria of making a statement, providing evidence and forming a persuasive argument. 

During feedback time, students will share who they have decided is the unfortunate candidate for the biggest portion of blame and give a reason why. 
If time allows we will share more of students' writing and students may if they wish, discuss their reasoning in more depth. 

Please note: Although more learners will give more scope for discussion in this class, I will always teach with 1 student enrolled. In case your learner is the only one enrolled for that session and you know that they would rather not be by themselves, please let me know when you sign up so that I can contact you ahead of the class if this turns out to be the case. Otherwise, I will assume that students are happy to go ahead and will see them in class.