Claims are also made with varying d

Claims are also made with varying degrees of generalisation from the context
of practice or experience from which they were derived to the range of other
contexts to which they are supposed to apply. For example, a claim about the
effectiveness of progressive education might be made solely in relation to
British primary schools, or alternatively in relation to all schools and other
educational arrangements anywhere. Frequently, sweeping generalisations are
not explicit about the range of contexts to which a claim applies. The extent of
the claim is implied rather than stated, as in the assertion that ‘learning how
to learn is a more effective preparation for adult life than learning lots of facts’.
Implicitly, this claim is asserted to have universal applicability – to all children
everywhere, past, present or future. But note that generalisations are, in themselves,
just assertions that something is known, not proof that it is known.
Anyone can make generalisations – we have just done exactly that at the
beginning of this sentence! It is another matter whether there is sufficient evidence
that whatever is claimed really does apply to all the contexts to which
the claim is explicitly or implicitly asserted to apply. So you may always,
appropriately, ask the critical question whether there is sufficient evidence to
support the degree of generalisation in the claim being made.