Arguing Class

I've discussed in an earlier post why I feel it's important to teach my kids to be good writers. In our society, bad ideas can win the battle of public opinion, if they are well communicated. This also applies to oral communication.

The other day, I discovered that Henry supposedly has the same personality type as Barack Obama. One of the characteristics of this personality type is that they are good arguers. That definitely fits Henry. We had a discussion about this, and decided we were going to start debate class at home. Or, as Henry likes to call it, Arguing Class.

We've had a few sessions so far, and they've gone very well. It's a good fit for our particular home situation. Madeline has strong reasoning skills and is able to come up with insightful arguments. She could stand to gain some confidence in stating these positions.

Henry, on the other hand, has no qualms about stating his opinions, and he does so dramatically. He could use some help in learning to discern the most effective arguments, however.

So far, we've done Resolved: Christmas Is The Best Holiday; Resolved: Scooby Is Better Than PJ; Batman vs. Jonas Brothers and Resolved: Monk Should Die In The Final Episode Of The Series (because that is the only way he'll find true happiness and peace).

One person will take a side in the argument, and the other will take the opposing viewpoint. The affirmative person will list their position points, perhaps with some help from me, and I'll write them on the board. Then, the negative person will counter each of the arguments. As we continue to do with this, we'll learn how to have these arguments more closely resemble debates.

As you can imagine, a few of these have gotten rather emotional, especially the Monk one. I was unprepared, however, for how heated today's session got. Resolved: Steve Is Better Than Joe (Think Blue's Clues). Madeline was Affirmative, Henry was Negative.

Here's how it played out:

Affirmative: Many children thought Steve died when he left.
Negative: Their parents should have been more involved and explained what was going on.

Affirmative: Joe doesn't know how things work
Negative: You can't know before you learn, plus, Steve could never figure out clues.

Affirmative: Steve is closer to everyone's heart.
Negative: You can't get close to someone's heart if you don't know them.

Affirmative: Joe wears dumb shirts
Negative: That's a subjective opinion

Affirmative: They changed the theme song with Joe
Negative: Another subjective opinion about which song is better

Affirmative: Joe doesn't play the guitar
Negative: Maybe he doesn't want to

Affirmative: Joe has a freaky duck
Negative: You can't blame someone for their interests

Affirmative: It was wrong to fire Steve because he's balding
Negative: Hey, he's getting old

Affirmative: Joe is eye candy (inside family joke)
Negative: Joe is eye candy

We're having fun with this, but I can tell we won't be able to do a different topic every day.