In an "Age of Division," Teach Students to Argue Well

Sean Hackney

I've always enjoyed teaching first-year college writing courses to seniors in high school. Young people who are just months away from the next season in their lives—adulthood—get a taste for what a college seminar looks like and the kind of learning their future might hold.

But in the current discursive culture in America, these classes are especially important for high schoolers. Since I began teaching these writing courses nine years ago, public opinions have continued to grow more partisan (Pew Research Center). The divide between political parties on central issues and values began to increase during Barack Obama's presidency and has continued to widen since the 2016 election of President Trump. 

My school is no different. My classes are filled with bright, opinionated students who hold deep convictions across the spectrum, but struggle to engage with ideas that do not immediately resonate with them. As a result, I feel a responsibility to imbue students with more than a working knowledge of rhetorical situations or how to structure a well-written essay. I want to develop students' critical thinking, so they can become rhetoricians who know how to communicate their ideas, listen to others, and discuss productively, even when beliefs and opinions don't match up.

Quintilian, an ancient Roman rhetorician from Hispania well known for his 12-volume textbook Institutes of Oratory, defines an effective rhetorician as a "good" person who can speak (or, in my students' case, write) well (Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 2). The emphasis is on the moral character of the person communicating, not his or her abilities. The latter comes as students grow through feedback and practice. When students learn to ask big questions—they must be the ones to ask them, not the teacher—they develop a foundation for intellectual inquiry rooted in, as Quintilian explains, justice, fairness, and truth (Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 1). This is especially necessary as students learn to research and analyze questions that are not strictly factual and require nuanced investigation.

The Ins and Outs of Controversy

As we begin our class together, I ask students to complete a controversy mapping assignment where they select a general topic or specific issue that they are interested in researching. My students' questions are all over the board: Should there be limits on free speech? What policies should the United States enact regarding gun control? What steps can we take to solve the opioid crisis? Depending on the year, we do this assignment for a couple of weeks or for the entire semester. Longer timelines give students more of an opportunity to follow a variety of events in their inquiry, but both approaches are effective. The goal is for students to observe and listen to the various perspectives on a topic or issue, not to immediately respond with a predetermined partisan viewpoint. Students ultimately argue their perspective on the issue, but not before they demonstrate their understanding of the issue's complexity.

Students research and read a wide range of perspectives to gain as objective an understanding as possible. One of their favorite websites to use as they begin the process is AllSides, which breaks issues down into categories of bias. Once students have chosen an issue, they use Google News and Hypothes.is, a tool that annotates websites, to find and annotate the most current sources. We also use the CRAP Test tool (currency, reliability, authority, and purpose) as students begin researching to determine if websites are credible. This process provides ample opportunity to help students think about bias, credibility, and best research practices.

Once students have observed various perspectives, they complete a visual timeline using Knight Lab's TimelineJS tool to demonstrate their understanding of an issue's key points. One of my students, for example, questioned the ethics of animal poaching. She used a template to summarize the main ideas from her research, connected images and videos to her work, and created a timeline to present the various perspectives to the class.

Finally, I ask students to apply their learning in a new context to make an effective argument. I often ask students to write an argumentative essay, presenting their reasoned perspective on the issue while demonstrating an understanding of the opposition's viewpoints and building effective rebuttals. Multimedia work with podcasts, videos, and photos can also be useful. Ultimately, students have an opportunity to ask big questions about topics and issues that interest them, research and summarize their understanding of the complexities, and craft an argument that showcases their path of inquiry.

Crucial Questions for Dialogue

For me, the highlight of the unit is the final two reflective questions I ask students to consider as we wrap up: Why do you believe your opinion on the issue you researched is just? Why might those who disagree with you say their perspective is just? It is with crucial questions like these that we train our students to not only investigate their ideas with fervor, but also to step back and dialogue with others, especially when there is disagreement. This life skill has unfortunately not been modeled well for many of our students, as evidenced by the way adults currently discuss issues of the day. Teachers have a responsibility to change that. I am hopeful that students like mine will take our country down a new path of productive argument.

References

Quintilian, & Butler, H. E. (Ed.). (1920). Institutio oratoria, Book 1. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; and London: William Heinemann. Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi1002.phi0011.perseus-eng1:pr

Quintilian, & Butler, H. E. (Ed.). Institutio oratoria, Book 2. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; and London: William Heinemann. Retrieved from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:latinLit:phi1002.phi0011.perseus-eng1:pr

Pew Research Center. (2017, October 5). The partisan divide on political values grows even wider. Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World [online]. Retrieved from http://www.people-press.org/2017/10/05/the-partisan-divide-on-political-values-grows-even-wider/

Sean Hackney is the English department chair at Minooka Community High School in Minooka, Ill.

ASCD Express, Vol. 14, No. 02. Copyright 2018 by ASCD. All rights reserved. Visit www.ascd.org/ascdexpress.