How to argue
Recently, during a break between class activities, I joined a conversation many of my students were having about the upcoming election. I revealed that this is the first election I can remember in which I am truly frightened of what our country might become if a particular leading candidate gets elected President. One student told me that the other candidate scares her . Why, I asked? "She's a crook!" There just wasn't anywhere for that conversation to go. While waiting in line to vote, it became quickly apparent that the people waiting in line in front of me were voting for the other team. As soon as I made that connection, I found myself instinctively reacting against everything that those people said to one another, even when the topic turned away from a direct discussion of the election to neighborhood matters and other such things. I ventured to offer an argument to one of their ideas once, and one man literally laughed in my face. In the past couple of wee