Is debate dead?

Question

They used to teach debate in our public schools, but its no longer an elective (at least where I live). Has this led to the death of real/intellectual debate? For example, people ask questions on this site and give points to whoever agrees with them. The majority are not open to other views or appreciate a good argument. Should we put debate back into our curriculum? What can be done to resolve this?

Answer 1

Oh, YES, it should be reintroduced! Debate has largely died due to political correctness (everybody wants to be thought of as being polite, so nobody dares to say that anybody else or their proposition is wrong) and due to the loss of civility ("If you don't agree with me, you're a cad as well as a heretic!")

Read the papers. There's no intelligent criticism of our President these days; it's all just invective and insult. The papers are trying to bypass people's minds (which could be used to refute an erroneous concept by logic), and appeal directly to the emotions (which have no guarantee of being correct.)

We're becoming a nation of false intellectuals. We see hate filled films like Fahrenheit 911and give them prizes. Debate should be required. Not everybody will be good at it, but people must be taught what is necessary to dissect an idea and decide whether it is a reasonable course of action in life. How else can we prosper as a nation?

As you might guess, you've touched on one of my hot buttons. Please don't overlook my enthusiasm by assuming that there is no value behind it. Consider the validity of what I say, and I think that you, too, will become more enthusiastic for teaching logical methods of debate in our schools.

Answer 2

Maybe, but I don't think it has to do with whether or not it's offered in schools as an elective or a requirement. People thinking for themselves and forming their own opinions can be encouraged in any kind of environment, inside and outside of school.

The death of debate would have to be in people's willingness to conform and not speak their own minds. Unfortunately this is just human nature, I think, to not want to be different or to be shunned by others. I am not sure what can be done about something like that.

Anyway debate as a part of a school curriculum is a forum that might even encourage the type of thinking that you want to discourage. I mean, you are basically gving people permission to debate. Do people really need to be told that it's okay to debate from 2p to 3p or whenever?

As for this site, it's just to get answers or to have fun. I think the point system just plays into the fun aspect; I don't think people use it as a tool to reward others who think the same way as they do. At least this has been my experience.

In a school environment students should always be encouraged in every class to speak up with questions and thoughts. By the way one brave soul always does. People being what they are will follow suit. Ditto for the rest of the world.

Answer 3

Unfortunately darlin... I believe it is. It is an unfortunate by-product to society's need to be politically correct and conform to one way of thought and behavior. People of dubious intelligence only learn to work the systems of rules and logic as we know them. I miss a good healthy debate. Seems like the good-old days are over! GREAT question! Very observant of you! Here is a piece of prose for you! Hope you like...?

Censorship

We are... incendary beings
with our little explosions
with our lies and suppositions
and yet
in a common ground
in an interactive kind of participation
in an "open" forum
we all get wiped clean
de personalized and machine minded
to split ourselves away from the very things
that teach us, that evolve us
through the intolerance of the intolerant
we die to our own awakenings

Why do we feel the need to corral
to hold contempt by its violent throat
violently but with sneak and subtulty
against our wills collectively
a man speaks out uncomfortably
and we ascend like vultures to tear his insides out
with silence and organized indifference.

Opposition exists to teach us tolerance
not to obliterate or illiminate a need for it
not everyone is on the same level of maturity
in mentality, physically or in spirituality.

so why pretend to know or understand
what lies within the heart of any man
through pretence and unified goals
that not everyone truely shares
other than to just save face
and be a part of the heard.

What ever happened to a good old fashoned debate?
are we no longer able to emotionally deal with our
differences?

Censorship is the stiffling of the intellect
the stagnation to growth
the breeder of the intolerance it refuses to tolerate.
essentially, we are all the same
and no one should ever be so phony
so as to pretend they don't ever enjoy
a good old fashoned bout with incendary behavior.

We all equally love our little explosions
some have simply evolved into a way
of getting away with them
ever and always at the expense of those
not quite clever enough to use and filter
deceptive intent and covering it and calling it
the right way or the truth.

It is not now, never has been
and no matter what you call it
ever will be that.


Forgive the typo's... I know they are there but the spell check is on the fritz... AGAIN!

Answer 4

Pretty much in the real world, yes it's dead. Or at least comatose.

It's devolved into sound-bites and character attacks when done in the political arena, and emotional appeals most other places.

Which is really sad, because people have forgotten how to talk to each other and how to explore different sides of an issue, attacking the issues without attacking the individuals.

Putting the debate skills back into curriculum won't help, if people don't have the mindset or emotional maturity to be willing to discuss issues and actually listen to differing opinions.

Answer 5

Unfortuantely, public schools do not encourage debate, as debate inspires dissention. Schools want kids to listent o what they say and memorize it, and not ask questions. It is very rare to find an educational facility that encourages children to ask questions and challenge what may be taught to them.

I will say that if you are interested in intelligent debate, there are a number of wonderful debate groups on Yahoo groups. I have been a member of many of them, and it is nice to hear other people's rational arguments for controversial issues.

Although I am no longer a member (due to time constraints, as it is a very active group), I highly recommend a group called Discuss Everything. It is Yahoo based and is an adult only group (to avoid childish postings). Everyone is very intelligent, and open to listening to other's thoughts and ideas.

Here's the link if you;re interested:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DiscussEverything/

Answer 6

oh yeah.... well I disagree
People are busy nowadays and usually do not debate anything anymore.
Either there mind are wiped out from dealing with life in general or everything has to be now...now...now.
I like a good mindless entertainment when I'm not working to give my brain cells a rest.
but it's hard to even find a good cartoon anymore

I looked at yahoo news and at the bottom of an article you will see a discuss link.
I you were intelligent life from another planet and saw things that people post there and the type of Q' presented here.
You would turn around and go home thinking we are a bunch of imbeciles.
The DISCUSS link is quite comical but exactly what you are asking about here

Answer 7

As a teacher, I work my middle school students into the ideas of argumentation, but I would have to say that debate is dead. It demands research, understanding, eloquence and logic. There is a severe deficit of these things in our society today. Watch Fox news or CNN. All you get are sound bytes, people shouting slogans and interrupting each other in 5 minute bursts. Even presidential debates aren't proper debates these days. They have head phones with people feeding them information.

For some, debate is alive, but not for most.

Answer 8

People invovled in Schoolastic Debate teams were never a dominant force in the shaping of our society, sorry. The practice isn't present in other countries and they all manage to communicate quite well. Ultimately 1-2% of teens (Being pretty generous in my estimates) ever took part in High School Debate. If any process involving that small of a group ended instantly there would be no appreciable difference we could percieve. If anything the rise of the internet has stimulated debate immensely as people are brought into contact with viewpoints that they wouldn't never have been exposed to in their life otherwise.

Answer 9

I don't know if debate is available here or not as the boy is only in middle school. But if it is, I would encourage him to get into it. Debating is a lost art and is sorely needed in today's world. I'm a firm believer that if you can't argue for both sides of an issue, you have more studying to do.

Answer 10

Great Question.
I think you can tell who is open to an honest discussion and those that think they HAVE the answer and are willing to graciously share it with the rest of us.
I think debate teams are still in most schools however if I remember correctly they're about as popular as the chess team.
All I can suggest is to talk to people you think will give you a true opinion and a good counter to your argument.
(Nothing beats a good discussion with someone who knows their stuff!)