#506 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday November 11)
Good morning,
IF WE COULD ONLY GET EVERYONE SIGNED UP FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL DEBATE
I’ve been writing for a while about how one can learn much from Middle School Debate, which can help inform the critical thinking we most need today. I thought I’d touch upon this notion again, amidst the continuing decline of critical thinking in our society today.
In support of the thesis that society would do better if they spent some time in Middle School Debate, Erica Pandley writes in Axios Business, “Life Lessons from High School Debate,” supporting my perspective:
“Four Supreme Court justices (including the recently confirmed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson), Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey, Twitter's Jack Dorsey, former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and multiple U.S. presidents all have something in common: They were high school debaters.
Why it matters: Most parents want their kids to put a sock in it and stop arguing. Turns out, we should encourage them to do more of it — more systematically.
Diving into speech and debate in high school and college is one of the most effective ways to prepare to lead and influence community groups, cities, companies and even countries, two-time world debate champion and former Harvard debate coach Bo Seo writes in a new book, "Good Arguments," excerpted in The Wall Street Journal.
Here are three of his lessons from debating that we can all use to live and work better:
1. Disagree better. We live in a divided world in which our differences are amplified over our similarities — and we're terrible at disagreeing with one another respectfully. Just look at the toxic Twitter fights and the madness on cable news.
Seo lists the four points debaters learn that teach them how to argue — or whether an argument is even worth having: What is the point? Why is it true? When has it happened before? Who cares?
We can all pay better attention to this next time we're in disagreement.
2. Truth takes work. In debate, even if you're arguing the right side, you might still lose. It's all about how persuasive you are. With misinformation and disinformation on the rise, take the time to calmly and kindly convince people of the truth — even if you think it's obvious.
3. Agreeableness is bland. We're increasingly likely to self-sort into like-minded groups. A Generation Lab/Axios poll found that 71% of young Democrats wouldn't even go on a first date with someone who voted for the opposing party's presidential candidate. 37% said they wouldn't consider friendship. Among young Republicans, the shares were 31% and 5%, respectively.
Debate teaches kids to argue passionately one minute and show camaraderie the next. We can all learn to do that.
The bottom line: Don’t be afraid to disagree — respectfully — and let's teach our kids the same. Many of those with this critical skill go on to do big things.”
THINGS TO BE LEARNED IN DEBATE
Some ideals that need to be employed in our civic debate:
We need to be patient
We need to be brave, humble, and vulnerable in engaging with positions with which we disagree
The truth is what really matters
Data will set us free
Critical reasoning learned in Middle School Debate should help students learn:
How to weigh sources of opinion (e.g., a double-blind study conducted by a major research university trumps the opinion of Aunt Mildred)
The value of data and facts (it is not enough to believe an election was stolen; one must have data to support the claim)
The importance of seeing both sides of most issues; and being open to being proven wrong (e.g., maybe read articles in publications that one might not routinely read)
We have a long way to go in rebuilding a culture based upon science, data, the rule of law, arguments well-reasoned, and the art of compromise.
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: