arguments and ice cubes

In the higher functioning Oral English class I thought I would just let them loose on debate and see how they would do. That is, I reviewed the distinction between matters of value and matters of taste, and told them we were interested in matters of value i.e., ethics, art, religion, politics, and that this is what we would be discussing this semester. Then I said I just wanted to see what level they were at with respect to debate and what I might need to teach them. So I gave them time in group of four to prepare to debate. I deliberately gave them very little instruction on how to proceed.

The groups that presented generally did a pretty good job with pretty predictable difficulties. They tended to present claims without presenting any reasons or evidence for them. And they were especially bad at not responding to what the other person had said. I think this is a function of generally not listening to each other in the classroom.

One debate involved the claim ‘whether we are using petroleum at too fast of a rate." The pro side said, yes we were and that since there is only a limited amount of petroleum we should be careful in our use of it and, moreover, since burning petroleum pollutes the atmosphere we should likewise burn as little of it as possible. The con side said that we would find some new technology that would replace oil at some future point and so we should not be concerned. Here is where the idea of evidence for a claim comes in. The person presented no evidence for the assertion. And worse, the person arguing against them did not push them on this obvious point. But again, these are the mistakes anyone new to argument would make.

In general, though, they acquitted themselves well, which is remarkable considering that they were performing in a second language.

Culture note: I cannot seem to find an ice tray anywhere. Instead, they have these plastic bags that you fill up with water and they sort of fill up into separate little ice units. You have to tie up the plastic sack and after it freezes you have to cut out the little cubes, which are about the size of four or five stacked quarters. Interesting.