The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope Dialogue

Tannen pointed out the fact that women in schools don’t enter into debate as much as men do. I had never really thought about it before but it is true. I think it is something that we do almost unconsciously. Since males are viewed as the dominant sex I guess women find it harder to have their views and opinions stand up against them. In most cases this stands true but I think that women are getting better at speaking out. There of coarse are exceptions like in our English class there are only three or so boys so it is mainly girls in the discussion. I did notice that the boys in our class do tend to speak up and just those few speak up more then some of the girls and I wonder if it were the other way around (if there were mainly boys and only a few girls) would the few girls speak up? Tannen also pointed out that debate couldn’t survive unless the students are in an “adversarial” atmosphere. I agree with this because if the teachers were very strict, wanted things done a certain way and wouldn’t allow for free and open thought then students wouldn’t be able to talk and argue about both sides of things. This would make it impossible for students to debate and look at their own views, try to defend their own views, and also look at others views. He also points out that debate is a different approach to learning. We test our own views along with the views of others. Debates are a good way to up your opinions out there and form new opinions by hearing what others have to way. He does point out that there can be a problem with this because sometimes people try so hard to persuade people to see the way they see the way they forget to try to look at others opinions.