Arguing may be somewhat foreign to me, but
it is something that is prominent in our culture. People in our culture argue and
discuss a lot as there are numerous amounts of subjects and numerous amounts of
opinions. They argue with strangers, but also with loved ones; in fact, it is
completely natural and normal to have disagreements with others. In fact, I
think arguing is important in any relationship, it allows you to explore
different perspectives and broaden your horizon. In my classes, argumentation is
not necessarily encouraged or frowned upon. In classes such as Speech, English,
and Theology, arguments appear more often as constructive criticism is offered
and as new opinions surface. On the other hand, classes such as math and biz
1000, don’t offer a lot of space for argumentation as there is usually one sole
answer. I think professors like and encourage healthy arguments when they
surface, as they are adamant about sticking up for what you believe in and
having firm values.
The most recent example in my life
occurred today when one of my friends received a bad grade on a math test. He
then asked some of my friends and I how to manage his time better. This then
spurred into a conversation about school and education in general. One side of
the argument was that your grades all depend upon the work that you put in,
while the other side argued that grades reflect your pure intelligence. We also
discussed how learning is a priority in our lives while schoolwork is not. We concluded
that it all depends upon your major. For example, for a business major, your
first few years are general education. Thus, since the
material may not be as applicable as the concentration courses in future years,
the schoolwork would not be as large as a priority when compared to those in the medical field. Those in the medical
field are starting with classes such as chemistry and biology, which usually
require a lot more work and studying in order to master the material. In
general, this argument we had definitely benefited us, we were able to offer
our opposing opinions to create one cohesive statement. It is natural for us to
“agree to disagree” as we know that we all come from different backgrounds with
different values. Arguing is important in our culture, it is a natural occurrence,
and I believe it can offer many benefits if resolved and done in more of a discussion manner instead of an argumentative manner.
I like how your discussion with your friends ranged across several different topics while still under the umbrella of education. I think the kind of discussion in which you dive deep into a subject and relate it to other important topics is a very beneficial conversational model. It is clear that you and everyone else involved in the argument learned something out of your talk. You said that everyone in the argument created "one cohesive statement." Does that mean you all eventually uniformly agreed? Agreeing to disagree can help both parties understand a certain topic from a different angle, which helps us develop as a culture.
ReplyDeleteI love how in the first paragraph you shed light on the fact that arguments are not always structured debates. They can vary on topic and can be striked based upon the values of others. I noticed you listed Speech, English, and Theology as classes involving debates. Do you think history and government courses can incorporate arguments and debates into their curriculum for students? Also, I do believe that medical and nursing students do have to place a larger focus on their school work, but I do not think that goes as far to say that business majors or any other major does not have to work as hard or should cheat themselves by not donating more time into their academia.
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