The roots of debate in education and the hope of dialogue by Deborah Tannen

This article brings up why debate in the classroom may not have the desired effect. Debate can be used incorrectly because the students only take one side so they only see the value of one opinion; many times they also refuse to consider the merits of another person’s argument in a debate setting. “you inevitable reject much that is true, and you narrow your field of vision to the limits of those two sides, making it unlikely you’ll pull back, widen your field of vision, and discover the paradigm shift that will permit truly new understanding.” The author had a good point in her argument for the removal of debate from the classroom. In most cases only some students participate and the rest just sit there and listen, which is not a good learning environment. I agree with the author that debate needs to be changed to some other format.