Deborah Tannen - The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue

Tannen talks about a classroom full of debate and opinions. When she looks further into the situation, she sees that not all of the students are involved in the debate. She assumes that the reason why they aren't involved is because they don't have an argument against another person's point. Although debate is a large part of education in the west, Ong talks about how the Chinese culture approaches debates. "The aim was to 'enlighten an inquirer' not to 'overwhelm an opponent.' " The tactic seems a lot less attacking and invasive. It focuses on "integrating ideas and exploring relations among them than on opposing ideas and fighting over them." This may very well be the answer to all conflict in the West. Instead of debating in a barbairac manner, we can integrate ideas and get a better understanding of another person's point of view. This article is a peice of good writing because it portrays numerous ways of debate. There is the Western debate, that allows people to become feirce and angry, and there is the Chinese approach, which is a lot more laid back and integrated. There are numerous subjects in which you can have a debate. Subjects such as English allow for a broadened debate because of the room for interpretation. Subjects such as math and science do not allow much of debate room. There may be numerous ways to solve the equation, but the answer will always be the same. When utilizing debate tactics in the classroom, I will remember this article and reference back to the different types of debate. I will try to use the Chinese approach, and integrate ideas rather than attack.