Plato touched on this in The Republic–the best leaders of a country aren’t the ones that cater to the vices of the people, which a democracy encourages outright. Rather, they are the ones that encourage virtue (the term should be understood loosely) even when it goes agains the public’s “interest.” I’d love to see more formal instruction in high schools that would pump out more informed citizens; I’ve been a proponent of a media analysis class being part of civic education programs for years. Unfortunately, reform like that would serve as a destabilizing force in society that those in power, for good reason, fear.

I started this article on an even simpler basis, though I now feel compelled to check into Derrida. Mine was based on the simple notion of logical argument construction and premises.

By the way, I agree with you, Jesse. If at all possible, take a moment to define the terms of what is being argued. It was recent debates that reminded me how few people have any formal education in debate semantics, and hence stimulated the idea to write about argumentation in the vernacular of non-philosophy majors.

I suppose, as if our education system isn’t troubled enough, this would be my starting opinion on why debate should be formally included with ‘Speech’ class in elementary schools. Well, at least somewhere in school. If we needed to do jumping jacks in P.E. class, and make noodle necklaces in Art, I don’t see how argumenatation and basic logic didn’t make the cut.