How to Teach Middle School Students to Argue Better
Great schools and education can help students grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally. These moments of growth lead to others, sparking a positive cycle for students, teachers, parents, and communities. Yet as society grapples with deepening political and ideological divides, how are we raising and educating young people to understand and navigate relationships across differences? In school settings, if students are taught argument-related skills at all, the instruction is most often in the context of debating. Although there are benefits to this style of learning, the competitive nature of debate can be in direct opposition to how to engage more productively with diverse viewpoints in our everyday lives. To help bridge divides, the Better Arguments Project developed a middle school curriculum to help equip students not to have fewer arguments, but to have better arguments. In this sense, arguments don’t have to drive us a