Plato: Rhetoric is “the art of winning the soul by discourse.”
Aristotle: Rhetoric is “the faculty of discovering in any particular case all of the available
means of persuasion.
Cicero: “Rhetoric is one great art comprised of five lesser arts: inventio, dispositio,
elocutio, memoria, and pronunciatio.” Rhetoric is “speech designed to
persuade.”
Quintillian: “Rhetoric is the art of speaking well.”
(Definitions taken from the Stanford Dept. of English site)
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| I was proud of my Challenge II students today! They’ve been preparing for their second debate for several weeks, and today was the big day. Their first debate was on whether or not the National Endowment for the Arts should receive federal funding, and this second debate was on gun control. |
These students are now in what the classical model of education calls the Rhetoric Stage, which is the third and final stage of the Trivium. Here’s a definition of the rhetoric stage from the Classical Christian Homeschooling website:
The last stage is the rhetoric stage, which focuses on learning the science of communication and the art of expression. In the grammar stage children learned facts; in the dialectic stage children began to understand those facts, and in the rhetoric stage children learn to express what they now understand in the most compelling manner possible. This stage roughly coincides with high school. Cognitively speaking, this stage is where abstract thought reaches its zenith. In this stage, the unknown can be explored because the known is understood; the hypothetical can be introduced and grasped with the mind. The mental jump can be made from the natural to the spiritual, from the practical to the theoretical. Self-expression finally comes into its own in the language arts; “hard” sciences and advanced mathematics are more easily mastered; history can be applied to economics and political science; and Bible study can turn to apologetics.
I just love watching them grow in this ability to express themselves, and they improve each time. Today they even had a nice audience of adults and kids in the Challenge A class, which are mostly 7th and 8th graders, and even a few younger ones.
Kory argued for the Negative side, which was in favor of MUCH gun control, i.e. only state militia and police officers should be allowed to own and use weapons. This was not an easy side for him to argue for, (he IS from Texas, you know) but alas, it was his assignment. He used the recent shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the Columbine High School shootings as two of his persuading points. He also cited the statistics on increasing deaths by firearms as support for his argument, and pointed out that when the First Amendment was written, its intention could not have included the automatic weapons we see used in brutal ways today.
The affirmative team, consisting of Megan and Anna, argued for “licensed open carry” laws, and not a complete abolition of all gun control laws. They, of course, cited several examples of home invasions in which a gun was used to save a life, or where a gun would have been useful. Their compelling conclusion and rebuttal was that Americans should not be asked to sacrifice freedom for safety.
Kory was the technical winner, but the score was VERY close ~ almost a tie with the point difference being only five tenths of a point. (Four adult judges and me, the tutor) They are quite competitive, too; begging me for final results immediately after the debate was over. I just finished emailing them to let them know the outcome and how proud of them I am.
Our class time before the debate consisted of grammar and composition work, biology,(we’ve dissected an earthworm, crayfish, and frog this semester to date!) and western cultural history, in which we discussed the life of Beethoven and learned to identify specific works of Mozart, Haydn, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms via audio CD. Have I mentioned how pleased I am with this curriculum and all that my kiddos are gaining from it? Wonderful!