Word: argumentative
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When a student makes a statement such as “I don’t understand how anyone can vote for that idiot,” I challenge them to offer a clear argument, and they often seem bewildered that someone would even ask. When I press, the student loosely strings together a series of standardized talking points. A form of blind liberalism has taken over our campuses, and it is massacring any form of intellectual diversity. Rather than assume their place in the (perhaps mythical) intellectual elite, students prefer to stick to pithy turns of phrase without substance...
...memories of the class, he also demonstrated a more serious side. “Rudy’s teaching style was to encourage discussion,” Gebhard says. “George wanted facts. He wouldn’t listen to statements not backed up by a decent argument. George would challenge the comments...
...there are a few of you out there who would make the argument (which usually includes the crackpot New York Times computer ranking as exhibit A) that computer polls are out of touch with reality and lack the subjectivity necessary to create an applicable ranking system. That reasoning can explain why one poll might place a team way too high or low, but in the face of eight different polls—all of which essentially agree—that contention seems to fall apart...
...argument that should be pursued, though, is whether marriage benefits children who are fostered in it. For us conservatives, the answer is obviously yes. But perhaps the collegiate libertines might have an alternative that would better suit their insouciant (but secretly enthusiastic) attitude regarding...
...current spate of political films eschews extensive candid recording in favor of manipulative editing and staged interactions, and prefers unambiguous argument to quiet observation. Harvard Film Archive programmer Ted Barron notes that such works often offer more raw passion than analysis...