5. The study of algebra should not be made compulsory in a high school.
6. Uncle Tom's Cabin should be excluded from school libraries.
7. Physical training should be compulsory in public schools.
8. High school secret societies should not be allowed.
+Theme CXIII.+—Write an argument of expediency using one of the subjects named in the preceding exercise.
(What advantages have you made most prominent?
To what feelings have you appealed?)
+Theme CXIV.+—Write a narration in which the hero is called upon to decide whether some course of action is right or wrong.
(Consider the theme as a narration. Does it fulfill the requirements of Chapter IX? (See Summary.) Consider just the arguments used. Are the arguments sufficient to bring conviction to the reader that the hero decided rightly?)
+203. Refutation.+—No question is worth argument unless there are two sides to it—unless there is a chance for some doubt in the mind of the hearer as to which side seems most reasonable. Many questions are of such a nature that in trying to convince our hearers of some truth, we often find it necessary to show them, not only the truth of a proposition or the expediency of a course of action, but also the falsity of some opposing proposition or the inexpediency of the opposite course of action. This tearing to pieces another's argument, is called refutation, or destructive argument. A successful debater shows nearly if not equal skill in tearing down his opponent's arguments as in building up his own.
Even in arguments in which no one takes the opposite side at the given time, we must not forget that there are points on the opposite side which are likely to arise in the minds of our hearers. Just as the skillful teacher must know the difficulties that will arise in the minds of the pupils even though they are not expressed, so must the skillful debater consider the objections that his hearer will mentally set up against his argument. It is well, however, for the debater to avoid overemphasizing objections. Sometimes his discussion gives the objections a weight that they would not otherwise have. It is not wise to set up "a man of straw" for the purpose of knocking him down.