Composition-Rhetoric Part 22

4. High school pupils should not attend evening parties excepting on Fridays and Sat.u.r.days.

5. Monday would be a better day than Sat.u.r.day for a school holiday.

6. The school session should be lengthened.

+Theme XL.+--_Write two paragraphs, one of which shall give the advantages and the other the disadvantages that would arise from the adoption of any one of the following:_

1. This school should have a longer recess.

2. This school should have two hours for the noon recess.

3. This school should be in session from eight o'clock until one o'clock.

4. All the pupils in this school should be seated in one room.

5. The public library should be in the high school building.

6. The football team should be excused early in order to practice.

7. This school should have a greater number of public entertainments.

+72. Explanation and Argument by Specific Instances.+--Often we may make the meaning of a general proposition clear by citing specific instances.

If these instances are given for the purpose of explanation merely, the paragraph is exposition. If, however, the aim is not merely to cause the reader to understand the proposition, but also to believe that it is true, we have argument. In either case we have a paragraph developed by specific instances as discussed in Section 44. Notice how in the following paragraph the author brings forward specific cases in order to prove the proposition:--

Nearly everything that an animal does is the result of an inborn instinct acted upon by an outward stimulus. The margin wherein intelligent choice plays a part is very small.... Instinct is undoubtedly often modified by intelligence, and intelligence is as often guided or prompted by instinct, but one need not hesitate long as to which side of the line any given act of man or beast belongs. When the fox resorts to various tricks to outwit and delay the hound (if he ever consciously does so), he exercises a kind of intelligence--the lower form of which we call cunning--and he is prompted to this by an instinct of self-preservation. When the birds set up a hue and cry about a hawk, or an owl, or boldly attack him, they show intelligence in its simpler form, the intelligence that recognizes its enemies, prompted again by the instinct of self-preservation. When a hawk does not know a man on horseback from a horse, it shows a want of intelligence. When a crow is kept away from a corn-field by a string stretched around it, the fact shows how masterful is its fear and how shallow its wit. When a cat or a dog or a horse or a cow learns to open a gate or a door, it shows a degree of intelligence--power to imitate, to profit by experience. A machine could not learn to do it. If the animal were to close the door or gate behind it, that would be another step in intelligence. But its direct wants have no relation to the closing of the door, only to the opening of it. To close the door involves an afterthought that an animal is not capable of. A horse will hesitate to go upon thin ice or frail bridges. This, no doubt, is an inherited instinct which has arisen in its ancestors from their fund of general experience with the world. How much with them has depended upon a secure footing! A pair of house-wrens had a nest in my well-curb; when the young were partly grown and heard any one enter the curb, they would set up a clamorous calling for food. When I scratched against the sides of the curb beneath them like some animal trying to climb up, their voices instantly hushed; the instinct of fear promptly overcame the instinct of hunger! Instinct is intelligence, but it is not the same as acquired individual intelligence; it is untaught.

John Burroughs: _Some Natural History Doubts_ ("Harper's").

EXERCISES

What facts or instances do you know which would lead you to believe either the following propositions or their opposites?

1. Dogs are intelligent.

2. Only excellent pupils can pa.s.s the seventh grade examination.

3. Some teachers do not ask fair questions on examination.

4. Oak trees grow to be larger than maples.

5. Strikes increase the cost to the consumer.

6. A college education pays.

7. Department stores injure the trade of smaller stores.

8. Advertising pays.

+Theme XLI.+--_Write a paragraph, proving by one or more examples one of the propositions in the preceding exercise:_

(Do your examples really ill.u.s.trate what you are trying to prove? Do they show that the proposition is always true or merely that it is true for certain cases? Would your argument cause another to believe the proposition?)

+73. The Value of Debate.+--Partic.i.p.ation in oral debate furnishes excellent practice in accurate and rapid thinking. We may choose one side of a question and may write out an argument which, considered alone, and from our point of view, seems convincing, but when this is submitted to the criticism of some one of opposite views, or when the arguments in favor of the other side of the question are brought forward, we are not so sure that we have chosen the side which represents the truth. The ability to think "on one's feet," to present arguments concisely and effectively, and to reply to opposing arguments, giving due weight to those that are true, and detecting and pointing out those that are false, is an accomplishment of great practical value. Such ability comes only from practice, and the best preparation for it is the careful writing out of arguments.

+74. Statement of the Question.+--The subject of debate may be stated in the form of a resolution, a declarative sentence, or a question; as, "Resolved that the recess should be lengthened," or "The recess should be lengthened," or, "Should the recess be lengthened?" In any case, the affirmative must show why the recess should be lengthened, and the negative why it should not be lengthened.

In a formal debate the statement of the question and its meaning should be definitely determined in advance. Care must be taken to state it so that no mere quibbling over the meanings of terms can take the place of real arguments. Even if the subject of debate is so stated that this is possible, any self-respecting debater will meet the question at issue fairly and squarely, preferring defeat to a victory won by juggling with the meanings of terms.

+75. Is Belief Necessary in Debate?+--If we are really arguing for a purpose, we should believe in the truth of the proposition which we support. If the members of the school board were discussing the desirability of building a new schoolhouse, each would speak in accordance with his belief. But if a cla.s.s in school should debate such a question, having in mind not the determination of the question, but merely the selection and arrangement of the arguments for and against the proposition in the most effective way, each pupil might present the side in which he did not really believe.

EXERCISES

Consider each of the following propositions. Do you believe the affirmative or the negative?

1. This city needs a new high school building.

2. All the pupils in the high school should be members of the athletic a.s.sociation.

3. The school board should purchase an inclosed athletic field.

4. The street railway should carry pupils to and from school for half fare.

5. There should be a lunch room in this school.

6. Fairy stories should not be told to children.

+Theme XLII.+--_Write a paragraph telling why you believe one of the propositions in the preceding exercise:_

(What questions should you ask yourself while correcting your theme?)

+76. Order of Presentation.+--If you were preparing to debate one of the propositions in the preceding exercise, you would need to have in mind both the reasons for and against it. Next you would consider the order in which these reasons should be discussed. This will be determined by the circ.u.mstances of each debate, but generally the emphatic positions, that is, the first and the last, will be given to those arguments that seem to you to have the greatest weight, while those of less importance will occupy the central portion of your theme.

+77. The Brief.+--If, after making a note of the various advantages, examples, and other arguments that you wish to use in support of one of the propositions in Section 75, you arrange these in the order in which you think they can be most effectively presented, the outline so formed is called a brief. Its preparation requires clear thinking, but when it is made, the task of writing out the argument is not difficult. When the debate is to be spoken, not read, the brief, if kept in mind, will serve to suggest the arguments we wish to make in the order in which we wish to present them. The brief differs from the ordinary outline in that it is composed of complete sentences. Notice the following brief:--