Cora approached me last week with a school problem and she asked me to remove it. She was required to pick a topic and effectively argue her viewpoint on this subject in a five-page paper. Cora couldn't decide what to write about, and she didn't understand how to write the paper. Ah-ha! This problem presented a dual opportunity for Cora to hone her argument skills and to convince her classmates (and herself) that the stock market is the best investment tool around.

The skill of argument (or debate) is hopefully taught at school, but we can help our teens become experts at home. Although a lesson that teaches our teens how to logically support their ideas seems fraught with peril, this skill will actually help them mature. Maturity is great, because this attribute minds the values of respect, ethics, and responsibility. Wouldn't parents benefit from this miracle? I think so, but only if we utilize the same skills.

Since Cora was lethargic at that moment, she agreed with my idea about promoting the stock market as a wise investment tool. However, since she seemed uninterested (read: overwhelmed with the whole project), the conversation degraded rapidly:

Me: "Why would the stock market be the best investment tool?"
Cora: "'Cause."
Me: "That isn't a good reason."
Cora (rubs forehead, feigns headache): "C'mon mom, give me a reason. I don't know."
Me: "You know the reasons. Let's write them down together."
Cora (looks at clock on wall, suddenly infused with energy): "Omigosh! My favorite show just started!"

I allowed her to watch the show, because I needed time to hunt for my book. This book (noted below) provides the steps required to develop an argument. My search and her show ended at the same time (which might give you a clue to the number of places I could hide this book), so we gathered pencils and paper and began to examine this process together.

First, we need to understand that argument is not combat or coercion, but a method to discover and test solutions through cooperation with others. The original meaning of the word "argument" was to "make clear." The Latin "argentum" also meant silver. An argument and silver, then, were examples of what it meant to "shine." "Bad" or illogical arguments can divide a community (or a household), because this method muddies the waters, and nothing shines as a result. "Good" or logical arguments strengthen a group, because we learn about ourselves and others when we work through all the possible answers to a problem.

This concept of argument is often difficult to swallow, because our everyday lives are filled with combative language. Political debates (which will soon fill our airwaves in this election year) are great tools to notice these words, and how the use of these words warps the original concept of argument. Some examples of these words include "attack, advance, marshal, defense and offense." Even stock market terminology includes challenging words, like "bull, bear, order, and yield." The context, or field, where these words are used can help us recognize the meaning. We can also ask the person who uses these words to explain what they mean so we can meet on less contentious ground.

Once we understand that argument in this sense is not a contest between one side and another, but a way to work through problems cooperatively, the next step is to make a claim for our argument. In Cora's case, her claim is that the stock market is the best way to invest money. Next, she supports that claim with one - and only one - reason. Then, she supplies as much evidence as possible to support that reason. When Cora used this format, her argument was simplified, and it looked like this:

Claim: The stock market is the best investment tool (comma),
Reason: BECAUSE charts and statistics prove the stock market historically offers the best return on our initial investment.
Evidence: Here, we begin our research to support our reason. We want to find other people (preferably experts) who make the same claim supported by the same reason. Why? Because we want to discover and understand their evidence so we don't have to re-invent the wheel. This does not mean we copy their evidence word-for-word (plagiarism), nor do we want to automatically agree with everything they say. We copy their main points, compare their points with other expert evidence, and organize all the similarities and/or differences among our findings. If the majority of expert evidence is similar, this agreement becomes what is known as a paradigm, or a pattern or model. These paradigms (Cora calls them Pair O'Dimes) are handy tools to support an argument, because most people agree with obvious patterns, and our argument becomes more convincing.

Note that I included a (comma) and capitalized BECAUSE in the format above. I did this to help Cora learn how to construct a topic sentence, or how to establish the beginning of her written argument. The final topic sentence for Cora's argument goes like this:

"The stock market is the best investment tool, because charts and statistics prove the stock market historically offers the best return on our initial investment."

The topic sentence can also be written with the reason before the claim, but the punctuation is a little different, and the word "because" becomes the word "therefore":

"Charts and statistics prove the stock market historically offers the best return on our initial investment; therefore, the stock market is the best investment tool."

Now, all Cora needs to do is accumulate five pages of evidence and drop them into her paper. However, "dropping" evidence into an argument is also a learned skill. Next week, we'll explain what Cora discovered about her claim and reason, and show how she arranged her evidence.

Until Then,
Linda Goin

The Craft of Argument was written by Joseph M. Williams (U. of Chicago) and Gregory G. Colomb (U. of VA), Longman Publishing, 2001 - There are separate approaches for teachers (parents) and teens at the mid-teen to college level to help learn the "craft of argument." Simple explanations, many examples and tools to remember the steps.

The securities markets are subject to the risks of fluctuating prices and the uncertainty of rates of return and yields inherent in investing and past performance is no guarantee of future results.