Argumentation

The purpose of an argument is to change people’s points of view or to persuade people

to a particular action or behaviour.

Argumentation is vital as it teaches us how to evaluate conflicting claims and judge

evidence and methods of investigation. Argument helps us learn to clarify our thoughts,
articulate them honestly and accurately, and consider the ideas of others respectfully
and critically. It helps us develop critical thinking skills, one of the most critical skills that
help students break down the components of logical thinking, find fault in others and
their arguments, and present stronger arguments. Moreover, one crucial skill that a
person enhances by practicing argumentation is the art of persuasion. They will learn to
convince others to see things from their perspective and take action in their favor. Also,
it promotes broad thinking since it forces the person to contend with opposing views and
integrate them into his/her overall argument.

Debate
The objective of debating is to concisely express yourself clearly to those around you,
using persuasive arguments. It aims to refine and sharpen arguments to be more
acceptable to those listening. Debate heightens skills such as research, reasoning, and
public speaking. The importance of debate in education centers on teaching critical
thinking to acquire better poise, speech delivery, and public speaking skills. Moreover,
debating can increase information retention of the topics studied because debating is
active and focuses on learning about the main interest that engages the mind
thoroughly. Also, improved listening note-taking skills, enhanced teamwork skills,
collaboration, and confidence to stand up for the truth when a discussion promotes
inaccuracies. Furthermore, learning better ways to state one’s point graciously helps
students identify holes in theories, formulate more balanced arguments, and structure
their thoughts better.

However, debating can sharpen a student’s critical thinking skills and let them
examine the topic they’ve been given. Instead of passively accepting information,
they’re forced to hone their thoughts and discard concepts and theories that don’t
make sense and adopt ones that do.

Debating also helps them question the beliefs they hold and justify why they think
a certain way.