People arguing.
Ok, not all people. And definitely not all types of arguing.
I love listening to kids argue. The type of arguing where learning is happening -- new facts are being acquired, hypotheses are tested, and what one believes to be sound and true is reexamined. And even though all those things are happening within the conversation, to a casual observer and likely to the young people involved, the discourse seems like a regular run-of-the-mill discussion.
A couple examples: Last week I attended a meeting during the 1st half of a school day where we talked (rather, were talked at) about establishing a better standards-based curriculum. These are the types of discussions that I usually leave discouraged that I am not a better teacher--that I have not fulfilled what I would have described an excellent teacher to be after I was indoctrinated in my college coursework. But as I was still shaking off that stupor of disappointment from the morning, I walked around my classroom while students worked on a pretty lame assignment I gave them and I heard disagreements taking place. I was thrilled to hear students arguing about the math they were doing and even more thrilled that I didn't have to start the discussion for them nor provide the "answers" to finish it.
Another incident tonight made me realize even more how much I love to hear young minds squabble. I had stopped at a fast-ish food joint to get a late dinner and overheard a pair of early-elementary aged girls talking about what they hoped would happen when they put a second quarter into the gum-ball machine in which their first quarter resulted in a stuck gum ball. I'll admit, the girls weren't exactly arguing. They were pretty much in agreement. But the were making speculations completely of their own accord and were set to test a hypotheses. Maybe these two specific girls were not in disagreement, but this is the type of thing I hear young kids argue about all the time. The key here is they were on their own. No adult to tell them what would happen, or what to think, or what exactly they should really do. Just pure, simple, discovery learning without the subjects knowing they are learning.
Sometimes I think adults try to be too civilized. Rather than discuss our opposing viewpoints with coworkers over lunch, we bite our tongues as to not step on someone else's toes. Granted, this is probably a natural reaction to having been caught in a past argument with someone whose passion for the conversation topic outweighed his respect for the opponent's dignity. So maybe the problem is we are not civil enough, or that we cannot seem to let opposing viewpoints and amicable relationships coexist. It really is too bad, because disagreements can be such wonderful and useful things.
