Notes, Information and Sample Argument

-Our project at the end of this unit will be a formal debate. Every debate has a proposition. A proposition is a statement that claims something needs to change. The proposition for this debate will be what you wrote about in your Initial Activity:

            “ A strong government is necessary to protect the rights and well-being of citizens.”

-In a debate, there are two sides: affirmative and negative.

-The affirmative side affirms the proposition (agrees with it!)

-The negative side negates the proposition (disagrees with it!)

-The affirmative side always believes that change is good, and that the “status quo” (current situation) is bad.

-Our position is that “A strong government is necessary to protect the rights and well-being of citizens.” The affirmative case agrees with this- that we need to make a change and have a strong(er) government.

Instructions for how to write an affirmative argument and a model argument are below. The 4 affirmative arguments should be based on topics we've learned this unit: 

a) Regulating monopolies and trusts
b) Working conditions
c) Food and drug regulation
d) Environmentalism and conservation 

-To make an affirmative argument (agreeing with proposition) you need to do 4 things:

1)   State what the “status quo” is

2)   Describe why it is bad

3)   Say what your plan is

4)   Explain why your plan will eliminate the problem

-The model argument is one based on working conditions. 

1) (STATE WHAT The STATUS QUO IS) A strong government is needed to protect the rights and well-being of citizens. Currently the government can do nothing to protect workers from neglect and exploitation by big business. 

2) (DESCRIBE WHY ITS BAD) Workers are being forced to work in unsafe conditions and face the risk of injury and death. Steelworkers in Pennsylvania have to work 12 hour a day, 6 days a week and constantly face the risk of injury and death if they make a mistake while tired. Women workers in the garment business work in factories that aren’t fireproof, and recently over 140 of them died at the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Women and children are exploited and placed in dangerous positions because they can be paid less and easily fired. 

3) (SAY WHAT YOUR PLAN IS) This situation needs to change. Our plan is to give the government the power it needs to regulate business so that it can protect workers. We need new laws that limit the amount of hours children can work, that ensure workers can form unions to collectively bargain with their employees, that force companies to have working sprinklers and enough exits in case of fire. 

4) (WHY WILL YOUR PLAN ELIMINATE THE PROBLEM?) If we do that, we can ensure that the rights and well-being of workers are protected. We can ensure that nobody will die because their employer failed to take the necessary steps for safety. We can ensure that being a worker doesn’t mean you become a slave completely at the mercy of your employer.