Speaking Out - 3/31/2008

By Dr. George LaMaster, taken from the spring 2008 Magnet.

At Plato’s Academy in the fourth century BCE, every student was required to take public speaking. One of the professors there, Aristotle, likely stayed after school to coach students as they wrote their orations and committed them to memory. It’s no surprise that rhetoric—the art of persuasion—shaped the education of citizens in the birthplace of democracy.

One of the original liberal arts, studying rhetoric concerns not only public speaking, but also ethical judgment, logical argument, and social criticism. The art of discovering one’s voice and articulating it in the public sphere has a long and rich tradition of great teaching and learning. Aristotle described “forensic oratory” as the branch of rhetoric devoted to defending justice in the courts of law. Today, the term “forensics” describes all kinds of speech and debate activities. By actively engaging in these activities, students on the Marian College speech team cultivate their skills for speaking out.

Sarah McEwan, a sophomore on the team, competes in the persuasive speaking event with a speech that demands better mental healthcare for United States war veterans. She researched the topic all year, revised the speech more than 20 times, and memorized it—word for word. For her, though, the reward is not honing her skills for research, writing, and speaking. Nor is it about winning trophies—though she’s brought home several. She says that she values most the opportunity to be “a voice for the voiceless,” calling for justice.

Rhetoric gets a bad rap. Blowing hot air, selling snake oil, merely sounding slick—sometimes we contrast the “tricks of the trade” for public speaking with the more noble pursuit of true knowledge. As a liberal art that prepares students for engaged citizenship, however, rhetoric is far from a bag of tricks for winning friends and infl uencing people. Students create their own knowledge, tapping personal convictions and expressing them in a public forum. This year, Caitlin Johns, a freshman on the team, delivered an informative speech about Mother Teresa. Why? The beloved saint inspired her family toadopt three children. Sophomore Jewel Flitcraft prepared a speech about Christopher Reeve. The reason? Like Reeve, her brother is a paraplegic. In each case, the students discovered that they had something important say—and they learned to say it in a way that is compelling for someone else to hear.

Aristotle also described rhetoric as the counterpart of dialect, or the exchange of rational arguments. In the impromptu speaking event at speech team tournaments, students receive a quotation and are given two minutes to prepare a speech with a clear thesis, cogent arguments, and several examples to support their case. Sophomore Corry Lettelleir considers each successful impromptu speech a personal triumph. Sophomore Josh Eskew calls the event his favorite, thanks to the infi nite intellectual challenge of thinking on his feet. It’s a rush.

Students competing in the extemporaneous speaking event receive a question about current events, such as “What can be done to curb the unrest in Kenya?” or “Who will win the Democratic presidential nomination?” In just 30 minutes, they turn to their bins full of research, develop their arguments, and speak. To prepare for this event, freshman Claude Hedlund has devoted countless hours to reading about the world and testing out arguments for use in competition. He’s cultivating habits of mind that prepare him for not only public speaking, but vocal leadership in the public sphere.

Forensics also includes acting events, or the oral interpretation of literature. Students perform poetry, a scene from a play, or a short story. Working to authentically portray potentially complex or raw feelings in their performances, these students stretch their hearts as well as their minds. Sophomore Corrine Purvis performs poetry about a women’s journey from agnosticism to Catholicism. Sophomore Cassie Craft plays the role of woman who suffers third-degree burns in a fire. In Aristotle’s terms, they appeal to pathos (the emotions) as opposed to logos (logical reasoning), learning to empathize with a character and sharing that empathy with an audience.

Students on the Marian College speech team display a remarkable enthusiasm and commitment to an educational activity that promotes raising their voices in the public sphere. They’re heirs to a long tradition of training in rhetoric as preparation for life in a democracy. Aristotle, no doubt, would be pleased.

Read the original article from the Magnet.