Roots of Debate in Education....

In Deorah Tannen's essay titled: The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue the qualities and drawbacks of debate in the academic setting are examined. She starts off by criticizing the technique of classroom debate, showing that only a few are realy participating and that it is easy for teachers to set up. She then goes into a historical picture of how this technique became prevalent in an academic setting while pointing out that women have not had the advantage of it. The article ends up with a plethora of examples of how in a broader academic setting,such as in academic publishing, it is still the easy way for a few to get academic recognition and tenure.
I was suprised to learn that in Europe the debate or challenge is a compliment to the teacher and they welcome it. It reminds me of the cultural difference of saying Yes Sir or Yes Ma'am in the South as an accepted way of showing respect and is expected while here it is considered rude or sassy to call anyone Ma'am or Sir.
Tannen really argues her point to the very end, mostly against the debate, but the tone of how the cards are stacked against women in the arena of academic debate comes through her writing very strong. The debate issue is saturated with men vs women throughout her writing which I think has a strong case for women learn in a different way than men. She points out that males are more active as youngsters and thrive in a 'fighting to learn' environment. The "show and tell" example, while I couln't see the connection to debate, did seem to have a strong suggestion that females might learn better in a relational value based learning envirornment.
I believe that critical analysis is present in this essay. She does point out that in some cases the debate is a useful tool in learning and in teaching although much of the information in her essay I believe makes an unintended point.