Have you ever gotten into an argument with one of your teachers?
You're a bad teacher and that's why I'm failing!
No, you're a bad student!
You're a bad teacher!
Nuh-uh!
Yuh-huh!
Nuh-uh!
Yuh-HUH!
Not very productive, was it?
Never fear, though, because today you're gonna learn some tips and tricks on how to argue
with your teacher the right way!
Some of you more dedicated viewers out there may already know these two facts about ol' CapOhTV.
The first is that I was a debt collector for about two years of my life.
The second is that I have a degree in philosophy.
So I think it's fair to say that I have studied the theory and the practice of good arguments.
Are you ready for the tips and tricks now?
Let's do the tips and tricks now!
Tip Number One.
An argument DOES NOT equal a fight.
I'm pretty sure that most of you that say you've argued with your teacher mean that
you fought with your teacher like that example in the beginning of this video.
On the other hand, arguments, at least from the philosopher's point of view, are civil
conversations between two people where those two people present their own side of a particular
case.
So you as the student would say: “I disagree with this because of this, this, and this.”
Ideally the teacher would respond with: “Well, I think it's this way because this, this,
and this,” and you two would actually talk about what the problem was.
All right?!
You got that?!
You want to fight about it?!
Tip Number Two.
Know your facts and be able to explain and defend them.
During an argument, the focus should be squarely on the facts, the evidence, and the reasoning,
and “Because I Said So” is NOT a good argument.
Tip Number Three.
The first person to get mad, loses.
This is a principle that you can apply to any aspect of life because when you get angry,
you lose.
Unchecked anger makes you lose control of your thoughts and your words and when that
happens you lose credibility.
Just think about it: when you've seen people arguing or having a straight-up fight and
one of them is calm, cool, and collected, and the other is freaking out, which one do
you tend to listen to more?
I guess I do have to add that perhaps getting angry and freaking out could be someone's
defense mechanism to get the other person to back off because the person freaking out
just can't handle the truth of the matter.
Tip Number Four.
Pick your battles carefully because, remember, you've got to see this teacher for the rest
of the semester.
This one's pretty straightforward and you may have already heard that cliché of picking
your battles carefully.
Just don't go to class every day expecting an argument or a fight because that is gonna
be a lot of wasted time for a lot of people.
For example, DON'T argue over seating arrangements after you got caught cheating.
But DO argue over the requirements of a project that says you can't use memes.
If I were a teacher, memes would be necessary on every project...
Tip Number Five.
You can't argue with stupid!
This is another cliché that you may have already heard but it applies to when you're
arguing with your teacher as well.
Now this does require a little judgment call on your part to determine whether or not an
argument is stupid and therefore not worth arguing against.
For example, I hope this never happens, but if you're in a geology class or some other
science class and the teacher says that Earth is flat...
STOP!
Don't even bother.
Sorry, Flat Earthers.
You're stupid.
How you know if an argument is stupid goes all the way back to tip number two: know your
facts.
You've got to be able to think for yourself, use basic logic, and analyze the claims that
other people are making.
If someone says something that's clearly silly and they don't want to hear your counter-arguments,
then you may be dealing with someone who just isn't open-minded enough to have an argument
with.
However, if you go around calling everyone and everything stupid, then you, my friend,
may be the one who's not worth an argument.
Do you have any other tips on how to argue with your teacher the right way?
Leave a comment and let's talk about that!
And if this was your first time here to CapOhTV and you also think school is a joke and you
want to help spread that message, then hit the subscribe button now.
Thanks for watching, see you later, bye!