Rhetorical Activities

2. Every year on the plaza of the Mountainlair a group of people come to protest abortion. They are armed with posters, signs, and very vocal demands. Some people may call protests open air debates, but there is absolutely no debate involved. Protesters come with a purpose, and their opinions are set in stone. They are there to upset, and offend in order to get others to change their minds on the issue at hand.

4. At WVU, conversions can happen in all sorts of ways. There is the festival of ideas, where "specialists" of different fields come and lecture about their work. In this setting, someone can sit down with one set of expectations, and at the end of the lecture have a completely different knowledge of the subject. The individual may debate with the lecturer in the Q/A section, or may have an internal debate with his or her own thoughts.
In many English classes, there are class discussions. The members of the class may have been given an assignment to research a topic and then bring their findings to the discussion. During the discussion, many different intelligent opinions are shared, and through the whole process the class members form new opinions, or change old ones in the face of new evidence or suggestions.
Students at WVU suddenly have a new influx of culture, from all the various races, ages, and social circles. Bonds or rivalries are formed with people unlike themselves, and they discover who they are, where they belong, and what their morals are. An uncountable number of conscious and unconscious changes happen to a person's beliefs.