If teaching is not the oldest profession, it certainly has a long
historical pedigree. The frustrations teaching evokes likely have an
equally long pedigree. One sees in Plato's Republic, for
example, Socrates' frustration in trying to convey to Glaukon the
aims of the educational scheme he is presenting to his interlocutors in
Book 8. His evident difficulties relaying this information have doubtless
struck sympathetic chords in the breasts of countless generations of
teachers. Frustration has certainly been the case for the present authors,
particularly in teaching the analysis and understanding of secondary
commentary on classic texts; when reading such articles, students express
puzzlement about the long debate over seemingly trivial points. Many come
away from such classes convinced it is not worth investing time in
understanding classic texts because the discussion of them centers on
apparently arcane and obscure grammatical, historical, or technical
questions. This essay presents an approach with which the authors have had
some measure of success in helping students “see the point” of
this especially difficult dimension of analyzing and understanding texts
and authors. Our approach teaches students to identify and appreciate the
“agenda argument” often put forward by such commentators. An
“agenda argument” is a contemporary scholar's effort to
address a current problem or issue through critical reflection on an
iconic text or author in the field. The term “agenda” is
appropriate because it clarifies that the scholar has an interest in an
underlying general claim through discussion of the technical points being
debated. In other words, the scholar has a larger agenda in mind that
guides the selection of issues and determines the use of points in the
text.