The necessity for maintaining and extending the public space within which argumentation may appear, whether or not represented in the classroom, stems largely from pressures which have increasingly restricted that space. To function as public spaces, classrooms must enable students as citizens to confer in an unrestricted fashion about matters of public interest. Pressures such as specialization make the functioning of the classroom as a public space more problematic. For example, science courses tend to treat opinion as irrelevant. Furthermore, some reluctance to entertain popular opinions has been noted in the teaching of many academic disciplines. If students can be viewed as possessing public power, the classroom can be employed as a public space. A broader view of the"classroom" as including the entire educational environment and its inhabitants would have some potential for contributing to the public sphere. School forensics programs should be able to find a place for real talk which contributes to public opinion. The classroom may well be free enough for the exchange of public opinion so that the implementation of its public function may be a worthy goal for all educators. (Fifteen references are attached.) (SG)