The art of rhetoric

In the ancient times, the time of the Great Learners such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, the art of rhetoric was taught. Rhetoric being the art of speech and in many instances the art of argument. This is not argument in the sense of a yelling contest between parent and child because that is simply what it sounds like, yelling; yelling where everyone tries to say something at the same time, but no one is listening. What I'm speaking of as art of rhetoric is the ability to give an intelligent and well thought out speech, off the cuff; the ability to put two coherent thoughts together in such a way as to convince someone else that you are right (especially if you aren't). Why has our educational system moved away from the idea of pitting one student against another in a battle of wit where the best man wins and where there is always the chance that you get outplayed. Of course, having strong facts to support one's position is always beneficial to an argument, but just because you have more fact behind your argument does not guarantee you won't be embarassed by your opponents logic and wit. This is not to say that fact should have no bearing in our lives or legal system, but don't people owe it to themselves to fight what everyone else seems to accept as truth and fact. Why have we removed ourselves so far from the ability to think for ourselves and argue a point without taking offense afterwards. I don't know how many of you have been in a good argument or a heated debate recently but there is definitely nothing as liberating as defending a position that you know is right or even better, defending a position you know is wrong.

So my question remains, why don't we take things back a few hundred years to the time of well contrived arguments and well thought out remarks where a quick wit ruled the day. No more of this "richest man" or "best politically aligned" rules bull crap.