FTER years of hearing my students wail, If I could just get started and narrow my subject, maybe I could get a theme written, I have been consistently applying the Why-and-Because method to their problems. I begin by encouraging them to express an opinion about something that interests them and about something they know. Almost anything will do: their backgrounds, their experiences, their hobbies, their political beliefs, or their friends and enemies. There is probably no one group more opinionated than teenagers, for they have an opinion on almost anything that crosses their line of vision. They hate, despise, adore, worship, and swoon over people, causes, problems, and trends with an intensity that is almost frightening at times. Whether their cause is the Beatles, the draft-card burners, the demonstrators in a picket line, Hell's Angels, or the war in Viet Nam, they are not only ready but eager to express their opinions. Asking a teenager why he believes as he does not only surprises him but flatters him, too, for, as does everyone else, he likes to be noticed. When his opinions are respected, even though challenged, he realizes that someone really cares about what he thinks. Nor does the