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The article presents information on the need for liberal arts skills in the U.S. workforce and describes a successful strategy used by the Tempe Preparatory Academy to provide a rigorous liberal arts education to it students. At the Arizona charter high school, students spend two hours per day on combined language arts and history content, where they read or write, or discuss the broad issues found in their reading. Discussion and writing are focused on analysis, argument, evaluation of ethics and actions, and discerning bias. The ability fostered at Tempe Prep, referred to as "argumentative literacy," prepares students for college-level work. The author explains how to overcome obstacles to fostering argumentative literacy in U.S. schools.