A brief review of composition theory shows metaphor is often underused and misrepresented in the composition classroom. Approaches to teaching metaphor in composition courses do not go far enough in acknowledging the key role metaphor can play in argumentation, and very little composition theory heeds Andrea Lunsford's call to teach metaphor as persuasion. Consequently, many students associate metaphor with flowery and fluffy discourse inappropriate to academic writing and, in an attempt to sound "academic," discard figurative language. In response, the author suggests metaphor is foundational to argumentation and provides a method to teach it as such. (Contains 1 note.)