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Based on the democratic goals and mission in the Swedish curriculum and the rapidly changing media landscape, this study examines how textbooks, for pupils aged 13-15, present the writing of argumentative texts. Using content analysis and Ivanić's six discourses of writing and learning to write as a framework, fundamental aspects are reviewed: the writer, the reader, the media, the function attributed to the argumentative texts, and the writing discourse. The results show that the genre discourse dominates, closely followed by the skills discourse. If the same pattern also can be found in the practice it can be interpreted as a problem in relation to the democratic goals and mission. Furthermore the result depict the writer as a person with simple skills who write about ordinary issues (in contrast to the professional writer who can change major issues). In the textbook the reader is highlighted as important, but the pupil is not provided with any guidance to understand and find the reader. The textbooks also suggest that argumentative writing mainly has a dialogic function. However, this might be an issue in the classroom as writers will encounter difficulties conducting a dialogue with an unknown reader.