Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its public health assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa.
It is the same topic for every high school in every state. Squads have multiple teams of two people. At tournaments each team alternates going Affirmative and Negative in multiple rounds. (If you "break" after five round you have enough wins to put you in quarters or semis.) When you are Affirmative you run a prepared case. It must be topical, demonstrate significant harms, have solvency, and no inherent barriers. When you are Negative you look for disadvantages in the Affirmatives plan. You look for weaknesses in their topicality, significance, solvency, funding. There are four Constructive speeches; two Affirmative and two Negative. Each Constructive speech is open to Cross-Examination by the opponent. There are four Rebuttal speeches; two Negative and two Affirmative.
Debate is an odd "sport" for us parents. It is not a spectator sport. You don't watch. It isn't that you can't, its just not done. I debated for three years. We went to State and won. My parents never saw me debate. The only time we've seen our own girls was when they debated for judges training. (Even then we snuck in and sat in the back of the room.) I had a few student observers yesterday, but for the most part it was me, the time keeper and the teams.
These are some of the flows I did during the rounds I judged yesterday.
Ours is a "Novice" tournament. This was the first year debating for every team I judged. Other tournaments are "Open"; anyone can participate. Our debaters do not participate in their own tournament. They RUN the tournament. They recruit time keepers and judges. They run the judges table, tabulation, hospitality, room monitors, runners. There were twenty two schools participating in our tournament, all with multiple teams. The management skills theses kids have? Are awesome.
Taking debate was not an option for our children. They were expected to take at least one year. The skill set attained is incredible; public speaking, research skills, time management, team work, on and on. Debate is an AP class on steroids. Precious Oldest did four years. Precious Youngest is in her third. We are very proud.
3 comments:
That's impressive. It really is a good "sport." Though, seeing what teendom is like, I worry it would be even worse to have a teen with debating skills.
Ooooh. Shortman had his first taste of debate in Lit & Society class this year. He came home, fairly dancing, that he'd won.
Of course, this was a kid who entered himself in a school wide speech contest in 4th grade and got up in front of parents, teachers, administrators, AND other students to present a speech that he wrote on "what I want to be when I grow up."
SC - Yeah, the down side is incredible "negotiation" skills.
Hot - Good for Shortman, he sounds like our kind of guy!
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