Comment by silisili
3 years ago
I did one year of high school debate and this is accurate. There is no real discussion at all, strictly statements supported by facts.
It was really boring for me, and at times a lot of work. However, one thing I appreciated about it is that at times you'd obviously be arguing a side you don't necessarily agree with, and learn a ton in the process. Also surprise yourself a bit in how convincing you can be. In a way, I wish everyone had the time and effort to research a POV they don't agree with, but as if they did.
Probably great training for a lawyer or paralegal, perhaps even public speaker, but I personally didn't find a lot of joy in it.
> There is no real discussion at all, strictly statements supported by facts.
What do you mean by this? I did a few different forms of debate in highschool and this seems like a really surface level characterization of just a few of these sub-types.
Mine only had one, but it's been 20 years so some details elude me. I remember we used to have LD and policy, but there wasn't enough interest to maintain two anymore.
So in ours, it was a 1v1 and basically you just spoke for 2 or 3 minutes to a judge, wrote down notes from the other speaker to make rebuttals, then it was over.
What I meant is it very much isn't a back and forth discussion of any sort. In fact, you were never really speaking to each other at all, just to the judge or moderator. Speak for a couple minutes spewing facts and references, listen, do it again, etc.
Apologies if I overgeneralized all debate based only on my experience.