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My school does not have a debate team and I love to debate, so my friend and I decided to do something about it. We talked to the communications teacher and she said she will consider sponsoring it, but we need to do the work to set up the club in order to convince her to help us. I live in southern Illinois and really need some help with this. Does anyone know where I can get info or are you on a debate team and can give me some advice and info on how they work? Thanks a lot!

By Nycgirl969 (Nycgirl969) on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 06:15 pm: Edit

I am apart of the debate team at my school so the best advice I could give you is what we do there. For regular practice, twice a week the team meets and we do either a lincoln-douglas debate, a parlimentary extemporaneus (sp?) debate, cross-examination debate, or we work on our speech skills by doing impromptu speeches and triple speech projects. I am not sure if you are familar with all those terms but it you want the definitions, time limits, rules, etc I can e-mail it to you or post it here.
Also you may want to look into surrounding schools to see if the they have any debate teams so that you can start scheduling debates. Also you can look at international and world competitions. Also another thing your debate thing could do is get involved in model united nations or model congress. I just came back from Yale United Model Nations and I had a ton of fun (plus I got this verbal mention thingy for my commitee) The model conventions are extremely expensive so I do not know how your school covers club expenses but if its too high for your budget have a bake sale or something. Its definately worth it. If you have any questions, just post again
hope that helps

By Ishuku (Ishuku) on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 06:32 pm: Edit

There are several websites set up for debating. I'm a fourth-year varsity policy debater and all I can say is that if you're going to start one, it's a HUGE undertaking. Look into cross-ex.com and lddebate.org (I think those are the right links)

By Kinglz (Kinglz) on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 06:47 pm: Edit

"cross-ex.com "
It's cross-x.com. Its a policy debate site and forum.

Debate is great, but your teacher must be willing to spend time (lots) going to tournaments and the like. For your part debate takes a lot of work and TIME especially, but its worth it. Also make sure that your school is a registered chapter of the NFL (National Forensics League), its the main governing body of speech and debate. Now onto the debates (the main ones):

Policy- Deals with real-life situations, research extensive, 2 person teams

Lincoln Douglas- solo debate, philosophy focused

Public Forum- 2 person teams, focuses on communication and persuasiveness

Good luck with forming your team!

By Kiwee (Kiwee) on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 06:50 pm: Edit

I have been in Model UN for three years, one year in Security Council and two in WHO. I love it but the thing is that the teachers who sponsor it don't do anything (we don't even ever have meetings), and most of the kids are there just to get out of school for the meets. We just want something a bit more serious. We understand that it will be a lot of work, which is why we are starting now so we can work throughout the summer to start one next year. Thank you for your help and any mroe is appreciated!

By Kinglz (Kinglz) on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 - 06:56 pm: Edit

If you're serious and want to work over the summer, go to a debate camp. It will teach you what you need to know about debate and jumpstart your research.