HS Debate

[Jimmy the Pro]

Quote by: CX Champ Spread, haha we call it spewing, and 300 points this year right, not over all, cause overall thats not much, your school sound good, are you 5a, we always take region, we don't have any competition there.:( Do you go to nat'l tourneys or local ones?

Nah, overall, but I've just started Speech and Debate, so I expect to earn more


We're 3A, but highest in OK is 4A. The reason being is our school is not very big so we are not as high up. Both Nats and locals

[CX Champ]

Yeah we go to some nat'l but not the whole team most of the time, just some cx teams, Lders and PF :(, anyway do you debate for four years there, because we only have three years of high school, so it sucks for us that way.

[Jimmy the Pro]

Quote by: CX Champ Yeah we go to some nat'l but not the whole team most of the time, just some cx teams, Lders and PF :(, anyway do you debate for four years there, because we only have three years of high school, so it sucks for us that way.

4 years, personally I think that is not enough years to debate.

hence my wanting to debate in college.

[phoenix_fire]

More than anything, I think I liked Mock Trial.

[Epistemologist]

Yeah LD, the resolutions and topics are very liberal, but they don't necessarily turn the debater into a liberal. You just have to suck it in and do it, just like a lawyer defending a child rapist.

[Jimmy the Pro]

Quote by: phoenix_fire More than anything, I think I liked Mock Trial.

I do Mock Trial now. Our team was pretty good, but we lost in Quarters by 3 points to the same team that beat us last year by 2 points :eek:

Next year we will kick some effin ayes.

Wohoo for Mock Trial

[Epistemologist]

Ever done Model UN?

[Jimmy the Pro]

Quote by: Epistemologist Ever done Model UN?

That, while I have heard about, I have not participated in. Our school does not have enough people interested to gather a team. But hearing from friends at other schools, it's pretty rad.

[Epistemologist]

Yep, it's pretty cool, but the way for winning awards is kinda weird, because you get voted by your committee. Last time, the countries were about to declare war on France in the general assembly, and we were bribing each other with candy.

[Jimmy the Pro]

Quote by: Epistemologist Yep, it's pretty cool, but the way for winning awards is kinda weird, because you get voted by your committee. Last time, the countries were about to declare war on France in the general assembly, and we were bribing each other with candy.

HAHA! I love it, now I wanna join.

[CX Champ]

I wanna do that too, I have heard of it mostly at younger ages, I have never heard of it in HS. My team just took first in region, and we are headed for state, wish us luck, and wish me luck, I am going for first in CX.

[Epistemologist]

Good luck.

[dilligras]

I have zero background in formal debate.......could one of you kindly elaborate on some of the acronyms being bandied about? Like what the heck is a CX or an LD?

The mock trial and UN things sound interesting.......are they only in school, or is someone doing it on the web?


Carry on.

[CX Champ]

Well heres your crash course in mainstream high school debate. Cx stands for policy debate, a style of debate in which there is an aff and neg, and the aff presents a plan, the neg attacks it, and the plan must fall within a topic given by the NFL (national forensics league). It is generally fast paced and both teams provide evidence to support their side, which is basic debate. It has scenarios like nuclear war and genocide with some insane reason why those things would happen to support a case, or plan. In policy teams generaly spew, or read out loud at very high rates of speed, really FAST. This is prob a jumbled answer and makes no sense, but for me to fully explain would take pages.

Ld stands for lincoln douglas debate, this debate is more based on philosophy, and doesnt have crazy scenarios and alos doesnt read fast, but i dont particiapte in that so you have to ask ld maniac about details.

Debate is awesome, and alot easier and less complicated than it sounds, but for one to explain it is pretty hard, because its just basic debate, two sides, evidence, etc. but then there are rules and styles that are complex and unique to a certain areaa, like they dont read fast in some places, anyway.... yeah.

[Epistemologist]

LD basically involves the affirmative and negative opponents delivering cases, rebuttals, and basically trying to convince the judge/judges that they're the winner of the round. I'll explain the jargon here. Cases are basically base arguments prepared beforehand; they start out with a value premise, or the most basic thing you're trying to uphold with your aff/neg position, and then a value criterion, which is the standard you will use to achieve the value premise. Then, we give our contentions/arguments as to how that standard achieves the value premise.

For instance, the current resolution is "The United Nations' obligation to protect global human rights ought to be valued above its obligation to respect national sovereignty." All participants have to prepare cases for both sides of the issue, because who gets to be aff/neg is determined randomly in each round. The most basic aff case supporting the resolution might have a value premise of "human rights" and a value criterion of "minimization of oppression," and then a possible first argument to support it is that the UN intervenes when governments seem to oppress their people. I would give a claim, give a warrant (usually by quoting a respectable source, making sure that it has actual analysis explaining why), and then stress the impact of my argument towards supporting my position.

The rounds last 32 minutes each. The aff gives his/her case in 6 min. Then the neg cross-examines him (asks him questions trying to break his case, put him in a trap, or just get something he can use in his later rebuttals) for 3 min. The neg then gives his case plus his rebuttal to the aff in 7 min, making sure to attack both the aff's standard and his arguments. What it boils down to is what standard is better, and then the arguments are not as important (but they're still very important, particularly in deciding the former issue). Then the aff does cross-ex for 3 min. He gives a rebuttal in 4 min. Then the neg gives the last rebuttal in 6 min, where he has to "crystallize" the arguments and give final "voting issues" (the most important reasons why the judge/judges should vote for him instead of aff). The aff then gives his last rebuttal in 3 min including voting issues. And each side has a total of 3 min of prep time during the whole round, and the time can be distributed however they want between speeches.

It takes a lot of preparation, talent, and practice to be good. And often just doing local competitions is horrible because the judges don't know what they're doing and won't follow the rules in voting. But if you can't afford state/national competitions, often you're forced to just do that. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that haha.

Also, in LD speeches are often read fast, but at locals, judges don't understand, so competitors are forced to slow down; sadly this is often the only thing that determines the winner.

[CX Champ]

Do you debate in college or in HS, because all our LD competitors read slow, even at nat'l tournys. Its ussually only Policy that reads fast.

And very good description, if I wasn't so lazy I would write a better one for CX but nah. And take his description, and CX is like a faster paced, harder core version of LD, but with a lot more mindless card reading and alot less intelligent debate. Atleast where I'm from.

[CX Champ]

We Took State, Bingham High School Debate Team!!!!!!!!

[Eclipse]

Debate sounds like it would of been awesome. I've never been in any formal. I guess that's what happens in smaller communities with less funding. I really wish it would have been more available. A definite skill building system and there is a constructive competition aspect to it above all the fun to be had.

We Took State, Bingham High School Debate Team!!!!!!!!

Grats!

[CX Champ]

Quote by: Eclipse Grats!

Thanks!

[Epistemologist]

Quote by: CX Champ Do you debate in college or in HS, because all our LD competitors read slow, even at nat'l tournys. Its ussually only Policy that reads fast.

HS, but yeah, it's often advantageous to read really fast.

Congratulations on the win.