so i really want to know how many of the people on this site debate now or did in school, with all the fun standards, disads, great debate jargon that i love, so if you have a second let me know, okay? thanks everyone. and please feel free to post comments.

i don't think a site like this would allow for traditional debate like you might find at a school. it isn't the same world.

oh no, and i totally agree, that's what cross-x is for and others like that. i'm glad you don't have to put everything into its format for argumentation here. i debate at school, and we only debate nfl (national forensics league) approved topics. depending on what type you do, decreasing governmental authority to detain without charge or search without probable cause, minors charged with violent crimes charged as adults, or big box companies. different things for different people but not the most interesting topics in the world. and i'm glad that formats don't have to be followed to have something heard on hear. i agree.

To chime in with mandiejo, my high school debating experience was also an "NFL" environment.
And in the big scheme of things, it had a variety of GLARING shortcomings...

Here on this message board, I can here somebody say something about topic X, and then I can do some research to find out more. I can look for polls or research articles or information articles or whatever...

In high school, (at least from my experience) it was just a means of trying to string together article snippets which you had ahead of time in a shotgun style to try and talk about how the opponent's idea couldn't have enough funding or pointing out generic talking points as to why somebody said it wouldn't work...

I think one of the most interesting and thoughtful responses to a plan about South American agriculture came when one of the debaters picked up an almanac and found out that the country which the one team was picking for agricultural enhancement was vastly mountainous with little suitable soil for growth...
I think it was the first time that the team proposing the plan had seen that response....

And of course, there were also the moments where I found myself under the topic of enhancing the security of the elderly, and I was confronted with trying to argue against a program which wanted to give the elderly cats and dogs to increase their feelings of security....

And then there were the debates where we linked (via a few "logical steps") a plan to do X with nuclear holocaust... And some of the lamer presentations started with the link being just adding another program to our federal list of programs which would require new funding...

I can't help but wonder if the NFL style debate of today has changed at all now that the world has laptop computers with wireless internet access....

that's exactly right, and nobody cares in debate about how they actually feel, you'll say anything, (and i mean anything, *cough kill the whales d/a cough*) to get that ballot. it really has changed because in the 5 min. we have before each round you spend your time checking up on newly broken cases, stealing disads from your squad, and seeing if any new legislation has passed.

Parlimentary Rules, based on the Robert's Rules of Order style, bizziches!

Princeton and Harvard Model Congress in high school. Fun times. I was the president of the club at my school.

yeah, i'd have to say debate is definitely the most worthwhile class ever!

I'ld agree.
As one potential lesson it could include, the aspect of QUESTIONING what you know (or think you know) and QUESTIONING what you are told.

Although ironically, the best source of that lesson didn't come from my debate class, but another high school teacher whose importance and significance I have come to appreciate years after I had graduated...

Beyond that, other important lessons include ACTIVE listening, capability to take notes, capability to think on your feet, and the capability to speak in a confrontational environment.
(Just to name a few....)

i'd say the most important thing to learn in debate is . . . THE AMAZING PEN FLIP! i've been debating for almost a year now and i still can't do it. darn.

Thanks to the awful debates I have had in person with people at my last school, I created this site to make things more cleaner. In our class students would throw stuff or pick fights with others who did not support their candidate or political beliefs. It was just crazy!

I am very happy that I created thus site because I have met so many great people and have become more open-minded in politics I have even changed my views on some issues thanks to you guys

hahaha