You can find it here– its a recap of all their recent content. There are several good articles, an organized collection of camp lectures and more.
Category Archives: Debate News
Dolman Demo Debate and Lecture Available From NDCA
Earlier this summer, the University of Michigan Debate Institutes hosted Dr. Everett Dolman for a lecture and demo debate about space weaponization. The video of the debate and the audio of Dr. Dolman’s lecture are now available from the NDCA (via DebateVision).
NFHS Announces Resolutions for 2012-2013 Ballot
The National Federation of State High School Associations held its annual topic meeting this weekend in Denver. The following topics were selected for the 2012-2013 balloting:
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Civil Rights — Resolved: The United States federal government should amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, substantially increasing its protections against race and/or gender discrimination.
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Entitlement Reform — Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially limit the growth of its Medicare and/or Social Security spending.
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Higher Education — Resolved: The United States federal government should establish an education policy substantially increasing its support for postsecondary education in the United States.
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Immigration — Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its legal protection of economic migrants in the United States.
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Infrastructure — Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its transportation infrastructure investment in the United States.
Congratulations to the authors of these topic papers and thank you to the representatives who attended the meeting for their time and service.
What do y’all think of this slate of topics? Which is your favorite? Which is going to win?
Updated to reflect correct wordings for resolutions 2 and 5. Thanks, Alderete.
Space Policy Day Hosted By Houston Urban Debate League
The Houston Urban Debate League is hosting Space Policy Day on August 1 from 8:00AM to 2:30PM. Of interest to students and coaches who are preparing to debate this year’s space topic, the event will feature discussions of space policy by experts in the field. The event will be webcasted live at http://www.bakerinstitute.org/events/houston-urban-debate-league-space-policy-day. Questions can be submitted in advance by emailing spacepolicyday@urbandebate.org; they will be read live during the event. For more information, please visit http://houstonurbandebateleague.org/Space_Policy_Day.html.
Expert Topic Lecture from Georgetown Debate Seminar
Wish you could hear a topic lecture from experts in the field of space policy? Thanks to the Georgetown Debate Seminar, your wish has come true. In addition to a traditional topic lecture from one of its debate instructors, the students and teachers at the Seminar were also provided with the opportunity to enjoy a a lengthy lecture and discussion with Charlie Chafer and Alan Ladwig, two men whose careers have been spent on the cutting edge of U.S. space policy.
Chafer, a former high school debater from Oklahoma and a championship debater at Georgetown University, is one of the world’s leading space entrepreneurs. He has frequently testified before Congress and has received many awards for his contributions to the advancement of space scholarship and commercial space leadership. Ladwig is a senior administrator at NASA appointed by President Obama who boasts a decorated career in both the public and private sectors. Together, Chafer and Ludwig have many decades of experience dealing with the issues that students will confront during the upcoming season.
Over the course of the lecture and discussion, both experts provide a wealth of information to help students prepare to debate space. More importantly, they present students with a passionate case for the importance of space policy to their lives and to the future of the planet.
To view the lecture, please head over to Debate Vision. It is also embedded below the fold.
ENDI Wiki and Opening topic lecture
The Emory national debate institute has kicked off so if you are not at camp yet but can’t wait to learn about space you can see the opening topic lecture by James Herndon on the wiki
New Blog, Forum Offers Travel Tips and Resources for Debate Coaches
“Wisdom gained from 30 years of schlepping nerdy kids from coast to coast” is the subtitle of Lexy Green’s new blog, Debate Travel Tips. Only a few weeks old, the site has already become an invaluable resource for debate coaches seeking to save money on travel expenses—which is redundant, I guess, since that goal is shared by pretty much every debate coach in America. So far, articles have touched on hotel loyalty programs, printing, early hotel booking, and a few other topics that should be of interest to coaches. In addition to the blog, Lexy—the Director of Forensics at College Prep in Oakland, California—has set up a Debate Travel Forum for coaches to use to share tips, arrange room and ride shares, and discuss travel-related issues.
How Well Do You Know The Topic? An End of Year Quiz
After researching U.S. military presence for the last year, how well do you know the topic? Students have undoubtedly learned a great deal during the course of the season, but how much do they actually know about U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the rest of the topic countries? I thought it would be interesting to create a quiz and see where students stood. While some of the answers are more trivial than essential, the resulting quiz hopefully provides a good baseline for assessing how much you learned and how much you retained while researching the topic.
Two caveats:
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This quiz is divided into two parts, one about Afghanistan and the other about the other five topic countries. Since our team read an Afghanistan affirmative for the vast majority of the season, this was the area they were most familiar with.
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All of the answers are Googleable. I put together an answer key but this is more geared toward self-assessment than it is something to be formally graded.
So, how much do you know about the topic? Find out below the fold.
TOC Releases List Of 2011-2012 Qualifying Tournaments
The Tournament of Champions has released the list of approved qualifying tournaments in policy debate for the 2011-2012 season. Changes reflected in this year’s list include:
- Meadows (NV) moved up from semifinals to quarterfinals
- Scranton (PA) moved up from finals to semifinals
- Stanford (CA) moved down from quarterfinals to semifinals
- Capitol Classic (MD) added to finals
- Heritage Hall (OK) added to finals
- Georgetown (DC) replaces Georgetown Day School
- Crestian/Pine Crest (FL) replaces Florida Blue Key
- Marquette (WI) removed
The complete list of approved qualifying tournaments for policy debate is below the fold.
Announcing The 2011 Women's Debate Institute
There are too few women in debate. There is no shortage of potential explanations for this phenomenon-lack of female role models, difficulty in a confrontational learning environment, sexism in society, lower speaker points or even male students in the activity. While many have attempted to pinpoint the causes, there is a group I’ve been working with for several years that attempts to correct the imbalance between men and women in debate.