Category Archives: History

Enduring Debate Theory Controversies: Fiat From The ’70s To Today

As I’ve noted before, debate’s theoretical controversies tend to be more timeless than one might initially think. While researching another project, I recently found the Winter 1980 issue of the Speaker and Gavel journal. It includes fourteen articles predicting what debate would be like in the 1980s — especially issues related to the health of debate and forensics programs and proposals for reform.

One article — from Thomas Isaacson and Robert Branham — focused on the “difficulties and questions” that had emerged with the rise of the policy-making paradigm and “which remained unresolved by the decade’s end.” They predicted that these “various issues of policy fiat are likely to provide the first great test of the paradigm’s applicability and adaptation.” What issues did Isaacson and Branham identify?

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The Very Old History of Abolition as a Negative Strategy In Debate

One of the most common negative positions on this year’s criminal justice reform topic is the abolition kritik, an argument that rejects the legitimacy of the carceral state writ large. In these debates, the negative does not defend the status quo; they defend more radical change than the plan proposed by the affirmative.

This form of negation can be confusing. Most beginning debaters are taught that an important difference between the affirmative and negative is their relationship to the status quo: the affirmative rejects it by proposing a change in policy, and the negative either defends it or proposes a different (but competitive) policy change.

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Debaters Have Been Criticized For Speaking Too Fast For Over 100 Years

That competitive debaters speak too quickly — and too monotonously, without clarity or persuasiveness — is a common criticism. I wrote about this a few months ago after reading a masterful description of “fast debate” in Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School. If you’ve been involved even tangentially in debate, you’re undoubtedly familiar with this criticism. I knew it had been common for many (many) years, but I didn’t realize until recently just how long ago it began.

In a 1918 article (“Delivery in Debate”) in the nascent Quarterly Journal of Speech Education (later renamed the Quarterly Journal of Speech), Chas F. Lindsley—a professor at the University of Minnesota—expressed many of the same gripes about debaters’ speaking that one still hears today. Think I’m exaggerating?

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A Brief History of Online Summer Debate Institutes (They’re Older Than You Thought)

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced summer debate institutes to shift from in-person to online instruction for the summer of 2020. In the coming months, more high school students will participate in programs providing online debate training than ever before.

As administrators, teachers, and students prepare to make this transition, I was curious about the history of online debate institutes. It turns out that they are much older than I had expected.

I think others might find this history surprising. With that in mind, this article briefly documents what I’ve learned. This is unlikely to be authoritative, but I think it’s still quite interesting.

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Why Do Debaters Speak So Fast? An Excerpt From The Topeka School

The most controversial characteristic of competitive academic debate as practiced in many “national circuit” formats is the speed at which speeches are delivered. For as long as there have been competitive debates with strict time limits, participants have attempted to make the most of their limited speech times by speaking as quickly as their audiences will tolerate. Attempts to restrain the speed of debaters’ deliveries have largely failed. Lincoln-Douglas debate, founded 40 years ago as a slower alternative to policy debate, is now often as fast as its older sibling. And Public Forum debate, founded almost 20 years ago as an even more aggressive reaction to “fast debate,” is following the same trajectory; many Public Forum debates are now just as fast as policy debates.

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More TOC History: Octafinals Bid Tournaments Since 1996-1997

In order to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, debaters must earn bids at invitational tournaments by reaching the designated elimination round. The most competitive TOC qualifying tournaments award bids to all teams in the octafinals. Since the 1996-1997 season, the number of octafinals bid tournaments has remained between seven and ten: Greenhill, St. Mark’s, Glenbrooks, MBA, Emory, Harvard, and Berkeley have been mainstays while Wake Forest, Redlands, Stanford, Blake, and Michigan have spent at least one year on the list. Since that season, 37 schools have won at least one octafinals bid tournament with 20 schools winning more than one tournament and 16 schools winning at least one tournament in multiple seasons.

What school has won the most octafinals bid tournaments? How many teams have won multiple octafinals bid tournaments in the same season? Who holds the record for most octafinals bid wins in a career by a debater? The answers—as well as a complete listing of the winners and runners-up at every octafinals bid tournament held in the last 15 seasons—are below the fold.

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Even More TOC Trivia: Non-Seniors in Elimination Rounds, Part 2

Can’t get enough TOC history? “More TOC Trivia: Non-Seniors in the Elimination Rounds Since 1995” prompted several questions that merited a follow-up. How many non-seniors have reached the final round of the TOC? The semifinals? How have they done as seniors? Who has won the most elimination rounds at the TOC? The answers (again, since 1995) are below the fold.

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TOC XL Trivia: Westminster Wins Third Consecutive Championship

The 40th Tournament of Champions was held this past weekend at the University of Kentucky. Capping off a historic run, the Westminster Schools claimed its third consecutive championship by defeating Lexington High School’s Tyler Engler and Arjun Vellayappan in the final round. Interested in digging a little deeper into the results from this year’s TOC? Some historical perspective and trivia is below the fold.

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The Tournament of Champions In The 3NR Results Archive

The results from every Tournament of Champions since 1995 (XXIV through XXXIX) are now accessible via The 3NR Results Archive. Packets remain missing for 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, and 2008; if anyone has access to these packets (or to results from prior to 1995), please email the author.

1995 — Immigration
1996 — China
1997 — Juvenile Crime
1998 — Renewable Energy
1999 — Russia

2000 — Education
2001 — Privacy
2002 — WMD
2003 — Mental Health Care
2004 — Ocean Policy

2005 — UN Peacekeeping
2006 — Civil Liberties
2007 — National Service
2008 — Sub-Saharan Africa
2009 — Alternative Energy

2010 — Social Services

Some statistics have already been provided from the last 15 runs for the roses. More TOC-related content will be shared over the course of the next week.