I Love Debate
It is not secret that I love debate. I was president of my high school’s debate team and now in college, I am a varsity member of the Northeastern Debate Team. I even started a debate team at a local Boston middle school.
Debate teaches skills such as: how to think on one’s feet in a high pressured environment, how to craft a compelling argument, how to listen to others, how to work in a team, how to spot logical fallacies… and the list goes on.
Personally, I bear witness to all the magical effects of debate. In addition to all the great skills, debate incinerated any fear of public speaking and provided me with a huge confidence boost. Debate is a way for me to think critically about current issues; for example, I have written cases on: the merits of affirmative action, deontology versus consequentialism, etc. Perhaps the best part about debate are the lifelong friendships I made.
Back in Boston, I spent about six hours per week with the debate team preparing for tournaments and then most weekends at said tournaments. Needless to say, debate is a huge part of my college experience. Thus when it came time to study abroad, I knew that I wanted to join the debate club at the host university.
Types and Rules
Like any sport, debate has rules — people always seem to be surprised when I inform them that collegiate debate is not just a bunch of people yelling their personal views at each other.
Collegiate debate is very different than say the Presidential debates on TV. Often the winner of the collegiette debate is arguing for a position with which he or she does not agree. Collegiate debate is not about what you believe, but who can provide the most compelling points.
Around the world, debate has different rules and regulations, which govern how the debate is run and how the debaters present their point. In this blog post I will share my perspective about the similarities and differences with the three forms of debate, with which I am most familiar: American Parliamentary Debate, British Parliamentary Debate, and French Parliamentary Debate.
American Parliamentary
I have the most experience with American Parliamentary. The debate consists of two teams (one Government team and one Opposition team) and there are two people on each team. Cases are prepared by the Government beforehand. The Opposition learns what the case is when the first speaker for the Government (Prime Minister) stands up to give the first speech and announces the motion. The Opposition has a few minutes to ask clarifying questions and then the debate begins.
The Prime Minister has seven minutes to give the first speech. Then the first speaker for the Opposition (Leader of Opposition) has eight minutes to give a rebuttal against the Prime Minister and build an Opposition (explain why the Opposition’s side is better). After the first speakers, the second speaker for the Government (Member of Government) and Opposition (Member of Opposition) give eight minute speeches, which build on top of what the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition stated. At the end, the Leader of Opposition and the Prime Minister are given a few minutes to give concluding remarks.
Speakers are evaluated by a judge who determines who won the debate (i.e. presents the clearest most logical arguments). Speeches are judged on content alone. Style of speaking does not count (it should if someone speaks fast and loud or slow and soft).
The American Parliamentary Debate Association consists of 80 (mostly private) universities from across the United States. There are tournaments every weekend where people go to the hosting university, debate, and hang out with friends. There are probably 300 people from other universities, who I see on the weekends when I go to the tournaments, so it is really like a big family. The objective is to win enough tournaments during the year to have enough qualification points to go to Nationals — a big debate tournament where the best debaters in the Association go to compete.
British Parliamentary
Northeastern University participates in both American Parliamentary Debate and British Parliamentary Debate. British Parliamentary is the most common English Speaking style of debate and is the style of debate adopted by the World Universities Debating Championship.
British Parliamentary is a little different then American Parliamentary. There are still two sides to the debate (the Government and the Opposition), but there are four teams of two people. Thus, there are two teams which represent the Government and two teams which represent the Opposition. The teams are competing against the opposing side and also the other team on their side. Sound confusing? It is…
The topic to be debated (the motion) and sides of the debate are announced fifteen minutes before the round. The four teams are not allowed to work together or use the internet to learn more about the topic.
The speaking order is the same as American Parliamentary but instead of having closing remarks, the second Government and Opposition team give a debate which adds on to the first two teams.
Judges allocate a winning team and points for individual speakers based on arguments added to the debate and how well each debater performed his or her role in the debate. Because there are eight speakers, it is vital that each speaker does a good job at fulfilling his or her role. If they don’t the debate could get off topic or unravel.
There are fewer British Parliamentary debates in the North East of the United States, maybe once a month. The end goal is to gain enough points to go to the World Universities Debating Championship which is the largest collegiate debate in the world and is held in a different city around the world each year.
French Parliamentary
Whereas most of the world does British Parliamentary Debate, the French have their own style of debate. French Parliamentary Debate is based on the British Parliamentary debate with a few twists.
Again there are two sides (the Government and the Opposition), but there are two teams of five people. The speaking order starts with the first speaker of Government and then switches between sides. Each person has six minutes to speak. Motions are released to the teams a few days before the debate thus each side has plenty of time to prepare and is free to use the internet to build cases.
Judging is also different. In the French Debate style, there is a large emphasis placed on presentation style versus content alone. There are five criteria on which debaters are judged: arguments, form, team work, engagement with the audience, and “star quality.”
This has been the hardest aspect of French Debate for me. In American and British Parliamentary I have to speak very fast to make the biggest, most nuanced arguments possible. Oftentimes, I am shouting my most important points and racing against the clock to get in as much as I can in the seven minutes. In the French style I have to slow down and think about how I can be engaging with the audiences and present with charisma.
Competition style is a little different as well. Each French University has one team and the teams compete throughout the year until they reach the final tournament at the end of the year. Think of it like sports teams facing-off each week until the best teams make it to the playoffs. Whereas the British and American style is more flip, people decide days before the tournament if they would like to go to each tournament to gain points.
Recapitulation
I am so grateful for the opportunity to debate. I love going to Northeastern University, a college which values conversation and debate.
My perfected style of debate is American Parliamentary. I think I am biased towards American Parliamentary debate because this is the type of debate I first learned and the type with which I am most familiar. My favorite role is the Leader of Opposition; I love the chaos of learning the motion at the start of the round and the panic which ensues as I try to write a speech, while listening to the Prime Minister, and speak to my Member of Opposition.
I love British Parliamentary Debate; it feels like the debate teeters on the brink of anarchy because of all the speakers and the brilliant ideas.
Finally, I have gained an appreciation for French Parliamentary Debate. French Parliamentary forces me to take a breath, I have to remind myself that I have to remain demur and speak slowly. Even though I always have a great deal that I want to say, I have to slow down and remember that it is about quality not quantity.
