A vital question to be addressed – why should you debate? What are the benefits of debating?
Here is my pitch: debate is both fun and educational, able to provide various treasured experiences throughout your career!
Debating may seem daunting, often falsely perceived to be something that only “naturally talented” public speakers can take on. To that assumption, I encourage you to give debate a chance to uncover your hidden passion for argumentation and advocacy! Nobody is born a debater. One thing is certain: LD Debate Prep will help make your debate process as smooth as possible, with some (hopefully funny and relatable) memes and quirky narration on each page!
Prepare your first cases, attend your first tournaments, and even if you don’t get first place immediately, realize that it takes time to truly master any activity. Some people may speed right through the content, while others may enjoy more time figuring out concepts, but eventually, each debater finds their own success in some shape or form. Whether you will have found a future career focus, improved in public speaking, or simply had loads of fun along the way, everyone has something to gain from debating.
Two main takeaways from debate are learning and having fun: Learning as in developing skills and habits applicable to life, and fun refers to the short-term yet equally rewarding happiness you get while debating. Let’s dive deeper!
Learning – Debate as a Tool to Achieve Success
College talk – kind of unavoidable, so let’s get it out of the way…
You might know that numerous studies and personal stories support the fact that doing debate as an extracurricular heightens your chances of getting into a top school or university. But college admissions officers don’t just look for pictures of you holding a big golden chunk of metal. Instead, achievements as awesome as winning trophies are testaments to the hard work, focus, and passion you have towards debate – that’s what’s truly golden! The people admitting debaters into colleges are looking for true dedication and love for the activity; they believe that these debaters will likely create something world-changing with the skills they have learned in the activity. But contrary to popular belief, debate shouldn’t be utilized just to get into colleges or show off trophies. Even these are short-term, temporary goals that reflect something much deeper within you. Rather, it’s all about discovering your own sincere purpose!
Good habits arise out of… just repeating them, until they become engrained in your routine! Debate as a valuable life skill sharpens your:
- Critical and quick thinking (thinking on your feet and responding to your opponent on the spot),
- Reading and writing (researching and writing arguments),
- Knowledge in current events (researching a relevant political topic), and
- Public speaking skills (speech practice across multiple rounds and tournaments).
As a bonus, the next time you need to complete a school project, you might truly have fun and complete it with less of a struggle, especially if the assignment is a classroom discussion or debate. Debate skills truly are transferable in life.
On the other hand, less well-known but arguably more important skills you get from debate may include:
- Discipline (procrastinating less because you’re consistently time-constrained to preparing cases for tournaments before the weekend) and
- Goal setting (identifying tasks and deadlines you need to meet in order to improve or do well at a tournament).
A disciplined mind and goal-setting can save much time in the long term and help with success. The most successful people need to manage their time and take small steps towards fulfilling their goals, which debate will naturally help you with. Even if you may not be interested in becoming a lawyer or politician, any career field could use the ability to present research in a logical way (e.g. scientists), process dense information in a short amount of time (e.g. journalists), and remain informed about the world as active citizens (anyone)!
Debaters are diverse in their future career options – some becoming economists, lawyers, and politicians, while others pursuing the paths of biologists, doctors, and software engineers, to name a few. For example, even famous celebrities used to debate, including Oprah Winfrey, John F. Kennedy, Brad Pitt, and Nelson Mandela.
Debate has helped many individuals find a mission, whether that is to get into a specific university, search for a career pathway, or guide their life overall.
Fun – Debate as Success Itself
Cramming a whole lot of information into the brain is not sustainable, unless you’re interested in and connected to the activity at hand. To love debating is to find personal enjoyment from it.
Picture two days of your weekend: on Saturday, you spend the day debating at a tournament, making new friends, and honing your presentation skills, while spending the remaining bit relaxing (watching goofy cat videos). Meanwhile, on Sunday, you spend 15 hours watching goofy cat videos. Which day is more productive or fulfilling? On which day does relaxing feel maybe a little less guilty? That’s not to say that using electronics or relaxing are bad – taking some study breaks helps boost productivity and personal well-being. Rather, the procrastination trap befalls many, depleting motivation in favor of quick dopamine and preventing some students from joining debate or pursuing anything long-term. This issue of procrastination may affect debaters too (trust me, it’s a continual struggle), holding them back from finishing their work before tournaments. So where’s the fun in debate? Why do debaters keep coming back to debate?…
Gimo, The Cat With The Biggest Eyes Ever
Initially, it can be hard to sit down and focus for hours upon hours of researching, practicing speeches, and spending half your weekend at a tournament discussing politics and philosophy. Why should you prefer this “boring extension of school” over playing video games, watching YouTube, or browsing social media? Part of the reason to debate is to learn valuable skills and discover your passion. Delayed gratification takes place when a debater dedicates weeks, months, and even years to preparing cases and honing their skills. But the payoff is winning their first round, then later advancing on to elimination rounds for the first time, winning a local invitational tournament, and maybe becoming a top debater of their state or the whole nation. It isn’t an easy road in pursuing to become a top debater, but the point is to work hard and even if it doesn’t yield as much happiness right now, you’ll eventually be rewarded for your dedication. Whether you win or lose at first, everything is a step in constant self-improvement as you take pride in your work throughout the process. Furthermore, topics for Lincoln-Douglas debate change every 2 months nationwide, so you won’t be stuck with the same topic for a whole year (sorry policy debaters…). When you write the cases you love, read about arguments that intrigue you, and discuss areas of a topic you can passionately advocate, you’ve begun exploring what it means to be excited about debate!
On the other hand, competing in local and national tournaments on weekends provides an interactive aspect to debate. Reading a brand new case in-round and stumping your opponent is a satisfying feeling. Tension and anxiety build up right as your judge announces their decision, and even if you lost, it might fuel you with a deep motivation to reflect and improve before next time. All of this lively and friendly competition is what makes the debate community such a healthy space for self-improvement.
But tournaments aren’t constantly filled with adrenaline. They’re also social events, where debaters meet other debaters from rival schools to celebrate each others’ successes and help each other out. Be sure to make new friends, even from different schools and teams, because at the end of the day, debate doesn’t take up every moment of our lives. We should still be good people regardless. Meeting up with teammates to prepare between rounds, chat, and bolster team spirit is another reason that the tournament atmosphere can be so exciting.
Community involvement, including volunteering to judge young debaters (novices), helping others to grow, and leading your team to success, are at the core of the debating experience. It’s about truly wishing to see others succeed, and witnessing current and future debaters thrive. Leading a debate team or club can test one’s abilities as one way to give back to the community. You might find happiness in passing it to others. Who knows, you may even start a website to write and publish memey debate articles one day!
Overall, debate is an experience worth trying and loving. Not only is it productive and helpful for learning useful skills, but it’s something that can create fond memories to last a lifetime. Go for it, and keep debating!
Of course he can, he’s a debater!”
– A debater
LD Debate Prep 