The cuts proposed by school officials at last night's Madison Central School Board meeting "included reducing extracurricular events such as one event each from the gymnastics, wrestling and debate programs and two events from the Future Farmers of America program at Madison High School."
Reducing one debate event? Hasn't the debate program already done that and then some? Madison abandoned the Karl E. Mundt Debate Tournament in 2010, deeming it just too hard to run. On that February weekend, I now travel to Harrisburg to judge a one-day debate tournament. The Mundt Tournament actually made money for the debate team and the FCCLA, which ran concessions. Dropping the tournament certainly reduced the amount of work Coach Nills had to do, but the board did not reduce her $5204 coaching salary to reflect that reduced work.
Over the last ten years, Coach Nills has voluntarily cut her own team's competition schedule by more than half. Team membership has dwindled by a comparable amount, to the point where the head coach travels to only half of the contests remaining on the team's schedule (though I guess that will have to change now, since another cut facing the program is elimination of the assistant coach). The team competes in only one out of the eight speech events it used to, thus reducing costs and time on the road time even further.
Coach Nills's minimization of her team's participation has left Bulldog Debate at a serious competitive disadvantage. Students from Mitchell, Brookings, and other towns get the experience of speaking in multiple events at ten contests starting in November. Madison students don't compete until December. They attend maybe four contests before National-Qualifiers and State. They compete in a single event, the shortest debate event on the schedule.
For those of you to whom debate is a mystery, put it in track terms: suppose MHS track coach Kevin DeCurtins decided the Bulldogs would skip the first three meets of the season and wait until the Lennox Invitational for their first competition. DeCurtins would send the kids to three other meets before Regions, but he would stay home for one or two of them, letting his assistants take care of the team on those trips. He'd tell the school to stop hosting the Dan Barker Relays, since running that meet is overwhelming. To top it off, DeCurtins would drop field events altogether and let students compete only in the 100, the 200, and maybe the 400.
I ran for DeCurtins in junior high. I'm confident DeCurtins would never make such extreme cuts in opportunities for student athletes. If he did, students, parents, and the board would flip out.
But such are the cuts our debate team has suffered. In response, our school board quietly reduces debate even further. Disgusting.
Update 09:24 CDT: KJAM does excellent public service and posts a full list of the further K-12 cuts proposed by the board last night, including the $2300 contract for health services from the state that we are canceling.
It's so frustrating to see debate be on the chopping block again and again (see also: Groton). While we're cutting education in the state, the last thing we should be cutting is a program that teaches kids how to thoughtfully discuss issues based on facts and evidence.
I don't say that to imply that some activities are more justified than others -- they all serve their purpose. However, if this is a "share the pain" sort of year, it'd be great if that applied to all activities as well. Fine arts shouldn't be taking the brunt of it just because administrators are less afraid of orchestra parents than football parents.
In basketball terms, it's like Mike Ricke not having the varsity compete until after New Year's, then send Bill Thurow to 3/4's of the games, stay home himself, and then only send the players onto the court for only the 2nd and 3 rd quarters of play. It's total shame that the debate program has turned into only a shell of what it once was. Cutting activities--all ot them sports, debate, FFA, etc. is unwise. Now voters are supposed to be excited about passing a potential bond issue? Or to recruit for open enrollment(or to stop the "bleed" to other districts)?
Just from reading what you have written, it sounds like the problems the debate program is facing all start and stop with the head coach.
good post Corey
Thanks, Lee! Meanwhile, I notice that Watertown debate legend Donus D. Roberts is being inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame. Another reader tells me Brookings debate coach Judy Kroll is being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
Now days the schools are trying to teach the kids to think(as if we did not before). Promoting the best thinkers is a very good thing for a school to do. It creats an atmosphere of intelligent thought. I went to a Christian school and contrary to common thought, we were taught to think also. We had specific assignments that required thinking. We could also discuss the Vietnam war. Now days students tell me they are not to discuss the war since it is controversial. So they are being told not to think and discuss in groups but rather to just muddle through it by themself. Exchanging ideas and thoughts of values is extremely important to developing thinking and values improvement. There was no subject of the table when we wanted to discuss anything we wanted to in high school. I still like a good discussion. THINK ABOUT IT, THE NEXT GENERATION MIGHT NOT.
Absolutely right, Roger. And debate teaches thoughtful conversation about policies and values better than anything else our schools offer. It's a shame that Madison has been letting that "atmosphere of intelligent thought" erode for the last decade.
Corey - I would wager that there are more discussions about contemporary national and world events in the homes of debators, per capita, than else where. It's because their extracurricular job is not the latest Nike brand, it's whether BRAC is relevant economically in the next century. We should encourage that thinking thing - its generally a good thing. Yes, DDR is being recognized -and well deserved. Ms Kroll, with her Day County connections is of course a star too :)