Last updated on 2013.01.28
The Displaced Plainsman and I see more bad policy and bromides from federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan than cause for cheer. But at least Secretary Duncan recognizes the solid educational of competitive debate. In a speech last Thursday to the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues, Sec. Duncan spoke of the expansion of debate programs that took place while he was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. The fact that he called himself "CEO" again dampens my enthusiasm... but let's stay on point:
We approved the first rigorous study of the impact of urban debate leagues on student performance.
That study, done jointly by the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago, examined ten years of data from the Chicago Debate League. It found that competitive debate significantly raises graduation rates, ACT scores, and students' GPA—and that's even after controlling for student self-selection in to competitive debate.
To be very clear, the experience of competing on an urban debate team boosts your college readiness—and your chance to succeed in life [Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, speech to NAUDL Annual Dinner, 2012.04.12].
Secretary Duncan here refers to research that I've cited in my proposals for counterplans to Governor Daugaard's HB 1234. Right now, just a couple dozen South Dakota schools participate in competitive debate activites with any regularity. With the $15 million Governor Daugaard wants to throw away on discredited merit pay schemes, we could hire 200 new teachers at $40K/year, train them in debate, distribute those teachers to every school district in South Dakota currently not doing debate (with larger districts getting two), and give every school district $45,000 to pay for the materials and travel necessary to support competitive debate programs in every school district in the state.
The academic benefits of debate in every South Dakota school would include the anecdotal evidence that Secretary Duncan cites: "exposure to academic rigor... harnessing the competitive instincts of young teens... channeling them into building the skills they need to succeed in a knowledge-based, global economy." Those benefits also include gains in graduation rates, test scores, and college readiness that are much more certain than anything the Governor's people have cited on HB 1234.
Let's get serious about academic achievement. Let's replace one year of our high school language arts requirement with one year of high school debate required for every student.
Having a strong debate and or declam program should be a "must" in every school district. But then again the only debate GDD wants is the silly one that occurs in Pierre for 40 days in Pierre each winter.
Hey, drop that "or", Charlie! :-)
Thanks for pointing highlighting this speech, Cory.
I wonder if Duncan appreciates the irony of his statements. Nearly everything that Race To The Top has done has made it more difficult for high school debate to survive. Debate is a subject that doesn't lend itself to bubble tests that profit Pearson or some other textbook company.
I also wonder if South Dakota Republicans who cite Duncan when it serves their purpose will cite him now.
I agree with your idea to mandate debate. It does strike me that the community that the ESD community that has historically had the largest debate team seems to be thriving better than many other communities. That observation, of course, comes from the annual visists when we go there to debate, so I may be wrong.
Debate was one of the best things out of the many, many activities and courses in high school I participated in. I barely remember anything from my two years of high school French, do not really use my cheerleading skills (except for maybe at football games) and my volleyball skills are relegated to bar-league sand volleyball now...but I still remember pretty much everything from my three years of debate and still use those skills to this day. I cannot even begin to explain how much the research skills I learned from debate helped me in college and still help to this day - both in and outside of work.
Currently, my step-daughter's school does not have debate. That is something that I hope will change in the next few years, as they are finally at least starting to focus a bit on oral interp. And I really hope my niece Katie will continue on from oral interp at Madison Middle School to debate in high school. The lessons that can be learned are invaluable throughout multiple aspects of life.
Becca, I've never committed a burglary in my life. But I think of stealing our state trophy every time I'm in the High School. Maybe it's the morale compass, forged during my debate years, that keeps me from walking out of there with a heavy duffel bag.
As a former debater, I think it is a very valuable extra-curricular offering. But, its value was as much in the time one put in with others highly motivated. Just like PE basketball is a joke because few really cared, requiring debate will only distract the serious and do little for the unserious. Classroom instruction shouldn't be watered down by reducing a valuable class.
Debate's problem in my mind is the same thing we see in other historical weak athletic programs. The coaches don't recruit/expose budding debaters earlier in their school year. The good basketball programs have the head coach going to sixth grades encouraging kids and talking about the program. What debate coach ever goes down into the classes extolling debate? Oh, yes. Donus Roberts did it in Watertown.
Your right about one thing Troy, a great coach makes a big difference in any activity. But I think there are a lot of great coaches in South Dakota.
If Mrs. Nelson hadn't talked about debate in 7th grade I wouldn't have been in it. I bet a lot of Milbank middle school kids know about Mr. Tschetter's program.
I agree with Matt - debate never would have been something that would have ever occurred to me had it not been discussed prior to me reaching high school. I also took the debate class my freshman year with no real intentions of ever actually continuing with it. But what can I say, I got hooked. A lot of that was due to some of the great coaches I had (thanks Cory!).
Oh, and Matt - If you ever take that trophy from the trophy case, I'll steal it out of your house next time I'm home :)
Looks like we're going to have a debate coach running against an incumbant States Atty here in the RC primary this year. Mark Vargo v Glenn Brenner. I wonder if they will have any public forums?
Troy,
I'm going to disagree with you a bit. I think that you are right about policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate. Those events work best with motivated extra-curricular debaters.
On the other hand, public forum debate and the supplemental debate that the National Forensics League does at its national tournament both are short enough and have used topics that would require students to avoid logical fallacies and think in terms of claim, data, warrant.
I will certainly agree that all of the coaches named on this thread along with Judy Kroll from Brookings who is retiring this year are amazing educators, recruitors, and coaches.
I will note that simply throwing money at new employees and saying "Go coach debate!" doesn't guarantee that we will get coaching of Roberts/Tschetter/Kroll caliber. But funding programs would let debate happen in many places where it currently doesn't.
Troy, I appreciate the comparison to P.E. basketball. I've seen some speech class debate that needs serious help. But I think we can more easily intergrate debate activities into serious curriculum than we can basketball. Consider what Becca said: the things we learn in debate remain memorable and relevant in ways that other class content does not. I can look back and see the same application of my research, writing, and speaking skills to a host of job (and blog!) skills that I use now. As a teacher and coach, I can turn that experience around to create classroom debate lessons and activities that will help kids see the usefulness of those activities.
Integrate debate into current classrooms and get the kids to think and analyze. You don't need to add teachers or spend money.
But Michael, to create the intermural opportunities to test our research and writing and speaking requires at least some support for a travel budget. A big benefit of debate is practicing these vital academic skills outside of the safe confines of the classroom and one's normal clique. Montrose kids debating Sioux Falls and Aberdeen kids—that's a big deal!
Engage students in the classroom and you'll do a better job of teaching. There is no better place to encourage debate in the classroom than government and history classes.
All I am saying is the memories and skills we gained from debate were by the extraordinary work put in. Your reference to speech is right. It exists. Enhance or tweak that class. Great. But to do more would reduce other classes that get taken. I am not convinced that is a good idea considering I thought debates value came from the work (individual and with partner) which doesn't seem conducive for the classroom. So I still think the solution is recruiting more participants. It is a perfect extracurricular activity.
After I wrote the above, I got in the shower and while there. . . thought I could make a short story long by explaining how I became a debater.
My freshman year, I got hurt in a football game that resulted in the loss of my spleen. The doctor said I could still be in sports but not football as the contact would be too painful. Football was my love so I played sophisticated year and doc was right. It was hard and I was beat up when season ended.
The next week the sophisticated basketball coach told me organization meeting the next day with practices starting on Monday. I looked at Coach Miller and just said, "I need a break until track (he was head track coach)." And he said to make a point I needed to be in shape for track, "What are you going to do? Debate?"
I laughed and then later that day, in a class, I sat behind a junior who I somehow knew debated and asked her about it (I knew nothing). She encouraged me to come as they were just moving into the season. I did and the debate career of a below average debater began.
Unless you grew up in Watertown, Lincoln, or Stevens, my story was not that unique. One guy from Aberdeen who I debated more than once and became "sit in hall" buddies with got into debate because his girlfriend begged him to join with her. She quit after a week and he stayed only because they broke up.
Anecdotes I know but. . . .
Debate AND Declam----a successful program can occur in a school of any size---Montrose, a very small school west of SF--in the mid 2000's became a powerhouse in debate, declam, and theatre-in part due to a certain instructor. One of those former students from Montrose became student board of Regent. In the meantime, debate in my home district of Madison has slipped quietly into little or nothing. Fortunately the declam program remains in strong hands and does quite well.
[Troy Jones has no spleen? I could cite various comments to the contrary... ;-) ]
I agree that the value of debate lies in the hard work you put into preparing for it at least as much as in the final speeches. But isn't that true of every class? Debate requires a level of work toward which we should push all students.
Cory, all I see is lots of talk. We can implement aspects of debate into our classrooms right now without additional funding or teachers.