[Archive March 22, 2006]
Liberty University’s highly-ranked debate team was featured in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine (Ministers of Debate by Zev Chafets, March 19,2006). Their debate program “has five full-time coaches and a budget of half a million dollars.” They currently have a campaign to raise a $10 million endowment. I was surprised to learn that “since it inception in 1980, the Liberty program has won 15 national-rankings championships, two more than its closest competitor, Northwestern.”
I was edified to read and learn about college extra-curricular activities that don’t involve basketball, football, or binge drinking. Many most likely only know of debates during the campaign season. These are for the most part only memorable for the quotes like “I knew George Washington. George Washington was my friend.” (Ronald Reagan) or “Who am I? Why am I here?” (Ross Perot’s runningmate Vice Admiral James Stockdale) or mannerisms like John Kerry tapping his index finger repeatedly while addressing President Bush.
Debates on a personal level are usually not too fruitful and are avoided out of either “courtesy”, or because often a “shrill and extremist” response is anticipated, or because the debate partners are not prepared or willing to argue a point. Nevertheless, debates can be fruitful since they are a form of dialog —and communication, even when it is weak, seems to always be a good.
Here’s some highlights on aspects of “criteria”, “techniques” and “methodology” —ideology aside — from Ministers of Debate:
On the debaters themselves:
A lot of students are home-schooled; some have even taken part in special home-school debate leagues. But according to [head coach Brett] O’Donnell, they lack the starch for serious debate. “These kids pray with each other before the matches,” he says. “They put a big emphasis on good manners. I’ve got nothing against manners or praying, but we want to win. I’ve never met a home-schooled debater who was aggressive enough for college competition.”
…The emphasis on words per minute presents Liberty with another challenge. Debate is generally a male sport; Liberty tends to be an exception. Many of its best debaters are, like [Melissa] Hurler, Southerners who come from a culture that frowns on fast-talking women. They compete against self-assured, big-city Northern boys who have been arguing since the playground.
And the moral is: if you want to win a debate, look for Southern home-schooled girls as opponents?
On the format:
The rules of college debate require teams to argue at each tournament both sides of an annual, nationally chosen topic.
…Contests last 92 minutes, and each debater on each two-person team speaks three times —opening arguments, cross-examination and closing arguments — for a total of 23 minutes. At some tournaments, teams have five matches a day.
On preparation:
O’Donnell and his coaches scout the other teams, Liberty knew that one of its opponents in Annapolis would probably argue that the Chinese should be pressured because they discriminate against their Muslim minority. In the van on the four-hour drive there, debaters rehearsed, using a special lingo.
“They pull the genocide card,” one said, “we come back with Heidegger.”
“Then blam, Erich Fromm.”
“Right. Setting up an accusation of Holocaust triv.”
“Holocaust what?” asked O”Donnell.
“Triv. Trivialization.”
“Don’t use shorthand,” O’Donnell said, “Judges don’t like it.”
…
No dairy products are allowed on game days. “Milk loosens the mucus in the throat, and that makes it harder to speak quickly,” he explains.
Wow, even better advice: if you want to win a debate, look for Southern home-schooled girls who drink lots of milk as opponents!
On debate theory:
”The trick is to persuade the audience,” he explained to me. “It’s psychological, and it rests in Aristotle’s theory of enthymeme. Aristotle says that pure logic can’t carry a public argument. You need to make the audience go along with you. You do that by leaving out a premise that the audience will add itself.
“For example, if you are trying to convince senior citizens to invest in something, you emphasize the stability of the investment. You don’t have to convince seniors that stability is in their interest. They already know that. When they connect what you are proposing to what they already know, you have them arguing with you instead of against you. That’s what we teach our kids.”
On the dynamics of debate:
Quick speaking hardly captures the velocity of collegiate debate. Varsity debaters talk at 350 to 400 words a minute — about the speed of a fast auctioneer. Onlu experienced judges — most of whom are coaches from neutral schools — can actually follow the argument. For this reason, debate isn’t a spectator sport. Sitting in a classroom at Annapolis for the opening debate of the tournament, a match between Liberty and trinity university, I could make out only random bursts of words: “Chinese … production facilities … economic consequences … freely elected… patient … consequences … targets … moratorium … nuclear winter … human rights …”
Not a “spectator sport” indeed! But can these debaters type 350 to 400 words per minute?
My previous post has more on Liberty University, “the world’s largest conservative Evangelical Christian university.”
Photo: By Jeff Reidel
Tags: Liberty University
