High School Debate

Spending over twenty hours a week researching an out-of-the-ordinary topic and waking up at three in the morning every weekend is enough to make the average high school student cry, but for many students across the nation, it is an average week of debate. Debate, or forensics, contains a large variety of speaking activities and is widely recognized for being a valuable endeavor for students, but for many, it is a poorly funded or non-existent program at their high school. By cutting speech and debate programs, high schools are depriving students of the many valuable advantages the activity provides: benefits in high school, benefits in college and the work force, benefits in life overall, and preparation to be a part of society. The most recognizable

After receiving a topic for debate, debaters must write multiple speeches, and the writing of a debate speech is comparable to writing a senior level thesis (Bratt). Students are furthering their writing skills to the level of seniors each time their write a debate case. Also, debaters are more likely to take their education into their own hands (“The Benefits of Debate”), which, and due to the independence, they learn how to further themselves in their education. The large amount of time debate needs to be successful also provides an advancement for a student. “Because debate students engage in 20 hours or more a week of preparation, they gain more experience in research in one year than in all the rest of their studies combined” (Bratt). By spending so much time in one activity researching and arguing, debaters are furthering their education. The advanced education debate provides gives students large levels of knowledge that will help them in high

The average debate is in the top of their class after joining debate, and debate teams have an average grade point average of 3.75 (“The Benefits of Debate”). The grade point average of a debater is much higher than the average of non-debaters, and it means students are succeeding in high school. Students on a debate team will also have higher test scores than the rest of the school, especially the ACT and SAT (“The Benefits of Debate”). Test scores are especially important when comparing success. Debaters are having multiple advantages in high school, but because of the lack of debate programs in school many miss the