Washington policy debate is resurgent (Georgetown Day School, Thomas Jefferson)
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
I debated in high school and college, and would love for my own children to do policy debate in high school. It is an activity that develops your reasoning, critical thinking, and ability to act quickly and strategically, as well as your reading, research, and presentation skills. Fast talking and a developed knowledge of philosophy are a must in policy debate as it has currently evolved. I also love that debate remains an egalitarian competition in which the name and wealth of your school does not give you an advantage, and in which students from small-town, obscure mid-western high schools (like mine) compete on equal footing with students from the best, large metropolitan public schools, and the elite southern, tx, and east/west coast privates. You are judged, and have to earn your wins round-by-round, tournament-by-tournament, dedicating many hours to research, practice, and travel, and making friends from high schools around the country in the process. Some number of us even end up as professionals in Washington, often as attorneys.
Back in my day, several decades, there were a number of good Washington area teams on the national circuit, including Georgetown Day and Thomas Jefferson. The strong local schools participating have been culled a bit since the '90s, which I attribute to the time commitment the activity requires. My own children are still a few years away from high school, but it is with interest that I have watched Jon Sharp and Alex Lennon, themselves college debaters, take the helm at GDS and TJ respectively. I am excited to see that GDS (2 teams) and TJ (1 team) both currently have teams with at least one TOC bid, and that both schools had team(s) break at a recent national tournament in Lexington. GDS teams appear to have won both the novice division and made the varsity final (it looks like there was no varsity final held). It is nice to see these two local schools resurgent on the national circuit, though unfortunately TJ won't be an option for us, as we live in DC itself. |
Anonymous
| Most private schools are doing public forum instead of policy. The debate coach at one big 5 school told us that their kids didn't have the time needed to dedicate to policy but also that policy was dying on the vine. I gather this has been predicted ad nauseam over the years, and it's belied by the huge growth in urban debate leagues (for public school kids). Washington DC now has one (WUDL) that is growing exponentially. It's not top level debate yet, but the focus is policy, the people involved are great, it's very nurturing and supportive, and an excellent way to get a start. Our DC has done it for a few years and it's been a fantastic experience. I only wish there were more private school options to graduate to. |
Anonymous
|
Policy debate is not dying on the vine nationally, far from it, and many of the traditional powerhouse schools have been joined by new names. It does, however, require time commitment from its students, probably equivalent to an additional half-class, if there were such a thing. Among the local private schools only GDS and GDS students are willing to take that commitment on, with impressive national results. TJ has the most prominent policy program among the local public schools.
By the way, many policy debaters are also multiple sport athletes, edit the school journals, and perform in the school plays, bands, or choirs. So students do find a way to do it all. Also, your middle school debater can move to policy debate in high school, many kids make that change. I know several GDS debaters volunteer some time to help coach debate at local public and private schools, including in the urban debate league. |
Anonymous
| The urban debate league is policy, for middle and upper schoolers both, the only problem is that it's too new to have a lot of experienced debaters. Some of the kids have basically outgrown it and it's frustrating that GDS is the only option for advanced policy debate since it's so hard to get into. WUDL will get there but it could take a couple more years. |
Anonymous
|
TOC bid list --proxy for national circuit top policy teams https://www.tabroom.com/index/results/toc_bids.mhtml GDS has a few teams qualified for TOC this year. Consistent with its 30 year track record. TJ is looking pretty thin with only one team---hardly a national powerhouse relative to other schools. It is amazing that 30 years later the same schools earn the most TOC bids (e.g. MBA, Greenhill, St. Mark's, GBN, GBS and Lexington HS). |
Anonymous
| The schools on the TOC bid list fluctuate from year to year, but yes, some of the big names remain constant. Give Alex a few years to build up TJ. |
Anonymous
The GDS debate program is exceptional. Top of the league. |
Anonymous
| Policy is for nerds who like little wheelbarrows full of sad notecards. Parliamentary all the way. |
Anonymous
Welcome to 2018. Policy debaters do not use notecards anymore, it's all done via laptops, dropbox, and flashdrives. |
Anonymous
NP. I'm only chiming in because I went to one of the schools on your list, and was friends with all the debaters there, although I dropped out of debate fairly rapidly. I'm slightly confused because the Lincoln Douglas list you linked does not include GDS at all. And I also see at least a couple other DC-area public schools there (Churchill and Whitman), with more entries than TJ. Am I misreading? |
Anonymous
|
You did not select the policy toggle in the upper right. You must of selected LD. Re-do and the data will appear.
|
Anonymous
Also, for some reason Tabroom does not reflect a fourth TOC bid that GDS earned in making the semifinals of the New York City Invitational back in October. |
Anonymous
The figurative wheelbarrows remain. |
Anonymous
|
Which is the one where they talk 100 miles an hour and (to an uneducated observer) it seems like it's kind of akin to fencing with scoring as many points as you can (thus the fast talking)? Is that policy? If so, I've seen some superstar genius folks with that background, but it sounds like something like Parliamentary Debate might be more fun/accessible to a wider range of students?
Anyway, happy to hear that debate of any variety is in a resurgence. |
Anonymous
Yes, that is policy debate. Each team is a partnership of two individuals. |