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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I debated in high school in the 90s, and even then the “spreading” and the “kritiks,” which no one has mentioned but are probably even sillier and more toxic than the spreading, dominated the national circuit. Now I have a middle schooler who enjoys debate as a novice (no spreading or kritiks yet) and is doing quite well. I see some educational value in the activity — she’s learning about policy issues and analyzing evidence to find flaws and counter-arguments — but I worry about her getting too deep into the toxic and somewhat ridiculous culture of higher-level competitive policy debate. I wish there were a more traditional form of debate that focused more on research, logical argumentation, and persuasion. Is Lincoln-Douglas or Public Forum debate the answer? Anyone with recent experience, I’d love to hear from you! [/quote]

I think it has more to do with the region and how connected debaters are to national circuit style, than the specific debate activity. I love LD, I did it in high school myself in the 80s and I judge it now on our local circuit which is quite low-key and reminds me of the activity I did. But I went to a few national circuit type tournaments with my kid and just for fun watched some elimination rounds and I didn’t even recognize the activity. It has gotten much more like old policy with spreading/kritiks and just loads of BS. I actually really liked PF that I saw at national circuit tournaments, the kids were really smart and well informed and it more about learning the issues than some silly game rules.[/quote]

The wall Street journal video says the fast talking girl does Lincoln Douglass style, was that incorrect?[/quote]

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