Now that we have concluded the Debate Tournament and the Debate ELO for the semester, I wanted to quickly reflect on what we have done in our meetings. Without a doubt, Debate has been one of the more enjoyable and meaningful experiences for me this semester. From picking the topics that we were going to debate to doing research about the topics, Debate has certainly provided a number of learning opportunities. I personally have debated topics ranging as widely as whether felons should retain their voting rights and whether news stations need to maintain their partiality. I would have no other reason to research something like this, but because I had to debate it, I have actually formed some definitive opinions about the ideas that I may never have had the opportunity to do without Debate. And this says nothing about the debates themselves. During the debates, it is always interesting just to listen throughout the meetings to what everyone says and, more importantly, how they say it. Anyone could be given a topic and find out some pertinent facts for it, and there is definitely much to be learned about the topics just from these facts. But the different styles in which everyone presents their arguments is what really makes the debates fun and interesting to watch. Will the person give their side of the argument and stick to defending it or will they sit back and attack what their opponent says? Which of the debaters will be able to take the nuances of the resolution and subtly shift it so that it favors them? While participating in a debate, or even simply watching one, you can learn so much about what the people are debating and about the debaters themselves. I encourage any Scholars who read this to strongly consider participating in the Debate Society next year.
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