debateteam

__//HTMS Debate Team Comes Out on Top//__ The Debate Team went to Samford University on February 26, 2008, to debate against other schools in the area. After sitting and watching two debates, I soon realized how hard it is. There are three people on the team; First, Second, and Third Affirmatives and Negatives. The way they debate is the First Affirmative gives his speech to the room. Then, the First Negative gives his speech to dislodge the judges from the Affirmative’s strong speech. This is similar to the Classical Debate, which I told you about two weeks ago. They repeat the process through the entire First, Second, and Third speakers. During the full debate that I watched, it was HTMS against Erwin. They were debating whether English should be our official language or not. HTMS Debaters Affirmative: Chelsea Davis, Isabella Bagley, and Yvonne Otero Erwin Debaters Negative: Chloe Sutton, Torielle Gibbs, and LaShandra Hood + The first speech was by Chelsea Davis. Hers was very loud and clear. She stated that bilingual education is hurting more than helping, and is using more money that could be used for the war or new eco-friendly technology. Bilingual education is now a 10-billion dollar bureaucracy, which is a lot of money for an English country. She got her facts from [|http://www.proenglish.com]. The second speech on the Affirmative Side was spoken by Isabella Bagley. Her good fact was that there are well over 320 different languages and printing all legal documents in all languages would be ridiculous. Although beginning good, her argument fell apart halfway through, even though she tried as best as she could. The final speech on the Affirmative Side was by Yvonne Otero. She had a well planned and organized speech stating that it does not refer to the private home and business sector. Saying that bilingual education segregates students from other all-English schools baffled the Negative Side. “94% of American citizens today already speak English, so what is the point in making everyone speak English,” said First Affirmative Chelsea Davis. _   The Negative Side was very confident and had an very fine argument. I’m sure you don’t care to hear about our rival’s argument, but in the end, the judge voted Negative, meaning we lost. HTMS did a fine job representing our school and we are proud of their hard work. The judge had many good comments on us and very little critiques. She said they were loud, clear, and enthusiastic with their side’s beliefs. After all the debates were done, the main judge awarded the best debate team and debater there. Even though we lost the debate I attended, HTMS was awarded the best debate team in the tournament. Safa received the Debater’s Belt because she was the best debater all night with very strong arguments and good cross-examinations. HTMS did a great job down at Samford and represented our school very well. __//**The High School has a Debate Team?**//__ Did you know that the high school has a debate team too? Well know that you do, you probably need to know more about it. Mrs. Capps is the ninth grade coach and Mrs. Hulsey is the tenth through twelfth grade coach. Both are amazing coaches and both have an amazing team. The high school uses the policy debate, which is one I don’t know about either. The High School’s football arch rival is the Clay Cougars, but the Debate Team’s arch rival is Ramsey High School. They are a formidable opponent for the High School’s talent. I asked Mrs. Capps if it was a stressful job, dealing with people arguing and not wanting to stop, and she said it was only stressful when someone on the team did not commit to the team. This makes all of his team members have to pick up the slack during the debate. They practice after school for a couple hours per week, but some schools get much more practice. Surprisingly, the last debate they went to was against Ramsey, and they won. Mrs. Capps was very proud of the 9th Grade teams for beating their own rival. During all the debates, she can only participate as a judge and give helpful criticism to all the teams participating. Out of the entire state, their school only gets to debate with schools from our area, so that is not a lot. They hope to expand to other areas in the next two years. If they do, we hope that they can keep their same win record as an UNDEFEATED team!! She loves being the Debate Team leader, and it all started in 1999. She never debated in high school, so it was a hard decision to make. The old Jr. High principal came to her and asked her if she wanted to be the leader, and she said yes. Now she has nine years under her belt. Most of the debates take place at Samford. That’s the scoop on the high school debate team for ninth grade. **//__Types of Debates__//** There are many types of debates, and I am going to talk about the main two, parliamentary and classical. The parliamentary debate is used in most colleges and some high schools. Despite the name, it has no reference to the parliamentary government of England. I am going to talk about the __American Parliamentary Debate.__ This is supported by [|National Parliamentary Debate Association] (NPDA), the [|American Parliamentary Debate Association] (APDA), and the [|National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence] (NPTE). The style consists of two teams including the Government and the Opposition. The Government consists of two speakers: the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Crown. The opposition consists of two speakers also: Leader of the opposition and the Member of the Opposition. To explain their arguments on a subject, all speakers are given 7 minutes to fight their side. After all have spoken, both leaders are given 5 minutes to close the debate. The ups of a parliamentary debate are that anyone can understand it and at any point in time, anyone can cheer or hiss at someone’s argument. The classical debate is a new format of a high school debate. This type of debate is used widely in Minnesota. Before any debating starts, all members are assigned a role, be it the affirmative side or the negative side. The point of this debate is to make a resolution on an issue. There are 8 total speeches in a classical debate, but I will talk about the main five. This is the list of the main speeches:  1. Speech 1- The First Affirmative has 6 minutes to explain his argument in favor of the resolution.  2. Speech 2- The First Negative gives their argument in 6 minutes to oppose the resolution.  3. Speech 3- The second negative is given 5 minutes to diminish the affirmative’s debate  4. Speech 4- This speech is where the second affirmative rebuilds his side’s argument in 7 minutes.  5. Speech 5- the negative side is given 2 minutes to prepare to defend their opposition while taking down the affirmative. Attacking and rebuilding their argument is what makes this type of debate fun and interesting. It is sort of like a strategy game, where you’re always planning your next move. Which type of debate do you like best?(I personally love the classical debate because it would be good to watch.)

//__What is the Debate Team, Anyway?__//
==//Debate- A discussion involving opposing viewpoints// The Debate Team is a group of students trying to persuade someone to change their mind about something. It started at our school in 2000. The Debate Team Leader is Coach Ward. I had an interview with her over Gaggle, so this is her int erview: == How long have you been the Debate Team Leader? 7 or 8 years



Is it a stressful job? Sort of What is the Debate Team all about? We debate both sides of the topic to prove our case Where do you meet for practice? Mrs. McComb’s room What are the debates mostly about? Topic's have been death penalty, dress codes in schools, domestic surveillance, English as our official language, immigration laws, café plan When is the next meet?  Feb. 26 Clinton and Obama discuss national issues.

 Kerry shakes Bush’s hand at Presidential Debate We see debates in our every-day lives. The most publicized debate is the Presidential Debate. It takes place often after primary elections of the candidates running for office about issues facing our country today. The debate lasts around 120 minutes, and it is a long and hard one to win voters. Our school debates only last about __ min. or so, but it gives them a chance to experience what a presidential debate is like.



These are the current Debate Team Members: TEAM 1 Jacob Stanley Carson Chambliss Hunter Bledsoe

Team 2 Zack Carpenter Jacob Permar Matthew Pitts Rayce Cardwell(Jacob)

Team 3 Safa Khan Ramsha Farrukh Desirae Landry Alexandria Bagley

Team 4 Amy Conner Fallon Pate Grant King Dre Douthard

Team 5 Anna Hill Isabella Bagley Chelsea Davis Yuonne Otero Jordan Capps

Team 6 Skylar Handley Dylan Waldrep Nicholas Johnson Chase Trammell