Author Topic: Personal politics and debate judging  (Read 957 times)

MillCreek

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Personal politics and debate judging
« on: May 25, 2023, 07:13:24 PM »
https://www.thefp.com/p/judges-ruin-high-school-debate-tournaments

From the article:

At national tournaments, judges are making their stances clear: students who argue ‘capitalism can reduce poverty’ or ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ will lose—no questions asked.

Well, this sucks.  I lettered in debate in high school, and it was great, great training for me to think logically, see different sides of an issue, think on my feet and present persuasive arguments.  My experience in debate was very helpful to me in my legal and risk management work.  I did some high school debate judging when I was with the law firm and I enjoyed it.  For me, the judging was all about how you organized your thoughts and presented a clear and compelling argument. I was unaware of the current state of the art.
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MillCreek
Snohomish County, WA  USA


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Perd Hapley

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2023, 07:28:38 PM »
So you can only win the debate by losing? How very New Testament.
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WLJ

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2023, 07:32:27 PM »

At national tournaments, judges are making their stances clear: students who argue ‘capitalism can reduce poverty’ or ‘Israel has a right to defend itself’ will lose—no questions asked.


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Ben

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2023, 07:37:25 PM »
Sad.  I recall that when I had classes with required debates in High School, the teachers encouraged the "unpopular" viewpoint and seemed to encourage and respect the students who took a side that the student personally disagreed with.
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Pb

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2023, 08:12:37 PM »
I thought debaters were assigned positions to defend... and had to be ready to argue any side. 

I guess that wouldn't make a difference to a judge like that though.

Perd Hapley

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2023, 12:07:34 AM »
I thought debaters were assigned positions to defend... and had to be ready to argue any side. 

I guess that wouldn't make a difference to a judge like that though.

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griz

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2023, 12:33:44 AM »
So their official position is the judges are to be impartial and not rule on personal bias, yet they allow judges to openly post statements about their biases?  Sounds like somebody's got some 'splaing to do.
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K Frame

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2023, 07:44:00 AM »
Meh. My preferred form of debate is a hard straight jab to the face.
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HankB

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Re: Personal politics and debate judging
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2023, 11:59:28 AM »
I was never in an actual debate club or class, but in college they said one of the best ways to get an "A" from some philosophy professors was to disagree with them. In a civil manner, of course. A few of them actually seemed to relish civilized discourse.

From reading the link in the original post, if I were a debater and had one of those ADMITTEDLY biased judges . . . I would likely use what little time I would have (before they cut my mike) to call out  the biased judge, denounce the process as a fraud and a sham, and walk off. And thinking back to my high school and college classmates, many - perhaps most - of them would do the same.

Don't play their games.

(Good advice for today's female high school and college athletes who are tossed into competition with female impersonators.)
« Last Edit: May 26, 2023, 04:03:59 PM by HankB »
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