My old school used to do this.....I was involved and absolutely loved it!! Does anyone else have fond memories??
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
I have very mixed feelings about my experience as a debater.
Posted by Trisha the Severe Hottie (Member # 6000) on :
I was on the Latin team. We were really immature. I was a lit mag staff groupie. (groupie in a colloquial and not literal sense- I dated one of the staff but couldn't type and so felt useless to the actual endeavor.) We had a quiz show called "It's Academic" but our round was always in the fall so that didn't go on all year long. I was on that once.
Whats the matter, nfl, were you no master?
[ January 10, 2005, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: Trisha the Severe Hottie ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
You're from the Northern Virginia/DC/Southern Maryland area, Trisha?
I didn't know that.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
I'm on the "It's academic"/"Quizmaster Challenge" team at my school. We're pretty good knowledge-wise... but it's all about buzzer speed.
--j_k
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I was in the Model United Nations, it was awesome!
I only did it for a year, but I was the Holy See, Republic of Congo, and then I was a lawyer in the International Justice Court. Good times.
Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :
I did it - I did impromptu. Little to no preparation, shortest rounds, highest adreniline rush, went to state.
I tried L/D, but one tournament where I discovered that the goal was to win and not to test one another's theories in hopes of coming to the correct consensus ended that. I was so idealistic.
Posted by Trisha the Severe Hottie (Member # 6000) on :
Oui. :in the manner of Phil Connors:. How else could I have been temping at Mobil Corporate?
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I live about a mile up the road from Mobil Corporate, just by the mini-golf.
Course, I grew up in Virginia Beach, and the only exposure I had to NoVa was when I'd come up here to whip y'all in debate. Posted by Trisha the Severe Hottie (Member # 6000) on :
See, I lived in Va Beach while my dad did a stink as science officer on the Nimitz at age 14. The State Latin convention was held down there the following year. I went to Plaza for 8th grade.
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
Well I went to Nova High School and we whipped everyone in debate. Unfortunately, that fact made it difficult for a somewhat-better-than-average debater like myself to compete as often as I would have liked.
And that joke is way too old.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
I lived in Virginia Beach! Princess Anne High School. Just thought I'd share. Carry on.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Kemspville Jr. High and Kempsville High, class of 1988.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Of course Dag was a debator!
quote:I tried L/D, but one tournament where I discovered that the goal was to win and not to test one another's theories in hopes of coming to the correct consensus ended that. I was so idealistic.
Oh my goodness, Katie. This is totally me. I actually refused to do L/D much to the chagrin of my coach. I didn't want to argue a side I didn't believe in.
So, I did extemp and cleaned up quite frequently and haven't been able to prepare anything in advance since.
Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :
*grin* We are sisters, Annie. That's EXACTLY what I did.
Posted by Trisha the Severe Hottie (Member # 6000) on :
I graduated in '88 too, but I was in Salt Lake by then.
So you didn't go straight into law school, then, did you? How did you wind up deciding to go?
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
Ah, you are more my brother's vintage. He also graduated from PA. I'm class of '96.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I went to UVA for undergrad. While there, I worked at the Navy for my first summer doing data entry and database programming. My family moved up to NoVa, and I got a job with the HQ of the Naval Command I worked with. So I did DB programming with another intern for 3 more summers. After we graduated, we started a computer consulting business, which eventually grew to about 25 people. I figured I could always go back to school in a couple of years.
I got tired of it, and didn't want to convert from doing to managing, which would have been necessary to grow further. Plus, I had serious disagreements with my business partner - I didn't like the way he was treating me or the employees, and I didn't like the direction he wanted to take the company. So I sold my shares to him and went to law school.
Simple story, really. Basically, I'm a dot-com refugee, except our business didn't go under.
Dagonee
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
quote: Oh my goodness, Katie. This is totally me. I actually refused to do L/D much to the chagrin of my coach. I didn't want to argue a side I didn't believe in.
I never had any topics that I felt strongly enough on to actually consider not debating both sides of them. I did wonder however, what would happen if the abortion topic or another one similar to that were to come up again.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I did policy, and was disillusioned with it by my senior year because of the emphasis and speed and card-weighing (where some judges decide based solely on the volume of evidence presented, not by judging its credibility).
Still, I won one round during cross-examination, which is a big enough thrill to make it all worth it.
In college I joined a debating/literary society - mostly values debate and some parlimentary. Fun stuff, but I purposely avoided competing.
Dagonee
Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
I time kept several policy rounds at my school tournament because I was interested in what they were like since our coach didn't let us do policy, and it was incredibly boring. I think I might have caught one out of every ten words.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
When I came back to judge, I told the debaters before every round that they needed to look at me and watch to make sure I was keeping up. One entire speech didn't get flowed because he wasn't really saying the words.
I also stopped one guy who would slow down for his points, and slur his evidence, skipping words and not fully pronouncing any multi-syllable word, which I consider cheating. I told him if he didn't pronounce all the words, I wasn't going to count the card as evidence.
I was a curmudgeon even when I was in college.
Dagonee
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
*waves* I was president of Speech and Debate my Jr. Year, was on the team every year of HS. I was also on Mock Trial and in Latin Club and the JCL (Junior Classical League).
I was a geek.
I'm still a geek.
[ January 10, 2005, 07:42 PM: Message edited by: ketchupqueen ]
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
My high school was class A and competed in class A-B-C meets, which means the smallest schools. Smallest schools means smallest towns means judges with no idea what's going on. Thus, it was far less what you were saying and far more how you were saying it that won you meets.
In extemp, the reigning royalty were the trio of double-breasted suit boys from the local Catholic school. They had the male business-man speaking style that I and my female cohorts just couldn't compete with. By my sophomore year, though, I was learning to subvert it. I started putting more drama into extemp speaking than was ever intended to be there. I used literature and pop culture as introductions and metaphors. Junior year, I took second at state, beaten out by my dear friend Denise, the only black girl in Montana speech and debate, and a partner in crime who shared my view on "disco liberation" of our speaking genre.
I may not have learned anything about the actual right way to give an informative current events speech, but boy did I have fun making Obi Wan Kenobi and Lewis Carroll relate to Japanese economics and domestic policy.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I was a geeky competitive speaker.
I was on my State debating team and the Australian national debating team. We went to London in 99 for the World Schools Debating Championship and were quarter-finalists and to Pittsburgh in 2000 and won . That was fun.
At Uni I did Jessup Mooting. We won the national championships in 2002 then went to Washington in 2003 and won the international round.
I got best speaker and beat the boys from Harvard - who were pretty arrogant. Also fun.
Edit: To stop the boasting spree - I once tried to join my high school drama club and got told I couldn't act. And, on reflection, I really can't.
[ January 10, 2005, 09:11 PM: Message edited by: imogen ]
Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
Actually, debating both sides is my favorite part of L/D. I was a cocky teenager and L/D forced me to constantly question my own beliefs on a wide range of topics.
IIRC, Toretha also does L/D. Tres still does it on Hatrack on a daily basis. Posted by newfoundlogic (Member # 3907) on :
quote: Smallest schools means smallest towns means judges with no idea what's going on. Thus, it was far less what you were saying and far more how you were saying it that won you meets.
I was on a 200 person debate team in one of the larger districts, the judges were still awful and they still cared more about style than substance even in LD rounds which is supposed to be almost all substance.
quote: I started putting more drama into extemp speaking than was ever intended to be there. I used literature and pop culture as introductions and metaphors.
You should have been doing that from the beginning. I haven't seen a good extemper who didn't put some kind of pop culture reference in their speech.
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I haven't seen a good extemper who didn't put some kind of pop culture reference in their speech.