At the Nanuet Debate First Round, my team went 3/4 and was in a great position to make it to the final round. To make the finals, we only had to go 2/4 in the next 4 rounds. However, the next four rounds were to be held at RCDS. This was a huge disappointment to be and at the same time very exciting. On the one hand, if I made a mistake, the school would be watching, but on the other side if I succeeded epically, I would be seen by everyone. The school cancelled all classes, meaning almost everyone in the high school would be watching my team's debate. I stayed up late preparing so as to succeed in front of everyone and make sure that my partner and I made the finals. I watched a series of political debates on youtube and was surprised on how vague the candidates were when talking about Health Care Reform (the debate topic this year).
I arrived at school and looked over my notes and felt ready to argue. In the first round I was up against two small girls. They were the youngest in the competition, but also two of the strongest. My partner proposed our problems with todays system and did a great job in her section of the debate. My debate was very different. I was worried about looking too aggressive and mean as the big bully yelling at the little girl, so I tried to be as polite as possible. I gave my speech and I was surprised at how nervous I was being in front of the school. It managed to go well enough and my nerves did not affect me in too noticable a way. When I was cross-examined, I struggled, but managed to not be too agressive. My team won and were able to get a spot in the finals.
By the next round, I completely overcame my nerves of speaking in front of the school. I spoke without fear and was able to be agressive. Throughout the day I came to love being around my schoolmates when debating because I felt that I was suported and motivated to succeed, rather than nervous and fearing a mistake.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Debate Meet Part 1
For the past 2 months, I have spent a large amount of my time working on debate research. This year our topic is Resolved: The Government should implement a national health care plan. This was a huge and complicated topic that took a ton of work. After countless after school meetings between me, my partner, and our school's other team of two, and with a binder full of research, we headed to our first debate at the Nanuet High School. It was my first year on debate and I came in very anxious and worried that the other teams would all be geniuses.
My team and I walked into the high school into a hallway cluttered with students. I had never seen a hallway like this, it was so hard to move. We then made our way to the library where many nervous, dressed-up teens were pacing about. The first matches were quickly announced and we were set to argue for the national health care plan.
My team entered our assigned room and found we had to debate in front of a classroom of about 20 students, which was a bit nerve-racking. We began our debate and gave our affirmative speech. The negative team, who was assigned to defend the status quo, came out with a prepared speech themselves about "the nature of the free market." I was shocked that they had a prepared negative speech when the whole idea of negative team is to adapt to what the affirmative is saying.
I had to give my first speech when I presented the plan. I had a speech written which I had practiced many times and the speech went wonderfully; I was very relieved. Against our speech, however, the team also had a prepared speech which was not the right way to go about it. They said something along th llines of that those who cannot afford health care don't deserve it. When asked directly bby me ,"Do you feel the poor deserve to be unhealthy," our opponent said "Yes."
I left the debate feeling very confident about how our team had done, but was surprised by the judges remarks. The judges said that my partner and I were being too agressive in our debating style and that they did not think our plan was an effective plan. They still gave us the win because the negative only read their prepared speeches.
It was a debate that was nerve-racking before-hand, confidence-building during, and humbling after. In a debate I thought my team had won easily in, we actually had a close call and would need to be careful in the upcoming ones.
My team and I walked into the high school into a hallway cluttered with students. I had never seen a hallway like this, it was so hard to move. We then made our way to the library where many nervous, dressed-up teens were pacing about. The first matches were quickly announced and we were set to argue for the national health care plan.
My team entered our assigned room and found we had to debate in front of a classroom of about 20 students, which was a bit nerve-racking. We began our debate and gave our affirmative speech. The negative team, who was assigned to defend the status quo, came out with a prepared speech themselves about "the nature of the free market." I was shocked that they had a prepared negative speech when the whole idea of negative team is to adapt to what the affirmative is saying.
I had to give my first speech when I presented the plan. I had a speech written which I had practiced many times and the speech went wonderfully; I was very relieved. Against our speech, however, the team also had a prepared speech which was not the right way to go about it. They said something along th llines of that those who cannot afford health care don't deserve it. When asked directly bby me ,"Do you feel the poor deserve to be unhealthy," our opponent said "Yes."
I left the debate feeling very confident about how our team had done, but was surprised by the judges remarks. The judges said that my partner and I were being too agressive in our debating style and that they did not think our plan was an effective plan. They still gave us the win because the negative only read their prepared speeches.
It was a debate that was nerve-racking before-hand, confidence-building during, and humbling after. In a debate I thought my team had won easily in, we actually had a close call and would need to be careful in the upcoming ones.
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