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“A debate is a complicated thing, especially in the context of today’s pedagogic culture. As it exists in the mind of school administrators and most school teachers, a debate is essentially a public-speaking activity, where smart kids rattle off statistics and arguments to prove the opponent wrong, and in the end, the one who out-spoke everyone else wins the big prize. In this form of debate, which is extremely popular at schools with youngsters and grown-ups alike, practically no importance is attached to teamwork, research, subjective analysis, nuanced delivery, and a good exchange of thoughts. It is simply a smart gimmick, a stage act for children raised to be self-centered. Children who have assiduously been taught rambunctious public speaking, but who have had little or no training in reflective, private thinking.”
There is also the fact that people who are a little private in nature are deliberately encouraged to open up in such debates. Even those who dislike or are afraid of public speaking. The thing is, such debates can often be off-putting for them and discourage them more.
There is also the fact that literally no one wishes to pursue the matter beyond the day of the debate and a lot of school debates are extempore or single events. While extempore skills should be tested, there should also be debates which are free for all and open in nature and stretched for an indefinite time period as opposed to being over in a day.
And then there is the fact that there is a huge scope for proper debate using online forums, now that many schools have shifted their operations online. The benefit of a typed debate on public Q/A forums like Quora is that hate speech and ad hominem is often regulated by moderators, and debators have no time limit on when to respond, so one can mull over the topic by oneself for days. This is no guarantee of quality, of course, but a similar steup in schools would be astart, i suppose.
Also, there could be cons to this suggested system not considered here, so any suggestions for the same?“…people who are a little private in nature are deliberately encouraged to open up in such debates.” – yeah I know exactly what you are talking about. Everyone needs to be a ‘showy’ item now. No more room for people who work better when they are off the centre of immediate attention. 2-Minute Instant Noodles is the universal metaphor today.
And yes, forums are a great medium for extended talks. Like this one. Taking one’s time to think is supremely important if one is serious about the idea they are debating. Sadly, that isn’t the case these days.
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