The following is the first article in a limited series by Houston Middle School Ethics Bowl founder and coach Deric Barber.
A few years ago, I went searching for a quality extracurricular academic activity for my middle school students. Debate seemed promising. After all, debate gets students to think about other perspectives. So I decided to observe one with a parent who was a volunteer judge.
When I told the folks at check-in I was there to observe, they invited me to judge. I told them I didn’t feel qualified, having never even attended a debate, let alone properly trained to judge. Their reply: “It’s easy. Just pick the team you think is best.”
Before I knew it, I was judging. I quickly realized that the students had prepared long and hard, which sent me scrambling to keep track of their complicated arguments. I’m sure they assumed I deserved to select a winner. But despite my appearance, little did they know I was thinking, “What a shame for these students to have some walk-in amateur choose which they consider ‘the best.'”
Well, I picked “the best” team and moved on to the second round. It was this round that ripped my heart out. One team was quick, poised, and ready to attack, while the other was younger and less confident. When the cross-fire portion of the round began, the older team grabbed the floor and started hurling accusations, taking phrases out of context, twisting what the other team had said to create something they had not, declaring how stupid the other team’s position was – the classic Straw Man fallacy.
The younger team wasn’t ready for this tactic. Anytime they tried to explain that the other teams’ (mis)interpretation was not what they had said, the aggressive team would grab the floor again with more ammunition, throwing the younger team into confusion. The younger team continued to fall into this trap. And when they’d try to clarify their view, the aggressive team would talk over them and refuse to stop, with both talking so loudly I couldn’t keep up with either.
Eventually a member of the younger team, having been bullied so aggressively and persistently, began to cry. What’s worse is that the bullying team went on to win the tournament! The bullies were distinguished as “the best” for the debate.
I came away thinking, “Is this what we’re teaching our children? That discussion is about talking over and past one another rather than listening? About “winning” even if it leaves the other side hurt and crying? About blindly convincing others to our side rather than working together to find the best solution? Even when we know our views are unexamined or even plain wrong?”
What I came to realize is that debate aims at persuasion by any means necessary, usually of uncritical thinkers. Americans too often think this is the best way to unpack issues. I agree, debate does help a student take that crucial first step and consider another view than one’s own, namely “the affirmative” or “the negative.” However does that one step in the right direction get us to “the best.” What if the answer lies outside of a given proposition altogether?
The people involved in debate, most of them loving parents and generous volunteers, no doubt are helping. They’re helping participants build speaking confidence and giving them a forum to practice one form of communication. They’re helping kids learn about important issues and setting the expectation that they’ll be engaged citizens.
But from my brief experience, traditional debate doesn’t get us all the way to “the best.” I am concerned that many of our brightest, creative, young minds are being limited to a winner/loser, I’m right/You’re wrong thinking that is divisive and falls short of “the best” for our nation and world. If only there were a better alternative, I suspect many of these well-intentioned parents and volunteers would adopt it.
Following the debate, I continued my search. It just so happened that Houston was holding its first High School Ethics Bowl.
To be continued…