In Middle School there are so many different electives to choose from, but one of the middle school’s favorites is MS Debate. Students join the class for a variety of reasons, but they all find something to love about it.
Many students find the activity through family. “I was drawn to debate by my passion for arguing with my sister,”Krish Iyer said. whereas Joseph Giocondo was drawn to the debate team after his dad told that he had done debate all throughout middle school and high school and Jaiden Shah joined after his dad told him that he was the captain of his debate team when he was in high school.
In middle school, students compete in Student Congress debate, which simulates congressional sessions with student-written legislation. Students need to be prepared to give both pro (in support) and con (not in support) speeches on each topic.
Students approach the preparation process in a variety of ways. Iyer prepares by dividing the six topics into pros and cons. He then writes 12 speeches about the pros and cons that he chose. Giocondo prefers to have an outline, intro, thesis, body, conclusion, and has to have a lot of evidence to support the pro or con of the speech. Shah likes to prepare by making sure he can speak confidently and clearly.
One of the reasons students like debate is because of all the topics they get to explore. Debate has given Iyer great insight on topics like free college tuition. Giocondo has paid a lot more attention to the election and other current events. Shah’s perspective on current events has even been altered because debate has informed him on new perspectives about what’s going on around the world.
In order to be a good debater Giocondo says you have to be able to analyze text and paraphrase text and be able to deliver your speech confidently. Shah adds a debater should possess a good ability to speak confidently and clearly and make both good eye contact and good arguments.
This certainly comes with its challenges. In Shah’s opinion the hardest challenge for him is coming up with answers he didn’t study for. Iyer thinks the hardest challenge that comes with being a debater is being prepared for other debaters to cross examine him. Cross examination happens after your speech and your opponents get to ask you questions about it.
The MS Debate team is a great middle school elective and anybody that will enter 7th or 8th grade next year should. Really consider choosing debate as one of their electives for a semester. Students have so much fun, most of them are planning on debate in high school.
