Valley Mid American Debate Analysis

The volcano of stress in my chest grows as my partner and I walk into the crowded lecture hall. It was the final round of the Valley Mid America Debate Cup, and we face a team ranked tenth in the nation. As we take our seats at the front of the room, the other team stands up and asks us a question that embodies the very foundation of debate. “Ready for the coin flip?” In debate, regardless of the topic, teams must be prepared to defend both sides of a contentious issue. It wasn’t until my senior year of debate when I recognized that debate offered more than just wins and losses on each side of a topic; it was a form of discovery to learn more about the opposing truths underlying complex issues and the contradictions of the world we live in. I started debating as a freshman and had a natural affinity for it; pointing out flaws in others’ logic to deconstruct arguments was second nature to me, and debate further refined these abilities. I measured the growth in my abilities through the wins, losses, and arbitrary rankings I accumulated. Motivated by trophies, I approached debate rounds with the mentality that the arguments were a means to victory, and not an end unto itself. This disconnection, I later realized, prohibited me from realizing that the dialogue we held in debate was so much more …show more content…
Research began as a chore, but over time, the more I researched, the more engrossed I became. Delving through research that corroborated opposing worldviews, I realized that the truth existed on both sides of the topics I was investigating, that the truth didn’t exist in a binary. By forcing me to assess different perspectives, debate had precipitated in me a feeling of confusion towards the complexities of world issues while simultaneously a feeling of empowerment, with debate rounds giving me an outlet by which to discuss these pertinent