I have to debate with some high school students tomorrow. Should I a) treat them like my equals and try to rip them apart b) go easy on them c) intentionally lower my diction and talk down to them to fluster them. My professor suggested (c)
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The Special One
ANSWERS: 6
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As a former debate coach I would suggest the following: C) lower the diction and fluster them then when they don't know what to make of you A) Crush them like a bug It is called sandbagging in debate I will give you my debate "locker room" speech (that I gave on a school bus): Debate is a sport, it is not an activity. There are winners and losers. You are not a loser. We are here to win. We did not work as hard as we did this week to make friends. Let's debate with honesty, strategy and intelligence.
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What do you want to accomplish? If you want to prove your manhood, (a) or (c) make sense. If you want to avoid contributing anything useful to their development, (b) sounds good. If you want to do something worthwhile, I think you'll need a fourth option... perhaps "challenge your opponents in a way which calls for their best efforts, without attempting to overwhelm or shame them". If that's too touchy-feely, go ahead and shred 'em!
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Treat them like equals, but have an open mind and realise that they may well be just as right as you are.
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If you're trying to make them think, the best idea is to simply play devil's advocate no matter what their position or yours is. This forces them to think, as they always have to counter you, because you're always disagreeing with them. Granted, this takes quick thinking, as you don't know what they're going to pull that you'll have to refute, but from my experiences this is the best way to force people to think and understand more. You'll more than likely rip them apart in the process, but you accomplished the goal of getting them to question for themselves.
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Thanks for the responses thus far, but I must say I did a poor job explaining the situation, damn space limitations! My professor asked me to be a guest lecturer for these kids who are, as he put it, ridiculously pompous and arrogant. They apparently refuse to listen and always assume their points are right, and he wants to inject some humility into them. He also doesn't want to put up a bunch of angry mothers threatening to sue him if he does it. So, herein lies my conundrum: (a) and (c) are my options if I want to pursue the avenue, but I threw (b) in there for the sake of my conscience.
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Don't soften any blows. If they've done their homework the should be able to handle it. They'll be in college soon so they better get used to the real world. I say go for it full throttle. And by full throttle I mean talk down to them if neccessary. Sounds like fun!
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