#ValueOfDebatingSeries

What is a gift without a purpose, she pondered. I was captivated by a fresh perspective on the importance of contemplating the value and potential impact of debating on participants. Recently, I met with a parent who posed a similar question, asking, “Once our children have honed advanced communication and discourse skills, how can we ensure that their development is not in vain?”

Fundamentally, it is challenging and ultimately fruitless to engage in debating without considering its purpose.

This piece will explore the connection between debating and the acquisition of valuable career skills.

Career Skills

Preparing students for professional careers is not always the most popular goal of education among faculty. It is also important because data indicate it is a strong benefit of debate. A survey by Hobbs and Chandler showed that debate alumni overwhelmingly agreed that debate experience had aided them significantly in their professional careers (p5). In discussing their results, they report:

In general, it seems that training in intercollegiate debate provides students with a positive experience which helps them to develop skills which will be needed in their professions. Several respondents, in response to the open-ended questions, reported that debate was the most valuable educational experience they received. One minister wrote, “The most useful training I received in college for the ministry came from my experience in debate. Period.” A lawyer wrote, “personally, debate was the single most useful experience I had in 19 years of education.” Another respondent indicated “The lessons learned and the experience gained have been more valuable to me than any other aspect of my formal education (p6).

Hobbs and Chandler conclude that “this survey overwhelmingly supports the idea that participation in debate provides significant benefits for those entering the professions of law, management, ministry and teaching (p6).” Sheckels quotes a survey in which Midwest business hiring managers “listed debate first among twenty other activities and academic specializations that an applicant might present on a resume.”

In the same survey, debate was overwhelming the first choice of recruiting directors at major law firms (p 2). Surveys in the communication field indicate that many Department Chairs give credit to participation in debate/forensics for their success (Shroeder and Shroeder, p16). Specifically, Bill Hill, University of North Carolina, Charlotte; John Olsen, Everett Community College; Timothy Hegstrom, San Jose State; and Don Boileau, George Mason University cite participation in competitive forensics as an important source of their success (Shroeder and Shroeder, p16).

It appears that debate is an especially excellent pre-professional activity for future law students. “The data suggesting that forensics is valuable to the pre-law student is overwhelming” (Colbert and Biggers p238). Swanson found that 70.3% of law school deans recommended participation in intercollegiate debate. In fact, support from lawyers and law school administrators ranges from a strong endorsement of debate for all pre-law students to a suggestion that it be required. This seems to make a stronger case than even we might propose. The reason for such support may be the professional success of former debaters (Colbert and Biggers, p238).

This is an important discovery since survey data indicate that a third of top level competitive debaters go on to law school (Matlon). Explaining this data is not a difficult task. Debate is valuable as pre-professional education because the skills that are learned by a competitive debater parallel those required for success in many of the professions. Most obvious among these skills are those of critical thinking, examination of evidence, rational decision making, organization, oral communication and listening. The Chronicle of Higher education summarized the value of debate when reporting that “debate, perhaps more than any other extra-curricular activity, successfully bridges the gap between academics and careers, without skimping on either” (Muir). “In a time when many of our students ask us how educational activities will help them get a job, the answer seems to be unequivocal. Debate experience is highly valued by the business world” (Colbert and Biggers p239).

References

  1. Hobbs, J.D. and Chandler, R.C. “The Perceived Benefits of Policy Debate training in Various Professions.” Speaker and Gavel 28 (1991) 4–6.
  2. Matlon, R. J., and Keele, L.M. “A Survey of Participants in the National Debate Tournament, 1947–1980.” Journal of the American Forensic Association 20 (1984) 194–205.
  3. Muir, S.A. “A Defense of the Ethics of Contemporary Debate.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 26 (1993) 277–296.
  4. Muir, S.A. Policy Debate: A Superior Alternative. A Brochure provided by the Policy Caucus of the American Forensic Association.
  5. Colbert, K. and Biggers, T. “Why Should We Support Debate?” Journal of the American Forensic Association 21 (1985) 237–40.
  6. Colbert, K. “The Effects of CEDA and NDT Debate Training on Critical Thinking Ability.” Journal of the American Forensic Association 23 (1987) 194–201.
  7. Colbert, K. “The Effects of Debate participation on Argumentativeness and Verbal Aggression.” Communication Education 42 (1993) 206–214.
  8. Colbert, K. “Enhancing Critical Thinking Ability through Academic Debate.”
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