by Ben Brown | Jan 19, 2022 | Concept Analysis, From Advanced to National-Class, Theory
I’ve found that a major downside of dedicating time to speech and debate instead of some other high school extracurricular is that it’s painful not being able to tell everyone about my amazing escapades in certain rounds. Sure, if I played basketball, anybody...
by Ben Brown | Dec 1, 2021 | From Intermediate to Advanced, From Novice to Intermediate, Negative
I’ll keep this brief: There is decidedly a correlation between quantity of negative research and competitive success in Team Policy. Look at the list of the top eight teams at both NCFCA and Stoa nationals last year. Almost every one of them has a...
by Ben Brown | Oct 27, 2021 | Concept Analysis, Soapbox
As zealous a proponent of high school speech and debate I may be, I’m forced to admit that its practical applications have their limits. Specifically, many might argue that those who succeed in speech and debate are able to do so because they develop skills which...
by Ben Brown | Sep 24, 2021 | Negative, TP
It’s nearly impossible to survive in TP without being an unwavering pessimist when it comes to the subject of reform. Think about it: if you want to win nationals, you have to be able to argue that literally any topical reform is a bad idea. That is,...
by Ben Brown | May 20, 2021 | Affirmatives, Debate Blog, From Intermediate to Advanced, From Novice to Intermediate, TP
What makes a good affirmative case? Aside from one that wins, most debaters look for policies that they believe should be implemented in the real world, and more specifically, ones that create the most benefits. For instance, if one course of action would...
