From Advanced to National-Class
Who Is Jesus?
Whenever we address the topic of theology or apologetics, we must ask ourselves who Jesus is. If this question tends you a little bit that's fine, it confuses most theologians too. This question really has two tenets, how Jesus was Revealed (and what we learn), and...
The Rules Have Changed… Now What?
If you’ve been reading my blog articles for a while, you knew that this was coming. Earlier this year, the NCFCA announced their rule changes for 2022, with this being one of the revisions: “Only the Affirmative speaker (LD) or 1st Affirmative speaker (TP) may...
Plancentrism: Purpose-Driven Debate Theory
What must an affirmative team do to win a policy debate round? The affirmative should win if they convince the judge that the audience and the debaters are better off if the judge votes affirmative. Conversely, the negative should win if they convince the judge that...
Mentoring: The How and Why
What were the biggest things that helped you really start understanding debate as you were first starting out? We all have a short list of things that really made things “click” for us, and if you can remember those things, there’s a good chance that you could make a...
The Benefits of Rapping Your 2AR’s
Anybody who’s been in TP or LD debate for any considerable amount of time understands the necessity of delivering a memorable 2AR. After all, being able to give the final speech of the round poses a significant rhetorical advantage to the affirmative--an advantage...
Revisiting the Burden of Proof, Part 2
In part 1, we looked at the argument for net benefits being the superior framing as compared to the burden of proof in Team Policy. The short version is that 9 times out of 10, the burden of proof boils down to net benefits anyway. That is, first, if there’s a net...
Why Debate Resolutions Are Getting Too Big… And What to Do about It
Each year, my debate club requires every student to go through the NCFCA’s “Comprehensive Guide to Policy Debate” curriculum in the fall, regardless of experience level. Having read it multiple times before, I was skimming the week’s assigned chapter twenty or...
In Defense of Topical Counterplans
A few months ago, for the first time in my Team Policy career, I wrote a Negative brief which centered around a topical counterplan. Having never attempted this before, I had to sit down for a good while and think through the theoretical justifications for such...
Guidelines to Dropped Arguments – Part 2
In the previous article, we discussed how you should "Give Your Opponent the Benefit of the Doubt" when it comes to dropped arguments and treat your point being unrefuted as "Additional Support, Not Standalone Proof". In this article, we'll be discussing three more...
Guidelines to Dropped Arguments – Part 1
In my second year of speech and debate, I had a favorite phrase: "My opponent dropped my argument." Whenever my opponent ignored the slightest bit of my analysis, I harped on it and even made it a voting issue. I wrote an elaborate script that I'd give every time my...
Make the Most Of Your Time in Speech and Debate – Diversify Events
"I wish I could come back just one more year." After Covid-19 cancelled the debate season, I heard that phrase countless times from my senior high school friends. "If only I had one more year." I've come to realize that the years you have in speech & debate are...
The Number One Way to Boost Consistency – Tagging
"No way I should've lost that round; I won every argument on the flow." "How did I lose? The judge ignored my most important argument!" "It's not my fault I lost; my logic was perfect." You've likely heard people justify their losses in these ways. Thoughts along...
Why You Should Be Friends With Your Rivals
Endless searching and continuing education are a part of any good debater’s appetite. Learning new things, for data is a really healthy mental diet to exercise. One way to do this is through podcasts. Podcasts are unique because you can Listen - and do other things!...
Question and Answer With a College Debater
Last year, Ethos brought on Jadon Buzzard as a coach and sourcebook writer. From the beginning, Jadon showed a real knack for grasping Ethos’ core mission and teaching it to his students. Today - we sit down with Jadon and talk about his debate career, and...
Spikes, Part 2: The 2AC
Last time, we introduced spikes and preemption, and saw what they look like in the 1AC. Today, we move to the 2AC, and next time we’ll talk about Neg. 2AC spikes exist to mitigate the Neg block by making the 1AR easier. This article does a wonderful job of outlining...