I am a public forum hater at my core. policy is the superior form of debate. why would you do pf when you could pursue the glory of policy. pf is just watered down policy and I will stand by that. I am a policy debate supremacist; pf kids are boring and the four of us policy kids at my school could easily win against all like 25 pf kids.

(LD is a gray area)

Policy debaters... what resolution are you routing for, copyright laws or nuke war?

i think that policy debaters being allowed to and totally accepted for pulling up to a tournament in a tshirt and sweatpants is really a reflection of what the event is like

defend your answer in tags!

HI GUYS IF ANYONE IS IN POLICY DEBATE I NEED AFF ECON BLOCKS 😍😍

In the country I’m from and have never left, speech and debate is not taught in schools, neither is policy. What Americans seem to be taught in Civics is barely touched on here. Instead, debate is an after school competitive “cultural” activity or club. You do it against other schools if your school can afford to travel to meets. You have a coach if your school can afford to pay one. A teacher might volunteer to coach or help you, but they have not been trained to teach or coach it. The money matters, as we’re one of the most unequal countries on Earth.

Apart from a few exceptions, debate is only accessible in English, which is the home language maybe of 1 of 4 people here. If you speak something else at home it’s TERRIFYING going up against kids from a school with native English speakers. It’s even more scary when your opponents have had regular practice and coaching because they can afford it.

Despite that, thousands of kids here do choose debate. They do it poor and scared and in their second or third language. They are so brave. Our system is underfunded and unfair and a bunch of coaches don’t get paid, it often costs them money to be able to volunteer. Too many kids don’t get the chance to debate but so many of those who do come back to volunteer in turn.

Anyway, this Saturday on Lovett Or Leave It, Jon Lovett ended his live NYC show by thanking his high school speech and debate teacher, who was in the audience. The man has worked for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Aaron Sorkin, but this was the longest thank you I’ve heard him give in in the 7 years I’ve been listening to him.

If like me, you got to speak because people took the time to nurture you, if you came back and helped more kids learn, also like I did… well, it was a lot to hear his thanks. I don’t know anything that builds confidence like debating does. I can’t even begin to describe what it feels like to see kids get that confidence when you know how much it’s altered your life for the better.

If you are thinking about teaching or coaching those skills, please, do it. Make sure new generations get the mic. If you’re a young person thinking about debating, do it, take the mic.

hiiiiiiiii may i request silly debate pick up lines

HIIIII IDK WHO YOU ARE BUT I LOVE YOU

"If you were an AFF and I was a t you'd meet all my standards"

"You must be hella topical, cuz you’re always my first priority, you meet all my standards, and I’d drop everything for you."

" Are you a dropped disad? Cuz if you're under covered, I'm going all in for the next 8 minutes."

"Are you inherency, because it is a fallacy for me to exist in this world without you."

no idea what you're using this for but if you ask out a debater i wish you the best of luck! debaters are some of the coolest people ever

(sorry i responded so late ive been prepping for a debate comp)

I made this a few years ago and posted it on Reddit. It maybe got five likes. I haven’t posted on here often this past decade but maybe some of the old heads will enjoy this

Literally nothing I did in high schools put me in contact with the WORST people imaginable and drain me both emotionally and physically like the policy debate team. If I could do it all over again I’d still join tho.

people always assume the debate community is all “ooho! riddle me this,,,,” and “uhm ackshually facts don’t care about your feelings” when in reality it’s just radical anti-imperialism and existential discussions about humanity

i think I mentioned this on my old account, but I do policy debate and this last season I encountered the most ridiculous affirmative plan I've ever heard.

the plan was to provide a universal basic income for all American citizens--makes sense, right?

well, when asked how they were going to fund said universal income, their two responses were as follows:

1) take away the military's espresso machines so that they stop buying so many espresso machines, and

2) take $1 TRILLION out of FOOD STAMPS.

huh??? what??? how???

the phrase "espresso and food stamps" has been a running gag in our policy team ever since, meaning a plan that's so ridiculous that we think it should be illegal lmfaooo

Spreading in policy debate < honoring the history of a sport made to be accessible and educational to the masses

if eminem went up against a policy nats finalist he would forfeit immediately out of sheer fear and concern for the amount of distress that emits any and every policy speaker

he really do be Being

Paul Graham’s “hierarchy of disagreement”

God I wish I could do policy debate but my school literally doesn’t allow it my coach is vehemently against it and if I do it I’ll be publicly shamed so pufo it is ):