Well-Rounded
A little bitter about having to surrender the outline and evidence of both our cases, my partner and I walked into the sub-arctic temperatures of the 2nd floor of the Hilles building, where our first round in the tournament would take place.
We lost the coin flip and ended up speaking first. My partner and I had previously agreed that con was the stronger side, so we chose that case. Our opponents were incredible speakers who made some points I hadn't previously considered, but it was a close round. In the end, they won.
However, my partner and I won the next three rounds, going con for all five of the prelim rounds on the first day. We ended with a precarious 3-2 record. Winning the next round meant we would advance to elimination rounds. The night was spent going through evidence and seeing if we could find anything new and better.
The next morning, we walked into our final round. Our opponents won the coin toss, and in a moment of indescribable horror, chose to read their con case.
On this particular topic, I find con to be the stronger case, because since regulation of off campus electronic speech is not widespread, the con has more concrete evidence to work with, while the pro has to use current evidence to convincingly draw conclusions about the future. In addition, I hadn't read the pro case in a while.
The round did not go well. I knew we'd lost in the second speaker crossfire, when I pulled out evidence that I felt sure would be a crushing blow to the opponents, and then my partner was blindsided by a question about the evidence full of words that made no sense to anyone at the table besides him.
No surprise, we ended up losing and leaving the prelims with a 3-3 record, which gave me bitter flashbacks of the Texas state tournament.
For the rest of the day, I judged the elimination rounds on a student panel, writing down strong arguments and good evidence in case this topic was chosen for September-October. Since it was our last full day, our lab (Pterodactyls) went out to dinner together, and I enjoyed macaroni with potato-chip crust, which was surprisingly good. We went back to have our ice-cream party and watch the talent show, which featured dancing, poetic interpretations of songs, and electric guitar. After the festivities, I went back to my room and packed, reveling in the fact that I didn't have to be up until 10 the next day.
I awoke on Friday to a long day of flying, first to Indianapolis, and then back to Houston, where the temperature was familiarly muggy and hot.
Debate camp was amazing and I learned a lot!
We lost the coin flip and ended up speaking first. My partner and I had previously agreed that con was the stronger side, so we chose that case. Our opponents were incredible speakers who made some points I hadn't previously considered, but it was a close round. In the end, they won.
The next morning, we walked into our final round. Our opponents won the coin toss, and in a moment of indescribable horror, chose to read their con case.
On this particular topic, I find con to be the stronger case, because since regulation of off campus electronic speech is not widespread, the con has more concrete evidence to work with, while the pro has to use current evidence to convincingly draw conclusions about the future. In addition, I hadn't read the pro case in a while.
The round did not go well. I knew we'd lost in the second speaker crossfire, when I pulled out evidence that I felt sure would be a crushing blow to the opponents, and then my partner was blindsided by a question about the evidence full of words that made no sense to anyone at the table besides him.
No surprise, we ended up losing and leaving the prelims with a 3-3 record, which gave me bitter flashbacks of the Texas state tournament.
For the rest of the day, I judged the elimination rounds on a student panel, writing down strong arguments and good evidence in case this topic was chosen for September-October. Since it was our last full day, our lab (Pterodactyls) went out to dinner together, and I enjoyed macaroni with potato-chip crust, which was surprisingly good. We went back to have our ice-cream party and watch the talent show, which featured dancing, poetic interpretations of songs, and electric guitar. After the festivities, I went back to my room and packed, reveling in the fact that I didn't have to be up until 10 the next day.
I awoke on Friday to a long day of flying, first to Indianapolis, and then back to Houston, where the temperature was familiarly muggy and hot.
Debate camp was amazing and I learned a lot!
Comments