A couple of days ago as I sat at a table to promote Speech & Debate for Welcome to the Kingdom, our organization’s president brought up an idea.

“We should have a sign that says ‘debate me’ to get people to come over!”

All of us concurred it would be a good tactic to draw in crowds, and then a couple of heads turned toward me. I agreed to be the one holding the sign and engaging in the debate.

The rules were simple: Set a timer for a couple of minutes, let the other person choose a topic and their stance, disagree with them, have fun, get them to join Speech & Debate.

I enjoyed the couple of hours spent debating a variety of topics, but I could not help but think of the way it was facilitated and the objective at hand in almost all debates. After conversing with a teacher a bit after the event, I was reminded of a quote by Plato that essentially said debate was dangerous because of its focus on power over productivity. Given the focus of our engagement method–just disagreeing with whatever the other person said–it made sense that nuance would relatively be disregarded for the purpose of the activity.

Regardless, it reminded me of the debate culture I see outside–and sometimes within–my high school Speech & Debate experience. Seeing debaters on both sides of the political aisle operate under the motivation of winning rather than understanding and education becomes incredibly disheartening, especially when I have learned firsthand the immense value of discourse.

When I consider mainstream debate void of nuance, Charlie Kirk’s “prove me wrong” signs on college campuses come to mind. Dean Withers’ inclination to frequently interrupt and choose speed over content come to mind. Regardless of my fundamental agreements of disagreements with the messages preached by either aforementioned debaters, I resonate firmly with the idea that when spreading a message, room ought to be left for nuance.

Words like “always,” “never” and “impossible” are almost always harmful in the context of debate and productive conversations. Education is crucial, and I have always found discourse to result in me learning something new, including but not limited to new perspectives and experiences that expand my worldview.

One of the places I have found this to be this case is high school Speech & Debate, in which I have competed in dozens of debate tournaments where I have been obligated to see both sides of an argument. You must defend both the affirmative and negative side of a given topic at some point, and this has allowed me to find validity in almost every single one given to us.

Gallery • 2 Photos

BVH’s Speech & Debate program is one of my favorite institutions on this earth; it has given me a platform in which I can advocate for causes I care about as well as learn about new ones. I hope the enrichment I have felt thus far continues and that mainstream debaters take note: Despite the incentive to win and gain power of some sort, discourse and nuance are a prerequisite to real progress and understanding.