There is an interesting essay in the March 2007 issue of The Rostrum titled “On the Brink of Being Elite…Or Obsolete?” by Rami Hernandez from Loyola High School of Los Angeles. The article advocates the use of computers in speech and debate competitions. Actually, the article argues that the activity risks becoming irrelevant to today’s youth if we don’t include the use of computers.
I read the article during lunch earlier in the week and I was going to write about it, but the folks at Victory Briefs Daily beat me to it and there have been a number of comments posted. Earlier today Jim Menick at Coachean Life weighed in with his take on the article.
Laptops have dropped in price and they are becoming common on college campuses, but I’m not sure that laptops are that widespread at the high school level. Do your tournament sites have open wifi access? If people need to have 3G access to make use of laptops at tournaments, there is going to continue to be a wide gulf between the “haves” and “have nots”.
What do you think?
Previous entries on computers and debate:
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