July 3, 2008
- NJFL National Tournament Results
Robin Go & Jake Wheeler from Sidney Lanier defeated Gregory Ross & Joshua Coronado from Sidney Lanier to win the Public Forum Debate division at the National Junior Forensic League National Tournament held at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY.
Complete tournament results are available on the iDebate blog.
Quarterfinalists
AD103 – Capital Debate – Deep Singh [...]
June 27, 2008
- Another Shot at Las Vegas
The National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) 2009 National Tournament will be held in Las Vegas from April 18-20, 2009 and it will finally include Public Forum Debate.
June 26, 2008
- National Junior Forensic League National Tournament Set To Begin
The National Junior Forensic League National Tournament is being held in Bowling Green, KY on the campus of Western Kentucky University. Competition begins on Friday, June 27 and concludes on Sunday, June 29.
Public Forum Debate is one of the events. The NJFL will be debating the same topic that was used at last week’s NFL [...]
June 24, 2008
- NFL National Office Flooded
The basement of the NFL National Office in Ripon, Wisconsin was flooded while personnel were in Las Vegas.
May 14, 2008
- Missouri State Championship Round Online
The final round of Public Forum Debate from the 2008 Missouri State High School Activities Association State Speech, Debate, and Drama Championships is now online.
Max Mikitish & Susan Taylor from Liberty High School defeated Dan Schultz & Lindsey Zhang from Springfield Central on a 3-0 decision to win the Public Forum Debate championship. Both teams [...]
May 10, 2008
- Topic Release Date Correction
I received The Rostrum last Friday and freaked out when I saw the topic release schedule on page 4. The schedule does not match what I used for the Crossfire Briefs brochure. It shows one topic for March & April.
After a quick exchange of emails with a few people, including the NFL National Office, it [...]
April 2, 2008
- Another Passover Conflict
The California High School Speech Association has been under fire for scheduling the state tournament during passover (discussed here and here).
It turns out that the Missouri State High School Activities Association has the same conflict.
Sundown that day signals the start of Passover, one of the most important events on the Jewish calendar and a date [...]
March 19, 2008
- Pie-Throwing in Debate
I was scanning the NDT-CEDA listserv (collegiate policy debate) looking for any TOC-related announcements from Dr. Patterson and discovered that the biggest topics of conversation are NDT preparations (no surprise) and the legitimacy of pie-throwing in debate. If you are really interested, you can scan the archived messages.
Sigh.
March 10, 2008
- Interview With TOC Founder, JW Patterson
Victory Briefs Daily has an interesting interview with Dr. JW Patterson, the Director of Forensics at the University of Kentucky and founder of the Tournament of Champions.
The addition of Public Forum Debate at the TOC is briefly discussed.
March 7, 2008
- Debater To Appear On MTV’s MADE
MTV’s Made will air a new episode tomorrow [Saturday, March 8] at 2pm ET/PT featuring Aja Gerrity from Ridgefield High School (Go Spudders!) in Washington. Aja wants to become an intellectual and she uses speech and debate to start her journey.
The NFL website has an extended story on the experience, including personal statements from Aja [...]
February 29, 2008
- Loquitur Launched
Mahesha Subbaraman (Trinity Briefs and Colloquy) and Brandon Sheats (Georgia Forensics Daily) have teamed up to launch the Loquitur podcast. What is Loquitur?
…a brand-new Internet podcast dedicated to interviewing academic and professional experts on current National Forensic League debate topics for the free educational benefit of high school students competing in Lincoln-Douglas and Public [...]
February 18, 2008
- Thinking Critically About Critical Thinking
The Washington Post has an interesting story about the teaching of critical thinking. Apparently, not everyone believes that critical thinking can be taught as a multidisciplinary skill.
February 15, 2008
- Harvard Tournament Begins Tomorrow
The Harvard Debate Tournament begins tomorrow. Sherry Hall from Harvard reports that they have 270 Public Forum Debate teams entered. It is surely the largest Public Forum tournament of the season.
The Harvard website will have pairings information throughout the weekend.
Good luck to everyone in attendance!
February 6, 2008
- Lack of Critical Thinking Demonstrates The Need For Debate
In a recent column, Steven Kalas laments the lack of critical thinking and extols the virtues of debate as a training ground for critical thinking.
A debate team teaches you to be a relentless researcher. On a debate team, you will hone the skills of great oratory. But more than anything else, debate teaches critical thinking.
Rules [...]
January 22, 2008
- The Movement Toward Free Content
The Atlantic online is now free. The first thing I did was to do look for articles related to Putin and Russia. The results of this poll are interesting.
I forgot to mention that The Wall Street Journal made its opinion and commentary sections free last week.
January 19, 2008
- Harker Invitational Announcement
On Friday, February 29 through Sunday, March 2, The Harker School in San Jose, CA will host the 8th Annual Harker Invitational - a national debate tournament that offers Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Student Congress. We are happy to announce that Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum Debate semifinalists will receive a TOC-qualifying leg.
The Harker Invitational seeks [...]
January 18, 2008
- California State Tournament Snafu Resolved - Sort Of
As we previously noted, the California High School Speech Association state tournament conflicts with the first night of Passover. The problem should not happen in the future, but for this year, Jewish participants are out of luck.
After months of contentious back and forth over the scheduling of the statewide high school debate tournament on the [...]
January 16, 2008
- Lexington Winter Invitational Entries
The list of participants for this weekend’s Lexington Winter Invitational has been posted here and here.
257 Public Forum teams at Harvard. Wow.
January 13, 2008
- The Rostrum - January 2008
There are two articles in the January 2008 issue of The Rostrum that should be of interest to the Public Forum Debate community.
Public Forum Goes to the Movies. The NFL explains the tie-in between the January topic and The Great Debaters.
Public Forum Debate: An Aspiring Addition. Jason Kline from Myers Park HS (NC) discusses [...]
January 9, 2008
- 2008-09 CX Topic Selected: Alternative Energy
The 2008-09 policy debate topic has been selected:
Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase alternative energy incentives in the United States.
Alternative energy was selected over universal health care. As a result, I will be surprised if Public Forum does not debate universal health care during the 2007-08 season.
[via Victory Briefs Daily]
