About
2023-2024 Info
We will be hosting meetings at Monta Vista High School every Wednesday from 6-8PM.
Why MV Debate?
The Skills.
Persuasion
Debate revolves around the art of persuasion, as the goal is to persuade a judge that your side should win the round. There are many strategies and tactics that one can employ to achieve this goal, and these methods can apply to the real world as well. In a debate, one has to either strengthen their own argument using logical reasoning and evidence, or weaken their opponents arguments to persuade the judge. The same thing is often done in real life, as stated by the Treasury of the Australian Government, “Persuasion is the common thread in almost all voluntary transactions. Sellers persuade buyers, politicians persuade voters and lobbyists persuade politicians. And non-government organizations are increasingly persuasive in policy deliberations.” Simply put, persuasion is a necessary life skill, and if it directly contributes to 30% of Australia’s gdp, then the scale of its influence in the world is unimaginable.
Confidence
Confidence is a crucial part of one’s social being, whether it has to do with making friends, participating in extracurricular activities, or interviewing for a job, confidence dictates much of how our life plays out. Many people lack confidence, and this can negatively impact all aspects of their life. Best-selling author Barrie Davenport says, “Low confidence makes us doubt our abilities and judgment and prevents us from taking calculated risks, setting ambitious goals and acting on them. At work, people who suffer with this problem often engage in subconscious behaviors that undermine their success, making them less likely to ask for or get promotions, raises and even jobs.” Debate helps with this, as it gives students a platform to speak up for themselves and get comfortable with standing up for themselves and participating in social discourse in the real world.
Communication
Humans are social creatures, and communication is another key tool needed for success. Many people do well academically in STEM-related subjects, but having communication skills is what allows students to showcase their knowledge and be truly successful in the real world. Debate is all about communication and working with your team to get stuff done — in the process, debaters expand their vocabulary and learn how to better connect with their audience, which in this case is the judge. Without these, statistics from Pumble show that “86% of employees and executives cite the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main causes for workplace failures.” Communication is the key to succeeding in life, and debate can greatly improve one’s communication abilities.
Leadership
Leadership skills are also universal and are deeply intertwined with public speaking and therefore debate. One of the main characteristics of a good leader is the ability to communicate efficiently, effectively, and respectfully. Debate develops all of these abilities found in powerful leaders through not only improving other skills, but also giving students leadership opportunities within teams, partnerships, and debate camps. According to Apollo Technical, “Developing the next generation of leaders is the top challenge for 55% of CEOs according to a recent survey. This makes sense because 63% of millennials believe they aren’t being fully developed as leaders by their employers for management positions.” Despite leadership being an extremely important skill, many lack it. Leadership skills can set one apart from the rest of the crowd, making debate beneficial, especially in today's world.
Teamwork
Teamwork is a broad term that encompasses communication skills, confidence, and sometimes even leadership and persuasion. All of these elements are so deeply connected that when one is improved, then the other one is as well. While preparing, practicing, and finally competing in debates, all of which are inherently social activities that require the collaboration of a team, teamwork skills are continually developed and improved. Bit.AI finds, “About 75% of employers rate teamwork and collaboration as ‘very important’, yet only 18% of employees get communication evaluations at their performance reviews.” Teamwork is still underappreciated, and so achieving better communication skills through debate can help one get ahead in life quickly.
The Education.
College Apps
Colleges love debate! A report from the Wall Street Journal found that competitors that win awards at the state or national level have a 22-30% higher rate of acceptance into top tier colleges. Students that become captains of the team have up to a 60% higher chance compared to the rest of the applicant pool. Just being a participating member of a speech and debate team further increases chances of admissions by 4%!
Research
Debate is built on research. Throughout the course of the year, students will learn how to efficiently research and pick out the best sources of information possible. Furthermore, Debaters will learn how to unpack this research in order to truly remember and understand it.
Critical Thinking
A key part of every debate is the ability to think deeply about the topics presented to you. Debate offers the chance to unpack political, economic, and other societal issues in depth and analyze potential solutions to real-world issues. Members will learn how to thoughtfully approach discussions on these topics and uncover perspectives they may not have known about before.
Argumentation
Every single debate is made of arguments that our members will learn how to create. Through brainstorming, researching and reviewing, debaters will learn how to carefully craft in depth arguments. They will also learn how to come up with arguments on the spot to help prepare them for discussions in and out of the debate space.
The Awards.
Prestige
Debaters have the opportunity to attend several prestigious tournaments every year, including tournaments at colleges like SCU and Yale. Each tournament has numerous awards that debaters can earn, but even if debaters don't earn any awards, just the act of participating in competitive tournaments is highly regarded by colleges.
Bidding
Debaters will always have the opportunity to improve and do better. One of the biggest accomplishments for a debater is bidding, meaning that they do well at a tournament and may have the opportunity to go to the Tournament of Champions (TOC).
The Team.
Team Experience
MV Debate is a large team of passionate debaters. This makes debate easier for three reasons. First, members constantly share resources with one another which lessens the workload for everyone. Second, debaters can practice debating with other debaters without having to go through the trouble of finding someone from another school. Third, morale is kept high. Debaters support one another throughout the year and form lifelong friendships.
Cost
The scale of MV Debate combined with corporate matches and grants means that MV Debate is able to invest directly in students. Private academies might charge thousands of dollars for their debate program, as their goal is to make profit. MV Debate has an optional member donation for much less and directs most of those funds to students. Tournament costs through MV Debate are also cheaper than what for-profit academies may charge.
Friends
Debating at Monta Vista allows you to debate with friends you already know in high school, but it also gives you an opportunity to make new friends. Debate is an inherently social event with clashes between two sides and partnerships in some events. Combined with our bonding events, MV Debate is a great place to meet others at Monta Vista.
Bonding Events
MV Debate regularly hosts bonding events after tournaments and throughout the year. We believe that bonding events are a great way to build team spirit and make friends. One event that debaters look forward to is our annual banquet, an end of the year get together to celebrate all of our students’ hard work and accomplishments.
Travel
Traveling to tournaments is much easier with a team who can help set up flight and hotel bookings. Not only that, but MV Debate can help subsidize travel expenses at times — something that doesn’t happen in most debate academies.
About MV Speech…
We Encourage You To Join Both!
Speech and debate are highly intertwined. Many tournaments have both speech and debate events. The NSDA is the National Speech & Debate Association after all! Debate skills can be applied to debate, and vice versa. Joining both clubs will make you stand out.