DEBATES

Debate is a process that involves formal discussion on a particular topic. In a debate, opposing arguments are put forward to argue for opposing viewpoints. Debate occurs in public meetings, academic institutions, and legislative assemblies.It is a formal type of discussion, often with a moderator and an audience, in addition to the debate participants.

PURPOSE OF DEBATE

The purpose of debate is to express yourself and speak your heart out on a given topic. And you will get the opposition in your reasoning. The art of debating teaches you to prove your point, even if you get the contradiction. It tests your reasoning. Moreover in debates, you have the opportunity to question others on their speech. On the whole, debates teach you the techniques to convince your belief to others, how to defend yourself when contradicted and how to express yourself in a formal manner.

Debate provides experiences that are conducive to life-changing, cognitive, and presentational skills. In addition, through debate debaters acquire unique educational benefits as they learn and polish skills far beyond what can be learnt in any other setting.

At the very least, debate helps learners to see the power of deploying rational, reasoned arguments and compelling evidence in action. It enables them to elucidate their standpoint through utilizing rhetorical eloquence. It instills in debaters a great sense of poise and confidence. It teaches them the skills of researching, organizing, and presenting information in a compelling fashion.

In general, the benefits of debate include:

• Gaining broad, multi-faceted knowledge cutting across several disciplines outside the learner’s normal academic subjects.
• Increasing learners’ confidence, poise, and self-esteem.
• Providing an engaging, active, learner-centered activity.
• Improving rigorous higher order and critical thinking skills.
• Enhancing the ability to structure and organize thoughts.
• Enhancing learners’ analytical, research and note-taking kills
• Improving learners’ ability to form balanced, informed arguments and to use reasoning and evidence.
• Developing effective speech composition and delivery.
• Encouraging teamwork.

Effective Ways To Win A Debate Competition

1. Be confident and well Prepared– Student should prepare well for ‘Debate Topic’ they have been assigned. Do research on the topic, write notes for important points, dress for the occasion (if competition is organised outside the school), memorise important topics, do counter preparation, and don’t take the stress. If you feel nervousness, then take a mock debate with your friends so that you can overcome the anxiety.

2. Introduction – Introducing you to the audience is the first step when starting a debate. Therefore, the introduction should be made in a clear and firm voice so that audience can hear you and can know about the topic of debate. If you are the first one to start the debate, then take this opportunity to the best and leave your best impressionon the audience with a striking introduction.

3. Know your audience – You should know that the audience includes a panel of judges, school students, and participating students as well as other teachers. Therefore, you need to maintain your posture, gestures and interaction with your audience.

4. Respect and Self Control– While you are doing a debate, you will be required to discuss in favour or against the topic, so you need to maintain that you are part of a formal discussion. You must not take anything personally. Just be calm and put forth your points about the debate. Don’t shout or become aggressive when your opponent tries to contradict with your view about the topic. If you do not maintain your calm and firmness in front of an audience then you may lose scores from the judges.

5. Interactive Conversation – To be able to gain audiences’ perspective you need to make an interactive debate session which you can do with light conversations like including humour in presenting the facts and data and engaging the audience. If the debate becomes boring then audience lose the track of your points and they cannot decide the winner.

6. Don’t try to win – Debate is a formal discussion; the winner of the debate is decided by how they carry out the session. So, if you aim to win a debate by including illogical details for your support then you would not be able to win the debate competition. Frame your views about the debate topic such that even if you are part of ‘Against ‘group to the topic, your views are in positive light to the audience.

7. Facts and Theory – Use facts and figures during your debate session, as this can help you seek the attention of the judges as well as the audience. Also, the data should be authentic so that your opponent can not raise doubts about it. Using theories and numbers can help your win brownie points.

8. Praise your opponents – You need to pay attention to your opponent’s view and theories during the debate. Moreover, whenever they make a good and valid point during the debate then, you should be affirmative about it and should agree with them. Agreeing to their valid points can be affirmative of your view too and judges will appreciate that you have knowledge of the topic.

9. Admitting not knowing – If you come to a point that you are not aware of then you should admit it in a proper way rather than arguing about it. If your opponent has given any information that you have little knowledge about then you admit it that you know little about it in this regard and you need to research more on it and then you can proceed.

10. Concluding the debate – A debate session is incomplete without conclusion. So take this opportunity for a better explanation of your side and views for the topic and always leave something for the audience and judges to discuss.  When you leave something for the audience to think about then, your views about the topic leaves an impact which can help you gain points.

IMPORTANCE OF DEBATE

Now a days debate has become an important topic of discussion. It is important because it develops skills and knowledge. It  helps the students  to become a confident and bold person. And it will help the students to develop a political identity or own identity like a debater . It also helps the students to develop a sense of ownership of the world and a sense of empowerment, as they will know specific global and domestic issues, and the ways in which the government can solve our generation’s problems. It will help them to boost their confidence and will make them bold enough to speak in any situation without any hesitation.

BENEFITS OF DEBATE

1. Debates can help you practice and demonstrate your critical thinking skills.

 2. Debates can help you learn to discuss complicated topics calmly, clearly, and competently

3. Debates can help you cultivate your persuasion skills

 4. Debates help deepen your understanding of topics when you “actively” listen to opposing views

 5. Debates help sharpen communication skills – you can learn to say more with fewer words

6. Debates can be mind-opening – “actively” listening to opposing opinions can help you think out of the box – they can offer a broader range of alternatives, excite imagination, and ignite creativity

7. Debates help remind you that while business is about competition it is also about compromise and cooperation

8. Debate teams can offer a sense of comradeship, demonstrating the value of teamwork.

 9. To those with a truly open-mind, debates can broaden and deepen reasoning and communicating skills. They can enhance the ability to think and communicate clearly and quickly.