The National Federation of High Schools has released the official “Synopsis of the Problem Areas” for next season’s topic. The topic that will be debated is selected through balloting by state and national organizations. The problem area descriptions are below the fold.
Inspired by the list of camp affirmatives that was compiled by Christina Tallungan, Alex Agne of Detroit Country Day School has compiled a list of the disadvantages that were produced at this summer’s institutes. The complete list (in alphabetical order) is below the fold.
Has anyone considered using an iPad as a viewing computer for paperless debating? By using Dropbox and/or FileApp, it is relatively easy to transfer Word documents from a laptop to an iPad. The advantages of using an iPod are pretty clear: it’s smaller and lighter than any other viewing device, the screen size/resolution is good (certainly better than most netbooks), and it is super easy to use/handle. There are also obvious disadvantages, though: it does not have a USB port so it is impossible to jump files without either accessing a network or connecting it to iTunes, it doesn’t allow documents to be edited (just viewed), and the screen is smaller than a full-size laptop.
Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? Would debaters and coaches feel comfortable with an iPad as a viewing computer? Has anyone else experimented with this yet? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
The final list of topic candidates for the 2011-2012 season is as follows:
1. Cyber Warfare: The United States federal government should establish rules of engagement governing its use of cyber warfare.
2. Southeast Asia: The United States federal government should substantially increase its development assistance to Southeast Asia.
3. Space: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.
4. India: The United States federal government should substantially increase its cooperation with India in one or more of the following areas: civilian space programs, nuclear proliferation, trade.
5. China: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement with the People’s Republic of China on one or more of the following issues: trade, currency, environment.
This list will be voted on by schools throughout the country via the state and national debate organizations.
The NFHS topic committee is meeting this morning to narrow down the list of eight working resolutions to the final five that will appear on the national ballot.
Update:
1. The Russia topic was voted out in the first ballot. There were 28 total ballots; each ballot ranked the top five topics. Russia received 8 votes; Urban Renewal finished seventh with 9 votes and so remains on the ballot.
2. The Urban Renewal topic was voted out on the second ballot. One more balloting will occur to eliminate another topic; the final five topics will appear on the national ballot.
3. The IMF/World Bank topic was voted out on the third ballot. It received 13 votes; the second-lowest vote recipient was Cyber Security with 17. The top vote getters were India (25/28), Southeast Asia (24), Space Policy (24), and China (22).
Three of the following topics will NOT make the cut:
Cyber Warfare: The United States federal government should establish rules of engagement governing its use of cyber warfare.
Southeast Asia: The United States federal government should substantially increase its development assistance to Southeast Asia.
Russia: The United States federal government should substantially increase its constructive engagement with the Russian Federation.
Space: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.
India: The United States federal government should substantially increase its cooperation with India in one or more of the following areas: civilian space programs, nuclear proliferation, trade.
Urban Renewal: The United States federal government should substantially increase its urban renewal assistance in the United States.
IMF/World Bank: The International Monetary Fund and/or the World Bank should eliminate one or more economic policy conditions placed upon Highly Indebted Poor Countries.
China: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement with the People’s Republic of China on one or more of the following issues: trade, currency, environment.
Discussion and advocacy of each topic is underway; voting will begin in the next hour or so. I will update this post as votes are taken and topics are eliminated.
It is day two of the NFHS Topic Committee meeting in Deerfield, Illinois. There are eight working topics that were discussed yesterday in committee and that are being discussed by the entire group today. The complete working resolutions (still subject to change, so comments are encouraged) that have been discussed so far include:
Cyber Warfare: The United States federal government should establish rules of engagement governing its use of cyber warfare. Previous version: The United States federal government should increase anti-cyber warfare operations.
Southeast Asia: The United States federal government should substantially increase its development assistance to Southeast Asia.
Russia: The United States federal government should substantially increase its constructive engagement with the Russian Federation. Previous version: The United States federal government should substantially increase its constructive engagement with the Russian Federation on military security issues.
Space: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.
India: The United States federal government should substantially increase its cooperation with India in one or more of the following areas: civilian space programs, nuclear proliferation, trade.
Urban Renewal: The United States federal government should substantially increase its urban renewal assistance in the United States.
IMF/World Bank: The International Monetary Fund and/or the World Bank should eliminate one or more economic policy conditions placed upon Highly Indebted Poor Countries.
China: The United States federal government should substantially increase its economic engagement with the People’s Republic of China on one or more of the following issues: trade, currency, environment.
Do you have thoughts about any of these potential resolutions? Post a comment and I’ll bring it to the attention of the committee. In particular, it would be great if people who are familiar with doing “Word PIC research” would make sure that we do not repeat the “Sub-Saharan Africa” disaster (where the resolution included a term that did not have a defense against a critique of its usage).
The Spartan Debate Institute at Michigan State University held its annual Faculty Demonstration Debate this week in East Lansing. With all four- and five-week students in attendance, the debate featured a showdown between faculty members with a combined five appearances in the semifinals of the National Debate Tournament:
Kevin and Carly represented the affirmative and argued that the United States should withdraw its combat forces from Afghanistan in order to maintain hegemony and stabilize both Pakistan and Central Asia. Greta and Gabe countered with several arguments but eventually settled in their final rebuttal on a Midterms disadvantage and takeouts to the affirmative case.
The debate was moderated by Will Repko, the coach of the 2010 National Debate Tournament Champions. Repko has now coached three NDT Champions in the last seven years and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s best debate educators—he uses the demonstration debate to discuss a wide range of strategic and tactical issues with the audience.
The video of the debate is divided into two parts and is available below the fold.
The list of freely available lectures from this year’s summer debate institutes has been updated this morning. Lectures from the Dartmouth Debate Workshop and Dartmouth Debate Institute are now being posted as an iTunes podcast and the first four episodes have been included in our list. Lectures from the Spartan Debate Institute will be added soon. If anyone notices missing lectures, please post a comment.
The NDT/CEDA resolution for the 2010-2011 season was announced today:
Resolved: the United States Federal Government should substantially increase the number of and/or substantially expand beneficiary eligibility for its visas for one or more of the following: employment-based immigrant visas, nonimmigrant temporary worker visas, family-based visas, human trafficking-based visas.
The resolution was selected from a list of five topics. Seventy schools submitted a vote.
In response to the “bad cards” post about the popular “Corsi 2005” impact to terrorism, many readers requested suggestions for different cards that could be read to support the same basic argument. This is a difficult task; it is unlikely that a terrorist attack—even one using a nuclear device—would result in the extinction of humanity. But if that’s the argument you want to make, Akshay Bhushan from Greenhill School has cut an excellent card that he was nice enough to share here on The 3NR. Defenders of the Corsi evidence now have no excuse to continuing reading that card.
Nuclear terrorism is an existential threat—it escalates to nuclear war with Russia and China.
Robert Ayson, Professor of Strategic Studies and Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand at the Victoria University of Wellington, 2010 (“After a Terrorist Nuclear Attack: Envisaging Catalytic Effects,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Volume 33, Issue 7, July, Available Online to Subscribing Institutions via InformaWorld)
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