As of recent years Mount Vernon High School has excelled in speech. For being a small school we compete with schools much larger than us, out perform schools that fit into our class, and send a number of students to All State. Offering the option of a debate class  would help students  improve on their speaking skills. Debate teaches students critical thinking, persuasive public speaking, and active listening.

If my school made this change, students could also grasp an idea of what they could do with their skills in language.

While speech, as of now, is the clear route at Mount Vernon for students to express their speaking skills, adding another option will benefit all who chose to take advantage of it.

A new debate class doesn’t need a prerequisite of speech; it can be for anyone who wants to fill a speaking class. Of the core classes available to high school students, English is the only one that requires all four  years. If nothing else the debate class will give students the choice of how they follow their English education.

No matter what the research you did is debate comes down to your use of words and adaptation to a situation. Today ai is a resource that is not used lightly but debate calls for a level of thinking on your feet which not even speech does. You are forced to break down information as it is presented to you not ahead of time.

Debate is not just processing the situation and analyzing it to be written down. It requires an understanding of conversation and actively adapting to your environment. It can also cover topics spanning from history to science and has a need for outside research.

Debate class could take one semester in order to add a new option to the current pool of English classes. Knowing how to debate and speak prepares you for real interactions. It would be a good add on to the current English curriculum which focuses more on writing, reading, or breaking down a text.

Debate may not be for everyone but for those who want more speaking opportunities it would be the perfect install to our course registration. It will teach students critical thinking skills while teaching technical learning skills that will apply to other classes as well.