School Speech Contests

There is a nice piece in the news about Indiana's Munster High School winning a speech contest. Speech and debate teams are wonderful ways for students to get lots of speaking experience. It worked for me, many years ago! I enjoyed two years debating at Oakton High School, with Barbara Sue Carter as the much-loved coach, and four years debating at the College of William and Mary, well-coached by Donald McConkey and Patrick Micken. McConkey went on to become a dean at James Madison University, while Micken was, among other honors, vice-president of the Virginia Forensic Association. Here's a picture of William and Mary's current debate team, coached by Eric Fuchs:

W&M debate team of today, from wm.edu

 Although six years devoted to an intensive activity was a lot, I have seen students even gain great benefits from joining a speech or debate team, participating in a couple tournaments, and then dropping out. The learning curve is productive at any level. There are tournaments specifically for beginners.

Unfortunately, many schools are cutting back on speech and debate teams to save money. Worse, many of today's college students, stressed by high college costs and overloaded schedules, no longer have the time for co-curricular activities. This is a great loss, for many leaders had speech and debate experience when they were in school. See this list, too.

Education is expensive. But, as the bumper sticker says, so is ignorance. School and college activities are great learning experiences.