Arguably the Best

The Great Debaters Genius Club met today for the first time!

We spent some time getting to know each other and what attracts us to a debate club. Students shared that they love discussing current political and social issues, pop culture, and the problems of inequality in our country. Other students shared that they want to be lawyers or work to reform the criminal justice system. Ambition and intelligence were not in short supply at our first meeting. These are impressive young men and women.

Then we got to debating! Students researched an affirmative and negative position on the issue of virtual learning during the pandemic. Then we engaged in a "popcorn debate" where we went around the group and each student had to argue against the previous student's contention. It was great practice outlining arguments and constructing counterarguments.

And lastly, the group came up with tons of great possible names for our blog: "In Pursuit of Dispute," "The Debaters Who Diss Them Haters," and "That's Debatable," and we still have to vote, but I'm naming our blog for at least today: "Arguably the Best"

The students made clear that even though they love to argue, empathy is the goal of our club - to learn to listen to people with opposing views and understand where they're coming from! 

In pursuit of the dispute,
The Great Debaters