Speech and Debate
Speech and Debate Events
Lincoln-Douglas (LD) is a 1-on-1 debate about what society ought to be like. You only need to prove that your side is more right. The topic changes every two months.
Jan./Feb. Resolved: The United States ought to substantially reduce its military presence in the West Asia-North Africa region.
Mar./Apr. Resolved: The primary objective of the United States criminal justice system ought to be rehabilitation.
Public Forum (PF) is a 2-on-2 debate about a current issue in the world and whether the United States government should (not) do something. This topic changes every month.
February Resolved: The United States federal government should ban single-use plastics.
March Resolved: In the United States, collegiate student-athletes should be classified as employees of their educational institution.
Policy (CX) is a 2-on-2 debate about whether the United States should adopt a plan or not.
2023-2024 Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income.
Big Question (BQ) is a 1-on-1, 2-on-1, or 2-on-2 debate related to the intersection of science, philosophy, and religion. This topic stays the same all year.
2023-2024 Resolved: Belief in the supernatural is incompatible with belief in science.
Congressional (CON) stimulates an actual legislative chamber. 10-25 students compete to propose bills and resolutions. These sessions usually last 2-3 hours with students speaking for three minutes to propose their legislation and participating in cross-examination of other proposed legislation.
Original Oratory (OO) is the event speech students submit under. The only rules are that it must be memorized, you cannot use props or costumes, and it has to be under 10 minutes. Students can chose to do a TEDTalk-esque speech, spoken word, or anything as long as it has a clear purpose.
You can find resources for LD, PF, and CX at debateus.org. See Mx. Nguyen in 7-107 for the login information.
You can find resources for CON at congressionaldebate.org.
Possible Competition Dates
NSDA has all debate events. FDCI does not have CX or BQ. NFCFL does not have BQ. All competitions have OO.
- 3/2 FDCI In-Person TBA
- 3/9 FDCI Asynchronous Virtual
- 3/9 NSDA at Horizon for Speech & LD/PF/CX
- 3/10 NSDA at Horizon for BQ & CON
- 3/21 NSDA Springboard Asynchronous Virtual Scrimmage
- 4/20 State Championships
- 5/11 Asynchronous FDCI Virtual Funvitational
