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My four years on a high school debate team in Broward County, Florida, taught me to challenge ideas, question assumptions, and think outside the box. It also helped me overcome a terrible childhood stutter. And I wasnu2019t half-bad: I placed ninth my first time at the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA) nationals, sixth at the Harvard national, and was runner-up at the Emory national.Â
After college, between 2017 and 2019, I coached a debate team at an underprivileged high school in Miami. There, I witnessed the pillars of high school debate start to crumble. Since then, the decline has continued, from a competition that rewards evidence and reasoning to one that punishes students for what they say and how they say it.
First, some background. Imagine a high school sophomore on the debate team. Sheu2019s been given her topic about a month in advance, but she wonu2019t know who her judge is until hours before her debate round. During that time squeezeu2014perhaps sheu2019ll pace the halls as I did at the 2012 national tournament in Indianapolisu2014sheu2019ll scroll on her phone to look up her judgeu2019s name on
 This is James Fishbacku2019s first piece for The Free Press. Follow him on Twitter @j_fishback.Â
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