Debatability Roundtables - Topic Selection Meeting

July 18, 2024 | POLICY DEBATE

Debatability Roundtables are in their 2nd year to the NFHS Policy Debate Topic Selection Meeting for the 2024 meeting that is upcoming in Des Moines, Iowa in early August. This link is meant for attendees as well as topic authors as a way to enhance the experience for all. Thank you for participating in this important and new process of debatability roundtables for topic authors.

General Info:

Friday, August 2nd: 9:45am Debatability Roundtables

Topic authors will sit at tables in the Des Moines room.

Attendees will rotate every 10-15 minutes between the authors who are stationed at the tables.

Attendees can use this time to ask the authors questions in a constructive manner based on the criteria.

Attendees will have the ability to talk to authors about ALL 12 papers.

Roundtable Schedule (Review Papers Here)

Group #1 (9:45am – 10:30am)

Janet Novack: Arctic Council Cooperation

Rory McKenzie: Climate Migrants

Darin Maier: Counterterrorism

Tim Ellis: South Asia

Group #2 (10:35am – 11:20am)

Ameena Amdahl-Mason: Human Trafficking

Will Katz: Military Presence

Clint Adams: Transnational Crime

Olivia Walker and Ethan Zawaski: Maritime

Group #3 (11:25am – 12:10pm)

Rory McKenzie: India

Darin Maier and Rachel Clapper-Davis: Central Asia

Tim Ellis: Nation State Recognition

Josie Johnston: Foreign Aid

We wanted to give you a general guide for the types of questions that you should be asking the authors during your 10-20 minutes with them.

Please remember that these sessions are meant to be constructive and helpful to the authors.

Questions to Evaluate the Appropriateness of an Area for High School Debate

Resolutions:

Does this topic have an appropriate number of potential resolutions that can be debated?

Do you think some of the resolutions are too broad or too narrow?

Timeliness:

Do you think this will be a timely topic during the 2025-2026 school year?

What evidence do you have that this topic will still appear in the media in 2 years?

Is there any chance that this topic will be rendered meaningless by the time the debates occur?

Will this topic have new issues that arise as the topic is debated?

Scope:

Does this topic address an issue that is significant in all areas of the country?

Do you think a wide majority of states would be able to debate this topic?

Are there any groups of people who would not be allowed to debate this topic?

Range:

Will this topic challenge advanced debaters?

Can this topic be understood and debated by novice debaters?

Quality:

Do we want the nations high school students to be researching and debating this topic?

Will this topic provide value to high school students (exposure to divergent points of view, analyzes significant current issues/problems, opportunity to develop analytical and problem-solving skills)?

Can this topic be debated for an entire year without producing repetitive debates?

Material:

Is there enough material available on this topic?

Is the material available accessible to all audiences?

Interest:

Will this topic interest high school debaters, judges, and community members?

Could there be a barrier to someone being interested in this topic?

Balance:

Are there issues and arguments supporting both sides of the topic?

Does either side have a significant advantage over the other side?

Do both balanced affirmed and negative ground exist?

Things to NOT Do or Say

Personally attack the author

Give your personal opinion on how you would have authored the paper differently

Compare someone else’s paper to the topic being discussed

Go on a long rant/monologue

Make the roundtable about yourself instead of the topic