Are you interested in joining your school’s debate team? Stop those hesitations and sign up for your next organization! You will NEVER regret it.
These can help you a lot during your reports or thesis defense. Personally, it has helped me with my self-confidence. I am less shy, and more used to speaking to a crowd.
You see, you don’t need to be the best speaker if you want to join your school’s debate team. Allow this organization to hone your skills and discover the best side of you!
Why should you join your school’s debate team?
1. Discourse is important.
These days, it is crucial to know how to participate in discussions about important issues. It is even more essential to know how to do so responsibly. Debating helps you form and assess arguments that are objective and logical while encouraging further discussion.
Moreover, listening is just as important when it comes to discourse. In debate, you need to understand the other side as much as your own, which is something many people lack these days. You are also taught to avoid fallacies and set boundaries for your discussion.
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2. You’ll stay updated with current issues.
Being in the know with what is going on in the world allows you to be a responsible citizen and debating gives you an opportunity to learn about these things from different perspectives.
In this age where information is available to us at any time, we could strive to have at least a basic idea of what is going on, and learn to form ideas and discuss the problems and different angles of a certain topic.
When you join your school’s debate team, you get a chance to train as often as possible. This includes matter loading or case building sessions. You will study an issue and try to make arguments about certain stances as either government or opposition.
3. Your school’s debate team is the best room to learn critical thinking.
Critical thinking is very important in life. It sharpens your mind, helps you make better decisions, makes you more creative, and gives you more opportunities.
The more you do it, the better you become. Joining a debate team is a good way to practice critical thinking as it forces you to think outside the box, assess situations from many angles and apply these thoughts into concrete arguments. Doing these regularly will be beneficial and help you in life.
During the training sessions, your mind is very well stimulated. Furthermore, you get a lot of practice with your argumentation, public speaking and logical reasoning. Also, you debate with a partner or in a group, so you get to bond with your team and work together to make a good case for your side.
Bonus: Credentials & Social Skills
Being part of your school’s debate team looks good on a resume. It shows that you can think on your feet and that you are good in communicating. It is also a great honor to represent your school and win awards.
The Philippine debate circuit is a collective group of all Philippine debate teams from schools in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Every now and then they hold tournaments where you can compete as a debater that is part of a team or an adjudicator.
When there are tournaments, you can bond with your team and get to know debaters from other schools as well. Normally there are break nights where you can mingle and socialize with everyone and make lots of friends.
You see, the experiences as a member of your debate team will help you in numerous ways. It will stay relevant not only in school, but no matter where you are or what you achieve in the future.
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