Competitive Debate in College

[Al6200]

Okay, so I'm looking at the schools I got into - and I realized something: none of them have competitive debate! I always just assumed that schools would have competitive public forum debate, but I guess engineering schools don't always have them.

1. Does debate team have a special name at the college level? I.e., is it not just called "debate"?

2. How hard would it be to start a debate team from scratch?

3. Do you think that there are political internship opportunities for engineering students? Like being a congressional or house of delegates page? Any tips on how to get opportunities like that?

A lot of you I know have political backgrounds, so I'm curious if you could answer a few of my questions.

[Imperator]

At 4/6/08 11:27 AM, Al6200 wrote: Okay, so I'm looking at the schools I got into - and I realized something: none of them have competitive debate! I always just assumed that schools would have competitive public forum debate, but I guess engineering schools don't always have them.

Check Language/Arts programs. "Debate" isn't really a major, or a subject per se, but it's incorporated within certain classes. Discussions are usually more what happens.

For instance (Rav can attest), at Umich classes are often divided into two parts, Lecture and Discussion Section. Lecture is self-explanatory, Section takes about 15-25 ppl in the whole class, assigns them a GSI (or TA or whatever they're called) and let's em talk about the subject material in sort of a debate like format.....more like an academic symposium though.

Like Heathenry thread really.....except with a moderator.

The closest thing I came to a debate class was a 3hr seminar in History dealing with memory and violence. 12 people total; 1 prof, 7 grad students, 5 undergrads.

Just 3 hours of discussing, and sometimes friendly "arguing" of points in the books, articles, and readings for that course.

1. Does debate team have a special name at the college level? I.e., is it not just called "debate"?

Try "rhetoric" in your searches. Philosophy, English, Classics, and Philology courses should have SOMETHING.

2. How hard would it be to start a debate team from scratch?

At Michigan all you need to start a club is 4 people. And that's it.

3. Do you think that there are political internship opportunities for engineering students? Like being a congressional or house of delegates page? Any tips on how to get opportunities like that?

Zero clue.
I know for certain jobs they'd probably be looking for writing skills, and engineering students usually aren't put up to the same rigors of writing as Lit guys (Captain Obvious strikes again), but I haven't a clue really.

A lot of you I know have political backgrounds, so I'm curious if you could answer a few of my questions.

I hate politics and have only minor, non-professional experience, but you weren't getting a response, so I figured I'd bump it anyways.

[n64kid]

Law schools offer courses on debate, I can't say much for undergraduate though.

At Wisconsin, you can start a club with 3 signatures, and it's possible to receive free funding to promote your group. In fact, we have a debate team, a socratic debate team, student think tanks that act as mere debating forums, and multiple political and religious debate teams.

But it's so easy to speak your mind and find someone to give a reasonable response at any university with brilliant and not so brilliant minds.

[Al6200]

Hmmm... So do they have debate teams? Debate in class seems interesting though. I hope they'll have it even though all of the schools I'm looking at include "Institute of Technology" or "Polytechnic".

[Elfer]

At 4/6/08 10:35 PM, Imperator wrote:

3. Do you think that there are political internship opportunities for engineering students? Like being a congressional or house of delegates page? Any tips on how to get opportunities like that?

Zero clue.
I know for certain jobs they'd probably be looking for writing skills, and engineering students usually aren't put up to the same rigors of writing as Lit guys (Captain Obvious strikes again), but I haven't a clue really.

Depends on the school really. We have three courses on writing and communication just in the core program for chemical engineering where I am. When you're doing engineering in the real world, a lot of time is taken up by writing reports and giving presentations.

Anyway, a political internship might be hard to land unless you have a bunch of high school stuff relating to it, or if you go on to take a bunch of relevant electives. Starting a debating team at your college would look pretty good on a resume in that respect.

Generally, there's a fund set up somewhere that distributes money to college clubs. I'd be willing to bet that if you could drum up some interest (i.e. get signatures or something from interested people) and make a decent proposal, you could easily get a bit of money and some club space for something as reasonable as a debate club.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

have you tried minnesote we have some great debators here

[Al6200]

At this point I'm deciding on Rochester Institute of Technology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, or University of Maryland College Park - and I got waitlisted at Johns Hopkins University

Much to my chagrin the polytechs on that list don't have debate, and I'm not sure that my classmates would even want to do debate. I do public forum debate right now in High School, and it's pretty fun.

I would like to see competitive Science Fiction debates though. I'm not sure if they even exist though.

"Tonight's topic is resolved: that the Vorlons from Babylon 5 would be able to defeat and occupy the Nibblonians from Futurama in a war".

[Cuppa-LettuceNog]

It should be easy to start one from scratch. As long as your willing to bear the burden, and can show your making a serious and viable stab at it, you should find the school administration willing to help out.

[reviewer-general]

At 4/7/08 05:21 PM, Dante-Son-Of-Sparda wrote: have you tried minnesote we have some great debators here

Unfortunately, you don't seem to be one of them.

The writing department might need a talking to as well.

;

[MortifiedPenguins]

Your applying to Tech Institutions, debate per say is more of a classical liberal arts school.

I will, on the other hand, be refining my ability to intake large amounts of alchohol between Thirsty Thursdays and Sunday.

[Slizor]

I'm not sure about the US, but it's relatively easy to start a Uni society (my sister started a conservation society and my brother a poker one.) You could always try that.