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Introduction to the Junior Secondary Program
The JSP is an introduction to debating for junior secondary students, providing training in the basic skills and structure of debate, and giving students an opportunity to do three ‘friendly’ debates.
Benefits
Public speaking and argument are perhaps the two skills most crucial to a student’s future – they are real-world skills with immediate application in a school or workplace environment. Debating is a proven means to personal empowerment – it’s the textbook example of students ‘finding their voice’, acquiring both the means to express their beliefs and the tools with which they can critically examine these views.
With skills such as these, there is a simple rule: the earlier kids are exposed to them, the better. The majority of good debaters are not born but made – their skills are developed over the years with practice and encouragement. The JSP targets junior students in order to spark their interest in debating, and to prepare them to begin debating in the Schools Competition if they choose.
Structure
The Program has been structured to meet the needs of beginner debaters. Adjudicators and trainers have been specifically chosen for their ability to teach younger students, an ability which involves a patient and encouraging approach to communicating basic ideas.
Speaking time is 3-4 minutes, which when students include speaker duties is not a very long time to speak. While the Program aims to challenge students to think, we have carefully tailored the difficulty of the topics and requirements to ensure that participants do not find the experience discouraging. The competition is only open to Years 7&8 students who have not participated in the Schools Competition.
Debating Culture
We are beginning to recognise a trend amongst the strongest schools in the Schools Competition. The strongest schools, both in terms of longevity of participation and success in finals, are those schools which have a strong internal debating culture. This can be seen in the enthusiasm of their participating students, a schoolwide interest in the success of their teams, and wider staff recognition of the benefits of debating making it easier to find personnel willing to become involved.
The JSP is a terrific opportunity to get kids involved in debating when their enthusiasm and energy is greatest, and the reduced administrative requirements of the competition are a good way for school debating coordinators to familiarise themselves with the workings of the DAV. These can help found a stronger debating culture in your school.
Preparation
Lastly, the JSP is excellent preparation for the Schools Competition – not surprisingly, it is the preparation that many adjudicators wish D Grade debaters had had before attempting their first debate. The Schools Competition has a long tradition of shaping debaters through constructive feedback, but debaters will benefit from an earlier introduction to the broader structural ideas behind debating. The introduction afforded by the JSP provides a mental map with which debaters can relate their learning to the theory of civilised verbal combat which underlies debating method. |
