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one topic

For all those who care this is a special appearance from Mike Berman

I certainly believe that there should only be one topic in CEDA debate.
>From what I have heard the only counter argument is that one topic hurts
novices. Well, as one of our distinguished novices says "Where have you all
been." Has anyone ever seen highschool debate? They only have one topic and
they were all novices at one point. It sure helped them debate better. OH! BY
the way I started second semester of my freshman year in high school. I think
a one topic system actually helps novices for several reasons. First, novice
debators have a lot of things to learn about debate. They have to learn the
format, speaking styles, judge adaptation, strategy, etc. It seems a whole
lot easier to learn all of these things if you already have briefs. A second
reason it improves novice debate is it helps them understand the issues. If
a coach can explain what the other teams cases are arguing then there is a
greater possibility for a more substantive debate, instead of a tag line debate
which arises from being unfamiliar with the topic area. In fact this is a way
both varsity, JV, and novice debators would all benefit from one topic. Yet,
some might say that certain novices might be intimidated by people who already
have a semester of experience. Yet this argument is also flawed. First, a
debator can debate second semester one year and first semster the next. In
fact this already occurs. So, a disadvantage when you begin turns into an
advantage later.Secondly, any good coach can easily correct these problems
of fear and intimidation. These fears exist for all debators before their
first debate round no matter what the topic is. Furthermore, debating people
who are better than you are is the best way to improve because you learn more
from the debate.
    Now I have a problem because obviously there is some secret reason no one
told of why two topics is   good for CEDA debate. If our only goal is to be
different from NDT debate this is not the way to do it. The only thing two
topics does for debators is make final exams during December HELL because you
have to research a whole new topic to prepare for California.

********ALL above comments are strictly the beliefs and ideas of Michael
        Berman and were in no way influenced by any other people.  I just feel
        that this is such an obious  deficiency of CEDA that it needed to be
       addressed.
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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