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High School Outreach

 At the recent national tournament of the Cross Examination Debate
Association, attended by over 200 debate teams from all over the nation,
America's largest college debate organization acted to begin an active
outreach program to create cooperation and common action between it and
America's high schools. CEDA has appointed a national committee and
appropriated start up funds ($500) for this effort, with a commitment to
higher funding in the future. This decision was made unanimously.

 This decision expresses the commitment of CEDA to the idea that high school
and college forensics have common interests and a common fate. If high school
debate in America is extensive, successful, and popular, debate at the
college level will also prosper. As well, if collegiate debate is extensive,
successful, and popular, it contributes to a better situation in high school
debate through modeling, judging, coaching, and institutional support. High
school and college debate are not separate entities, but a continuum through
which students and coaches move.  For too long the high school and collegiate
debate communities have acted as if they existed in separate worlds, unaware
of the reality of this continuum.

I am chairing a committee on this subject. Many people have been on contact
with me and I will be getting in touch with you soon. Here are the
individuals I am asking to serve on this committee with me: David Grassmick,
Marist College; Glenn Strickland, Emporia State University; Skip Rutledge,
Point Loma Nazarene; Aimee Rowe, Pepperdine; Wayne Kraemer, SW Texas; and
perhaps more! I need your help on the following five components of this
program. Please feel free to get in touch with me. Our goal is to have a
designed brochure to present to CEDA at SCA, to have contacted with NFL, NF,
and CFL, to have a combined address and contact list, to have an information
packet to help with outrach activities, and a firm proposal with cost
estimates for a CEDA BBS for high schools and CEDA schools to use.

Here are the five components. None of these is a panacea, but each of them
should help to narrow this gap and begin to heal the wound in the house of
forensics.

 1. CEDA is preparing an information packet to explain to high school
students the realities of modern college CEDA debate and the opportunities
which exist within it for students at all levels of experience. This should
help to dispel some of the myths about CEDA.

 2. CEDA is committed to networking with and working closely with high school
organizations on a regional and national level. State organizations and
leagues will be contacted. Often these groups are the gateway to many
programs which are not members of the NFL, CFL, or National Federation. Of
course, contact with national organizations will also be emphasized. These
groups should be able to suggest the needs of high school programs and the
ways in which cooperation could be productive.

 3. CEDA will attempt to initiate a contact exchange with all high schools
and CEDA schools. An informational data base will be created where the
addresses of NFL, CFL, National Federation, and state leagues and
organizations will be centralized to create a comprehensive national address
list. From this, CEDA will attempt to provide every high school on the list
with a list of every CEDA debate program in their region. As well, CEDA will
attempt to provide every CEDA program with a list of all high school debate
programs in their area. 

 4. This communication network, once established, can serve as a method for
cooperation. Once in contact, high school and college debate programs can
begin to cooperate. CEDA is committed to providing assistance and guidance so
that CEDA programs can offer one-day workshops for high schools, can provide
mentoring programs for new high school coaches, can encourage college
debaters to judge at high school tournaments, can offer low-cost tournaments
for high schools focusing on new and smaller programs, can encourage college
debaters to provide coaching assistance and start programs at area schools,
and other support activities.

 5. CEDA is investigating the establishment of an electronic bulletin board
(BBS) which will be available free of charge to high schools. This bulletin
board would be accessible to anyone with a modem and a computer.  If
sufficient support and use exists for this system, it might be linked to an
800 number so that schools could call in more easily, or perhaps a Sprintnet
access so that schools could contact the bulletin board by calling a local
number. Also, where state and local school systems have networks, this
bulletin board might be linked directly to them. The result could be a wealth
of information available to high school and college programs for their mutual
benefit. From the bulletin board, any school could download information from
a variety of categories, including:

 a. Instructional materials which high school coaches could use: hand outs,
articles, bibliographies, and advice from experienced coaches.

 b. Public domain software for tournament administration, evidence
processing, and other debate administrative tasks.

 c. News and information from national, state, and regional organizations, as
well as address lists and a posting of tournaments.

 d. Public domain articles and materials about the current high school debate
topic. This would include analysis of the topic by debate coaches from the
high school and college level.

 e. An index of college debate programs and contacts, including financial aid
information, to help students include debate in their higher education
decisions. 

 f. An upload area where anyone who signs on can upload information which the
operators of the system can examine to determine if and where it should be
posted on the bulletin board.

While I am very interested in the doings on the list (breaking backets, NEDA,
etc.) I am focused on a larger goal with this program.

I await your reaction and will continue with my work.

Alfred C. Snider, University of Vermont
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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