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ans Delano

> should you support any research that will be wasted. I don't see the big 
> school getting that big of an edge, because remeber small school do 
> research before the topic comes out as well and chances are that big 
> schools doing non-topic research will still have a bigger advantage as of 
> right now than small schools because of the volume thats being produced 
> is putting little schools behind. Iam going to be researching in the 

I'm a bit confused by your post.  First you say that big schools won't 
get that big of an edge, then you acknowledge that big schools already 
have the inherent advantage of being able to produce a larger volume of 
material.  The evidence gap between large and small programs increases 
geometrically over the course of the year.  It seems as if the supporters 
of the early release date believe that the gap narrows over time.  This 
would only be true if large programs stopped doing research at mid-year 
(something I don't see happening).

> is putting little schools behind. Iam going to be researching in the
> summer and I hate wasting my time on non-specific research. Plus 
> institutes will help small schools because now that evidence will be more 
> topic specific. Big schools will always have an advantage. Furthermore in

If you hate wasting time on non-specific research, why bother researching 
before the topic is released?  (For that matter, if you see it as a 
waste, why do non-specific research at all?)  As for institutes helping 
small programs, I agree that any topic specific evidence would be 
helpful.  The large programs, however, would have all this evidence as 
well as tubs more from their own early topic-specific research.  The 
institutes will do very little to close the gap.  Even if my take on 
institute evidence is wrong, do we really want to make institutes an 
absolute necessity?

Also, small programs often do not have the funds to send students to 
institutes.  What of the programs that not only don't have the funds but 
are comprised of students who have to work during the summer to afford to 
go to school?  How can we justify making it that much more difficult to 
compete?

> topic specific. Big schools will always have an advantage. Furthermore in
> the duration small schools that are close by can get together and 
> exchange evidence that the others don't have, which will benefit each school.

I have said all along that big programs will always have an advantage.  
That's the nature of the beast.  With this in mind, I see no need to 
artificially support them by allowing them to use their numerical and 
monetary superiority to an even greater extent than they do now.

As for coalitions among small programs, how is this different from the 
evidence swaps that have been occuring for years among programs of all 
sizes.  If it has not served to eliminate the current evidence gap, why 
should we assume that it would even mitigate the even larger one that would 
result from this proposal?

> Finally I see better debates with an earlier release date.

I have no doubt that watching two powerhouse teams would be a joy to 
behold, but watching a horrible mismatch (which I believe would occur 
more) would be no fun.  Judging it would be even less so.

If we truly wanted good debate, then we would provide written copies of 
all plans and positions well in advance of any debate.  Everyone could 
then research very specific evidence and we would have some real clash.   
Analysis of the evidence would become more important than than the card  
war.  We wouldn't have to worry about "wasting time" on non-specific  
research.  Alas, although this happens on some occassions, it is not the 
norm across the board.  I must assume, therefore, that our concern is not 
truly "better debates," but rather better debates only to the extent that 
it doesn't significantly damage our competitive edge.  Why should CEDA's 
smaller programs be expected to sacrifice themselves by giving the 
larger programs an even larger competitive edge?

Respectfully,
Big Dave

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
David Andrew Bargatze
President, Calhoun Forensics Society
E-mail: dbargat@hubcap.clemson.edu
Web Page: http://www.eng.clemson.edu/~dbargat/index.html

If you're going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.
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