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Re: now I'm mad....Re: to Law...

Glenn and Glen are both right. Educational benefit and fun not only are 
not contradictory but most compatible and supplementary.
Competition and education are also not contradictory but compatible and 
supplementary when moderation is practiced the middle way of Professor 
Micken.
Debaters enjoy competition. They have great fun exercising strategies in 
the game of debate. They also work hard with good friends and meet 
outstanding people who are their opposition. Bright dedicated people 
judge them and try to offer them constructive advice on how to become 
better arguers. Like bridge players chess players Internet fanatics they 
get totally wrapped up in what they are doing and love it. The thrill of 
victory the agony of defeat the joy of intellectual strife.
But at the same time, debaters are learning a lot. They are learning how 
to research how to use indexes and electronic searching. They are 
learning how to make a case and how to refute a case. They are learning 
about good logic and reasoning and its counterpart fallacies. They are 
learning about the quality of good evidence versus mediocre or poor 
evidence. They are learning to listen intently to separate the wheat from 
the chaff and to take concise precise accurate notes. They are learning 
how to probingly question and to carefully respond. Knowledge is power 
and they are learning an awful lot about current controversial issues and 
interdisciplinary approaches to the same.
The "game" or learning lab of debate leads to knowledge about and skill 
in dealing with the marketplace of ideas. Debaters learn how 
controversies arise and are approached and partially solved only to 
rearise in different form.
Debate is fun but it is also a incredible learning experience.
Debate is competitive but also provides good friends, a real depth of 
knowledge, an appreciation for the democratic process of fighting it out 
in the realm of ideas, and incredible skills very very useful in life as 
scholars, lawyers, judges, politicians, teachers, ministers, etc.
Steve Hunt
References:
Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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