Badger Ridge Hamilton Middle School Parliamentary Debate 1
2021 — NSDA Campus, WI/US
This is Wisconsin's first ever middle school parliamentary debate tournament!
The tournament will be conducted over NSDA Campus on Friday March 19th from 4PM to 6:30PM Central Time.
Topic Slate
The topics for the tournament will be pulled randomly from this slate of the following topics:
This House should charge households per unit of trash generated
This House should make all public colleges and universities tuiton-free.
This House should prohibit the production of nuclear power.
This House should increase funding for space exploration.
This House should prohibit children from using social media.
This House should privatize water.
Note: The phrase 'This House' gives the Proposition team the ability to define (within reason) the level of government that should be implementing the action of the resolution.
Tentative schedule (Times Central)
3:30 - Registration begins, students encouraged to test out their video setup in a practice room.
4:00 - Round 1 Topic announced
4:20 - Round 1 debate starts
[Dinner/snack break]
5:30 - Round 2 Topic announced
5:50 - Round 2 debate starts
Awards over Zoom immediately after R2 is complete!
What is Parliamentary Debate?
Parliamentary debate (aka 'Parli') is a spontaneous debate format, where topics and sides for debates are announced 20 minutes prior to the beginning of the debate round.
Teams should use logic, creativity, and common knowledge to construct their arguments and refutations.
More info on Parli: MSPDP Guide to Parli
What does a Parliamentary Debate round look like?
20 minutes prior to the round
Topic is announced and sides are assigned. Students begin preparing with their team, and are allowed to research on the internet for argument ideas.
Speech Order
Speeches in the round are given in this order (note that opposition goes twice in a row!):
- First Speaker, Proposition Team 5 minutes [Proposition Constructive]
- Opp Clarification period: opposition may ask clarifying questions to the proposition for up to 1 minute
- First Speaker, Opposition Team 5 minutes [Opposition Constructive]
- Prop Clarification period: proposition may ask clarifying questions to the opposition for up to 1 minute
- Second Speaker, Proposition Team 5 minutes [Proposition Member Speech]
- Second Speaker, Opposition Team 5 minutes [Opposition Member Speech]
- Rebuttal Speaker, Opposition Team 3 minutes [Opposition Rebuttal]
- Rebuttal Speaker, Proposition Team 3 minutes [Proposition Rebuttal]
After round
The judge(s) of the round will briefly provide feedback and explain why they voted for one side or the other.
How are parliamentary debate round winners decided?
A judge decides the round based on the arguments that are presented by the debaters only -- they should not vote based on arguments that were not made or let their own opinion decide the round.
Arguments that are not refuted are generally accepted to be true. Therefore, debaters should attempt to refute all of their opponents arguments as soon as they can!
Judges will also award 'speaker points' based on how effectively debaters argued their positions. Speaker points are awarded on a 30 point scale, with 30 being amazing!