The Great Debater Forum, part 1

I accepted an invitation to speak at the “Great Debater” Forum in Kansas City on Saturday, September 13, 2008. That Friday morning I left Louisville as Hurricane Ike prepared it’s wrath for the Texas coast and parts due North and East.  My Southwest jet landed in a literal thunderstorm in St. Louis, took off only to land 50 minutes later in a heavy rain in Kansas City.  And “Ike” hadn’t reached the mainland yet.

It rained from the time I was in Kansas City until I left.  My connection on the way back at Midway in Chi-town found more rain.  Literally, it rained from 10 minutes after I was airborne in Louisville until I was about 50 miles outside what is called the Ohio Valley on the way back the next day.  Two days of rain followed me across the Mid-west.  Because my Faith been was stronger, I understood, and saw the connections of my past:

The Squad Room

So we had our first practice debates using the new system.  The affirmative debated as the Louisville team while the negative team represented a non-Louisville approach, since all our debates in the beginning will be against teams likely not prepared or interested in our system.  After the initial reactions of, “there goes Doc again on a crazy tangent” as the students fought to catch up with my vision, we finally began to arrive together in the same place.  I knew that if we get a chance to make a serious commitment to the new approach, I would have to persuade our juniors and seniors that the system works.  If they came on board, the younger students, in deference to their elders, would sign on as well.

The Big Picture – Making Ethical Behaviors Strategic

"How Important are Ethics in Today's Society?"

Back when I debated, people occassionally made “ethics” challenges, usually revolving around the context or falsification of a piece of evidence.  Technology and the ability to access evidence has made the evidence verification issue a non-starter.  Evidence gets discussed on listservs, students can find articles in seconds, and caselists keep everyone involved on what and where the evidence is.