By now you have heard about our Spring Vote Proposal “Triple the Value.” We are excited to discuss how this new multi-resolution approach to Lincoln Douglas Debate can revitalize LD.
Three-resolution LD has been used in Lincoln Douglas for many years, and The National Speech and Debate Association, which is the largest middle and high school league, uses five resolutions each year.
Our proposal is that we would have one resolution for each major section of the year: in the fall/winter, in the spring, and in the last 1-2 months of the season including NITOC.
Benefits:
Less Repetition and More Interesting Rounds – We hear from many of you how bored you are with Lincoln Douglas rounds as the season wears on. And it’s not just you, it’s also your judges. With Triple the Value we can have fresh topics to engage on through the year.
More Competitive LD Rounds – Stoa LD will become more competitive. As resolutions change, LDers will need to dig into their skills. We hope to see LD debates get back to the essence of LD, debate centered on value and philosophy clash with a rich environment of applications.
Focus on Ethics, Values and Philosophy Clash – Additional cases and values will need to be argued in more contexts. LD will require more history, current events and philosophy and will have to lean on a shared universe of ideas that span multiple resolutions. Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Plato, Mill, Kant and the Founding Fathers are all thinkers that LDers should become more familiar with.
Increased Skills – Students will improve their case construction skills by writing multiple cases in a single competitive season, in addition to learning about how principles and values apply to a wider range of subjects.
More education on a variety of topics - Students can explore a wider range of interesting, relevant topics. Instead of choosing 1 of 3 potential resolutions, debaters will vote for 3 of 5 resolution choices.
Your Debate Committee