Congratulations to the 2019 District 75 Debate Champions! Team photos from the live events are coming soon.
High School:
First Place: 368K Brooklyn’s Finest Debate Team
Second Place: 177Q All Stars
Third Place: 226M Pride
Honorable Mention: 751M MSCD Eagles
Middle School:
First Place: 751M MSCD Eagle Scouts
Second Place: 25R Panthers
Third Place: 75Q Deep Debaters
Honorable Mention: 352X BX Debates All Day
Download and print these posters to generate “sizzle and ‘xcitement” in your school!
Not all Puerto Ricans think that statehood is the best solution to the island’s problems. Here, a Vice News piece from 2017 explores a street art collective and their views on how Puerto Rico should move forward:
Our last debate topic invited teams to delve into the details of what makes a state a state. Is it the size of the population? The area of land? Must a state include both urban and rural sections? What about cities that are larger than some states? What does it mean to be a “territory?”
Well, after getting our toes wet with the D.C. statehood topic, we’ve moved on to the final topic of the year, which asks teams to delve even deeper into the issue by considering the case of statehood for Puerto Rico. Are any of the arguments the same? Are there other or better alternatives than statehood (ahem, con side)? What do the people of Puerto want? What does the constitution say? With just about 3 weeks left to prepare, the teams are knee deep in their research. We wish them luck and look forward to hearing the arguments and evidence in this Championship round!
This year’s Championship teams have been announced! Competing in the online competition this year for Middle School are the 75Q Deep Debaters vs 352X Bx Debates All Day. In the High School Competition are the 226M Pride vs the 751 MSCD Debaters. Competing in-person this year for the 1st and 2nd place titles in Middle School are the 25R Panthers vs the 751 MSCD Eagle Scouts. In the High School match, 368K Brooklyn’s Finest Debate Team vs the 177Q All Stars. There are just four debates left in the season. Legggoooo!
And what an opener it was! The 373K Fire Debaters brought the heat (naturally!) for the con side, but in the end it was the 226M Pride that won over the judges with their arguments for DC statehood. We saw a few of the other high school teams logged in to check out the competition, so we expect the momentum to continue. The Final Four is within reach and the 2019 trophies have just arrived. Keep up the great work, teams!
As we ease (dance? run? skip?) into Round 3, we are reminded of a quote by former president Teddy Roosevelt: “The more you know about the past, the better prepared you are for the future.” In this case, the past is Round 2 and the future is Round 3 of our debate competition! Check out this fun video reflection from the MSCD Debaters from 751M as they ponder their past performances and look to the future!
The students of 23Q at Lifeline research and write thoughtful essays prior to their debates. Here are pro and con essays from the 2018 1st round debate, “Should students be required to wear school uniforms?”
The third topic of our debate season is “Washington D.C. should be a state.” It is a tough call. Already there is a Washington state over on the west coast. If Washington D.C. were to become our 51st state, what would we name it? New Washington? What if I sent a letter to my sister in Seattle, and it wound up in the Potomac River? So many questions…
Round 2 wrapped this morning with another very close debate between the 176’ers from the Bronx and Queens’ own 177Q All Stars on the topic of metal detectors in schools. Since Debate waits for no one, the new topic was just announced. It is: Washington, D.C. should be a state.
Round 3 begins the week of March 18. The new schedule and match-ups will be posted soon. Enjoy your vacation, everyone!
March 1 is National Speech and Debate Education Day. This is a great opportunity to plan something special at your school to raise awareness about speech and debate. Think about a speech competition or a non-competitive event where kids can show off their skills for an audience.
There are tons of resources online for finding famous speeches. It might also be a nice way to wrap up Black History/ Black Futures month or set off Women’s History month. If there is enough interest, we will open up the online debate room for students to share.
The Round Two Topic has been announced, and the match-ups are now posted in the schedule tab above. This time we are debating whether or not all schools should have metal detectors. As always, there are pros and cons to both sides, and the teams are just warming up. Let’s go!
Ready… Set… Debate!
Thank you to all of the teams, coaches, and supporters for setting the debate season off correctly! Round two is on the way, beginning the week of January 28… Stay tuned for details and match-ups to be posted after the winter break. Happy Holidays to debaters everywhere!
The 17X Warriors debate team knows how to pull in a crowd! They had twenty supporters rooting for their team during the first round of debate.
17X Warriors Supporters
Here is a tip for teams that want to include a short video clip as part of their presentation. You will need to “rate” your video so that it can be viewed on the school network. After you upload your video to www.vimeo.com, under SETTINGS, go to DISTRIBUTION, scroll down to CONTENT RATING and set rating to “ALL AUDIENCES.”
Then simply share the vimeo link when you send your presentation to debates@learningtimes.com.
Remember that the time of the video counts against your presentation time.
Great job and a big thank you to the 176’ers from the Bronx and the Rat Pack from 993Q for getting the season off on the right foot. The teams brought some really original and insightful arguments to the table this morning, and we can’t wait to hear what the rest of the teams will do. The momentum is building… here we go!
Is learning civics your constitutional right? Aleita Cook, 17, thinks it is and she is taking her case to the Supreme Court. Read more about it in this article from the New York Times.
The News Literacy Project is an organization that helps students learn to tell media fact from fiction.
Among other resources, they have a crop of videos that may be very useful for your student debaters. I watched the one entitled 
Double Check Your Facts and got most of the quiz questions wrong! Hah!
Watch the video and see how well you do.
For more information on The News Literacy Project and what they offer:
Round One preparations have begun. The new topic and team match-ups are now posted in the schedule tab above.
Let the games begin!
Did anyone else see the Banksy painting self-destruct in a built-in shredder just moments after it was sold for over a million dollars? Should the buyer of the painting still pay for it? Is the painting actually worth more now? There’s a lot to debate! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
