Elements of Debating Part 7

c) Not all contests should be abolished.

2. Certain educators have a.s.serted that:

a) The inter form of contests is open to abuses.

b) The intra contests would be more democratic.

c) Intra contests would be practicable.

3. Other educators disagree with these a.s.sertions.

4. The issues, then, are:

a) Are the inter contests so widely abused in the high schools of Northern Illinois as to warrant their abolition?

b) Would the proposed plan be more democratic than the present system?

c) Would the proposed plan work out in practice?

PROOF

I. Contests between the high schools of Northern Illinois are not subject to such abuses as will warrant their abolition, for:

A. If the abuses alleged against athletic contests ever existed, they are now extinct, for:

1. The alleged danger of injury to players physically unfit is not an existing danger, for:

(1) It has been made impossible by the rules of the schools, for:

a) This high school requires a physician's certificate of fitness before partic.i.p.ation in any athletic contest, for: (a) Extract from athletic rulings of school board.

b) Our opponent's high school has a similar regulation, for:

(a) Extract from school paper of opponents.

c) The X High School has the same ruling.

d) The Y High School has the same requirement.

2. The charge that athletic contests between high schools make the contestants poor students is without sound basis, for:

(1) A high standard of scholarship is required of all inter-high-school athletic contestants, for:

a) Regulations of Illinois Athletic a.s.sociation.

B. The evils charged against inter-high-school debating cannot be cured by the proposed scheme, for:

1. They are due, when they exist, not to the form of contest, but to improper coaching, for:

(1) "Too much training," one of the evils charged, is an example of this.

(2) Unfair use of evidence, the other evil alleged, is simply an evil of improper coaching.

II. The proposed plan would not be so democratic as the present system, for:

A. The present plan gives an opportunity to all students, for:

1. Its cla.s.s and other intra contests give a chance to the less proficient pupils.

2. Its inter contests afford an opportunity for the more proficient pupils.

B. The proposed plan would deprive the more capable pupils of desirable contests, for:

1. They can find contests strenuous enough to induce development only by competing with similar students in other schools.

III. The proposed plan would not be practicable, for:

A. It is unsound in theory, for:

1. No pupil has a strong desire to defeat his close friends.

2. There is no desirable method of dividing the students for compet.i.tion under the proposed plan, for:

(1) Cla.s.s division is unsatisfactory, for:

a) The more mature and experienced upper cla.s.ses win too easily.

(2) "Group division" is not desirable, for:

a) If the division is large, the domination of the mature students will give no opportunity to the younger students.

b) If the division is small, it is likely to develop into a secret society.

B. Experience opposes the proposed plan, for:

1. College experience is against it, for:

(1) N. University tried this plan without success, for:

a) Quotation from president of N.

2. High-school experience does not indorse it, for:

(1) It is practically untried in high schools.

REFUTATION

I. The argument which the affirmative may advance, that the experience of Shortridge High School demonstrates the success of this plan, is without weight, for: