"Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress." - Mahatma Ghandi
Most people have harsh connotations attached to the word "DEBATING", words such as nerd and geek; however, the contrary is true. As a self-confessed debating addict I think I have quite the knowledge on the subject to get the word out that debating is actually "cool" and very, very helpful in life.
Firstly, to debate you need rigorous and critical thinking abilities you need to be able to think quickly and logistically to ensure a win for your team (i.e. in short-prep debates or when needing to prepare rebuttal during the debate). These quick thinking abilities also come into action in general day-to-day life either as a student or in the workplace and are highly important when working with a deadline (like debating). This is followed by gaining academic skills and knowledge about the real world and current events, debating topics are generally always to do with current topics the world is facing (i.e. Government structure/problems, legislation and community events etc.). Debating opens your eyes to the current events in the world by introducing you to a topic you may never have thought of before (or even just thinking about it from a different perspective). Also allowing you to make better and more informed arguments and develop a wider knowledge and more opinions about current society. As a debater you are more likely to mature mentally and emotionally a lot quicker as you are forced into a stressful (yet very thrilling) environment and encouraged to argue your way out of it, adhering to structure and rules of course! This also heightens your ability to think outside the box and see a different point of view than your own and gives you more of an opportunity to put yourself into others shoes and situations.
We can't forget that debating is a team sport (yes, it's a sport) and by debating you are learning more and more to work better in team environments and to cooperate in any situation with any people you are thrown together with, remember - you can learn from other people. This also encourages more focus in situations where you are given a short amount of time which appears very daunting and stressful but the more focus and determination is put into the debate, the better the team will perform. This ties in perfectly with responsibility of being part of a team, in a debating team every member needs to pull their own weight otherwise the team will not work cohesively. Furthermore, when working in a team environment it is obvious that organisation becomes very important, if you as a speaker are not ready and you stand up to deliver your speech that you have no idea of, it becomes VERY embarrassing!!!!
Obviously, debating improves public speaking skills and persuasive communication skills but it also improves your ability to take notes better and faster as well as the ability to speed read things such as evidence or prepared rebuttal.
Most importantly, debating is a fun and highly thrilling competitive environment that I highly recommend.
- Emma xo
