Students to learn life-long skills, arguably
The Haines Glacier Bards debate team is back after a decade hiatus and the rookie debaters said the experience has already helped them become better and more critical thinkers.
Freshman Willa Stuart said she initially wanted to debate because she simply “liked arguing.”
“I argue with everyone so I thought debate would be fun,” Stuart said.
Stuart’s mother, Jila Stuart, said Willa’s grandmother got her a t-shirt that reads, “I’m not arguing with you, I’m just explaining why I’m right.”
“It’s kind of frightening how many people told me at school that I should get Willa in debate,” Jila Stuart said. “They want another channel for her arguing.”
Willa Stuart said learning how to debate and competing against other more experienced teams has taught her that the activity is about more than simply arguing. Debaters don’t know which side of a resolution they’ll have to defend or oppose. A coin flip decides for them at the beginning of their debate. She said learning how to see multiple perspectives has helped her become a “better thinker and more open-minded.”
“You don’t always agree with what you’re arguing for,” Stuart said. “I didn’t actually think about that part of it and it’s kind of strange. I’ve learned to question every argument that I have, to see the counter argument and add more.”
Jila Stuart said those budding skills have yet to manifest at home. “I’d say she is as argumentative as ever,” she quipped.
The second debater, Selby Long, said it’s been intimidating to compete against more experienced debaters from other schools. Similar to Willa, Long said the process of debate was not what she had expected.
“It’s really interesting when you realize there are two sides to an argument,” Long said. “When you really get into and do the research, you really understand the other side and empathize with it. It gives you a better perspective.”
Although inexperienced, the pair managed to win a debate at a regional meet last month. Long said she’s excited to keep learning and plans to participate throughout high school.
Head coach Hannah Bochart said it’s been challenging to coach the small team and she hopes to attract more participants. Many teams have enough debaters to practice against each other. But with only two debaters, they have to improvise.
“We engineered a mock debate where I and our third team member pretended to be an opposing team, but it isn’t the same as going up against your peers,” Bochart said.
She said the regional high school speech community is a tight-knit group and that Ketchikan DDF coach David Mitchell helped the Bards during the regional tournament.
“(He) actually sat down with my students and gave them excellent advice and feedback, even as they were about to go into a room and compete against his students,” Bochardt said. “The entire region has been excited to see Haines debate again, and having their support and enthusiasm has been so helpful.”
Gershon Cohen coached the Bards’ debate team for more than a decade until 2012, the last time a team was active. Cohen said the skills debate students learn will help them throughout their lives in respect to seeing the world more clearly.
“You learn the world is far more complex than we often are led to believe,” Cohen said. “Positions and policies are rarely if ever black and white or good versus evil, so you learn to be more compassionate and empathetic to points of view you may have at first rejected out of hand. I would argue there isn’t a more important program at the school, but I suppose that would be debatable.”