Forensic educators stand at a pivotal point in the development of National Parliamentary Debate Association (NPDA) debate culture and standards; we have enough experience behind us to see where NPDA is going, but not so much "tradition" as to enslave us to the past. One area of reform that is highlighted by this paper is the removal of…

People's conception of uniqueness in policy debate has changed dramatically in the past decade. Concepts like "we control uniqueness" and "direction of uniqueness" have come to dominate disadvantage debates. Unfortunately, policy debate has suffered as an activity as the result of some of these debating practices. In response, debaters and judges…

Many administrators and educators have questioned the wisdom of establishing competitive goals for forensic programs. Many appear to believe that the acceptance of competitive goals necessarily leads to such abusive behavior as atheoretical teaching, the prioritizing of style over substance, the promotion of education shortcuts, and the…

Today's collegiate forensic activities have changed in ways that pose profound challenges to directors of forensics. Six primary factors that contribute to the "at-riskness" of directors of forensics are: the changing face of today's forensic program forces difficult choices; the forensics community is seeing signs of a crisis in…

Assesses the current focus of collegiate forensics. Argues that the value of competition has come to outweigh the value of education in intercollegiate individual events practice. Examines the educational and competitive values of forensics, assesses the problems associated with the overemphasis on competition, and makes recommendations as to how…

The purpose of this paper is to create a guide for beginning coaches of the "communication analysis" event in forensics and to attempt to arouse interest in the activity. According to the paper, the American Forensic Association defines communication analysis as an original speech designed to offer an explanation and/or evaluation of a…

Offers opinions about the 1988 Presidential Debates and their value to high school students. Notes that these debates are at best negative examples of debate. (MM)

Examines how the 1988 Presidential Debates provide a resource for effective instruction in public argument. Provides several examples of effective (and ineffective) argumentative speaking taken from the debates. (MM)

In classical Greece, there was a close tie between rhetoric and the practice and theory of public policy. Gradually, however, rhetoric became increasingly concerned with style and literary criticism, while philosophers began to debate political issues apart from the practical affairs of the polis. Because rhetoric provides a model that can still…

One of three related documents exploring the problems inherent to current high school forensic coaching, this paper argues that the present role of high school debate coaches falls short of the educational objectives of forensics. The paper discusses two coaching philosophies--the first being that of coaches who narrowly define their educational…

Discusses how studying the 1988 Presidential Debates reveals the importance of ethos in speaking and being elected to office. Asserts that the debates also offer an excellent opportunity to teach propaganda devices or fallacies. Provides two examples from the second Presidential Debate. (MM)

Debaters have several poor word-choice and word-formation habits that detract from their ethos as advocates as well as from the clarity of their arguments. In many instances, debaters, to their competitive and educational detriment, employ habitual phrases, questionable redefinitions, and poorly coined new words. Many currently popular debate…

Noting a dearth of research on the ethical use of evidence in forensic competitions, a case analysis details a speech delivered by a contestant who apparently borrowed both ideas and writing from another source. In a prize-winning speech, the contestant used source deception, plagiarism, and "pseudo" sources (attribution to sources…

Guidelines for citing sources in forensic competition are needed for use by students, as well as by coaches and judges. The first step toward developing standardized guidelines could be an adaptation of the Modern Language Association's American Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which provides clear-cut definitions of plagiarism,…

Designed to facilitate research on and the preparation and presentation of arguments for the national debate topic, this manual summarizes the present state of the judiciary and court reform issues. The volume begins with a collection of articles, statements, and reports that present a general background on the justice system and court reform.…