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…

The eight English language arts programs in the six Florida public schools included among the 150 Centers of Excellence in English selected by the National Council of Teachers of English are described in this focused journal issue. Following an introductory essay by coeditor Edward Deluzain describing the Centers of Excellence selection procedure,…

The ability of debate coaches and instructors to define the goals of their activity is essential to any meaningful evaluation of success in achieving those goals. Much of the criticism of debate rests on the faulty assumption that coaches and instructors agree as to what they are trying to teach students. Numerous writers have addressed the…

The mirror state counterplan is a straightforward form of negative refutation used in debate in which the negative team proposes that each state enact a miniature version of the affirmative plan that was to be adopted on the federal level. For example, the 1981-82 national debate proposition resolved that the federal government should…

Defining "information overload" as the condition that occurs when the amount of available information exceeds the ability of the user to process it, this paper contends that this condition has now affected the arena of academic debate. The first section of the paper examines the nature of overload and discusses its consequences on the…

Designed to serve as a framework from which high school debate students, coaches, and judges can evaluate the issues, arguments and evidence present in the availability and quality of water resources in the United States, this booklet provides guidelines for research on the 1985-86 debate resolutions selected by the National Federation of State…

A rhetorical analysis of the 1984 vice-presidential debate between George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro was conducted to determine argumentation tactics, argumentation flaws, reasoning strategies, and other rhetorical characteristics. The results indicated that the format of the debate allowed for little actual direct confrontation between…

Articles representing two views on the issue of rapid population growth and economic development are presented. Although the authors present different perspectives, they agree on many of the fundamentals. For example, both reject alarmism about impending "population explosions" and the use of population as a scapegoat for all Third World…

A rhetorical analysis was conducted of the four broadcast political debates that led to San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson's victory in the 1982 California senatorial race. Specifically, the analysis covered one primary debate held in San Diego among five of the seven Republican contenders and the three bipartisan debates held in Fresno, San Francisco,…

The counterplan is a recent strategy used in debate whereby the negative team can urge adoption of a new policy rather than defend the status quo. This paper isolates some of the requirements for a debate counterplan, discusses its strategic implications, and describes three conditions which debate theorists define as necessary for a valid…

Intercollegiate forensics training and experience are no longer relevant, nor do they provide a useful service for the particpant. The irresponsibility of contemporary forensics has taken three forms: unbelievable growth in the number of forensic tournaments and events, the inclusion of too many individual and impromptu events, and an orientation…

Prompted by the issue of whether participation in forensics programs has some tangible beneficial effects on the participants, this paper examines how such participation might influence the participant's processing of information. The paper first presents a rationale for examining the forensics participant as an information processor, citing…

The recent innovation of adapting the debate to the judge's preferred philosophy appears to have been supplanted by a converse trend: advocates now attempt to force the judge to adopt the paradigm dictated by the strategies of the debate round. The existence of such a widespread dispute over the appropriate decision making system in debate…

Forensics judges rank students, determine the outcome of tournaments, and are in positions to give the contestants feedback that can help them learn. Several ideas that can help improve the quality of judging include: event rules should appear on the ballots, suggested criteria for judging should appear on the ballots, tournaments should use…

The 16 articles in this journal issue identify and assess change and constants in intercollegiate forensics during the decade of the 1970s. The articles give varying perspectives on the significance of the decade and the topics range from concern for tenure for the debate coach to the formats of argumentation theory within the debates themselves.…