Despite literally tens of thousands of rounds of debate competition over a number of years, little insight into argumentation theory has resulted. Debate as practiced by college debating teams has become a laboratory for perfecting itself. Permitting the divergence of debate from argumentation forfeits an ideal opportunity to study argumentation.…

Critiques the views of Alfred Snider and Richard Edwards, who defend simultaneous advocacy of utopian and policy claims and promote utopian gaming. Argues that conceptions of debate theory promoting utopian advocacy are uneducational. Claims that fiat theory should be restricted to assumptions grounded in real world policy making processes. (MM)

Responds to an article by John Katsulas, Dale Herbeck, and Edward Panetta (same issue), noting that the article misrepresented the author's positions on fiat power and gaming. States that their approach to fiat power ignores some basic realities concerning social organization, and contains some important inconsistencies. (MM)

Describes how, with the aid of a computer and modem, students in two schools can carry out a modified formal debate from their classrooms. (SR)

Focuses on the rhetorical values, benefits to debating programs, and administrative issues of intercollegiate, audience-style debating. (PRA)

Describes the formats, resolutions, tournaments, season, and governance of parliamentary debate. Offers explanation for its popularity among students. Argues that parliamentary debate meets at least seven educational objectives of debate activities. Suggests legitimizing the activity and adding it to programs. (PRA)

Reviews the history of the National Debate Tournament (NDT) and discusses its positions regarding fundamental issues confronting intercollegiate debate. Suggests that participation in the NDT may not be appropriate for all schools. (PA)

In this second article on the theory of "ground rules for talk" I extend a debate between myself and Professor Neil Mercer over the introduction of "ground rules" into classrooms. I critique ground rules through the use of sociological theory and argue that advocates of the ground rules perspective need to recognise the ideological nature of their…

The TV broadcast of "Jamie's school dinners" in 2005 prompted action throughout the UK to improve the standards of school meals. A public debate continues across the media around changes, resistance to them and consequences. This article draws upon the findings of a one-year ESRC-funded project on the English school dinners debate, which…

Two papers in the "European Physical Education Review" by Colwell (1999) and Mansfield (this issue) have argued respectively against, and in favour of, a potential synthesis between feminism and figurational sociology as a vehicle for making more adequate sense of physical education and sport. This paper offers both selective summaries and…

One shortcoming in the literature on policy framing has been the absence of analytic models through which to explicate change. This paper advances research in this area in three related ways. First, it links policy frames to the actors who employ them. Second, based upon this linkage it proposes two complementary approaches for examining…

This article reports on the dispute about the creation of an institute named for the late economist and free-market advocate Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago. Five months after the University of Chicago announced plans to invest $200-million in an economics institute named for the late Milton Friedman, the project is still generating…

This article deals with the politics of aid partnerships in the education sector of Benin following an anthropological policy research approach based on empirical data. I present local debates on primary education and the New Study Programmes, the latest education reform introduced nationwide in 1999. The different perceptions of the reform…

The use of questions in oral interpretation may offer a number of opportunities for moving forensics away from the performance paradigm. As competition in all interpretation events begins to sound the same, judges are left with only one criteria for judging--performance. While this may be considered an important criteria, it limits the educational…

A study investigated student competitors' opinions of the practice of judges asking questions of competitors at the conclusion of speeches in the individual events competiton at forensic tournaments. Surveys were completed by 52 final round student competitors at a large midwestern university individual events invitational tournament. Results…