The debate is a valuable activity for students of all skill levels. Debate teaches useful skills for other academic pursuits and life more generally. Most obviously, debaters build confidence speaking in public and expressing their ideas eloquently. That comfort speaking in front of others is useful in so many areas of life, from interviews to school presentations to discussions in college seminars. The debate is a great device for engaging students and bringing life to the classroom. Using debates in the classroom can help students understand essential critical-thinking and presentation skills. Classroom debates can nurture rational thinking, citizenship, manners, organization of thoughts, persuasion, and public speaking. Student debate has the capability to deeply engage the students in relevant learning and to inspire students to be deep thinkers. More than just arguing, the structure and rules of debate are designed to keep both sides calm. Debate tests and builds that ability by forcing students to see both sides of issues. Debaters flex their analytical muscles, learning to find the weak points in an opponent’s arguments. They learn to explain their own ideas and assess different viewpoints, whether in a debate round, a political discussion, a classroom, or a written essay. And debate requires students to research their ideas and support them with evidence, teaching them to conduct research and assess sources. Debate gives students a rare opportunity to take ownership of their own intellectual development. And throughout the years of practice and competition, debate builds lifelong friendships and community, teaching teamwork as well.
A debating society provides a student with the scope to speak his own ideal without fear of favor. A good debater should accept the arguments of the opponents with a spirit of liberalism. A student should not underestimate his opponent and should learn the important point from the opponent to be a good debater. The debating society should not cause any ill-feeling among students. Otherwise, the very purpose of forming a debating society will be lost. If we do not accept the right views of others, if we do not have regard for the reasonable points of the opponents we will create enemies for ourselves. Defeat or victory in a debating society should be borne up with the spirit of a sportsman. Through debates, we make an attempt to go near the truth. By winning a debate we do not go up very much just as we do not degrade ourselves by being defeated in a debate.
