What are the benefits of Speech and Debate?

1.improved critical thinking skills

The importance of debate in education centres around its ability to teach children critical thinking. In a world where children are spoon-fed information passively, critical thinking is lacking as learning is no longer interest-based.However, debating can sharpen a student’s critical thinking skills and let them examine the topic they’ve been given. Instead of passively accepting information, they’re forced to hone their thoughts, discard concepts and theories that don’t make sense and adopt ones that do.Debating also helps them question their beliefs and justify why they think a certain way.

2.Improved listening and note-taking skills

One of the other benefits of debating is that it improves students’ note-taking while listening to others. When students start, they can struggle to take notes effectively and discern the main points.When you’re new to debating, you might start by trying to frantically write down large portions of what the opponent is saying. Then you lose track of the main argument.However, if you’ve been debating for a while, you’ll know to try to listen for the main points and think about how you’re going to defend those points more generally. This teaches you to sift information simultaneously as you listen to your opponent.