Debate champ passes on wisdom
01:36 AM CDT on Saturday, June 27, 2009
In a clear, booming voice, Kuntal Cholera argued two sides of a difficult argument.
Is it murder to kill a terrorist?
Does the end justify the means?
Kuntal CholeraIt’s an example of opposing viewpoints that debate students likely will face in arguing positions with ethical and moral dilemmas, he told his audience.
As the teenagers grappled with the topic, they say, it was one of the best examples of arguing ethics they’ve heard.
Cholera, a recent University of North Texas graduate, was named the top collegiate debater in the nation in March and is one of 40 debate coaches teaching high school students at the UNT summer debate workshops this week through mid-July.
About 290 students are attending the debate workshops this year — the largest summer debate program in Texas, said Brian Lain, a communication studies professor and director of the summer program.
There are three different divisions of debate — policy, Lincoln-Douglas and student congress — at the UNT summer camp, Lain said.
In policy debate, which Cholera is teaching, there were four groups of students with various experience levels.
The groups have spent the last week researching the upcoming school year’s resolution of debating if the federal government should increase social services for people living in poverty.
Researching timely topics like that one will help give students a sense of what’s happening in the nation and give them voice in a meaningful public discussion, Lain said.
Most importantly, debate teaches students critical-thinking skills, which can influence the rest of their lives, he said.
Framing arguments
To gather quality, unbiased sources, students read books with weighty topics such as anti-capitalism and Marxism to help frame their arguments.
Ricky Barbosa, a 17-year-old attendee from Dallas, said political motives will become heated debates during this year’s competition.
This was Barbosa’s first time to attend the UNT debate camp, but he’s had a couple of years practicing debate and hopes knowledge from the workshops will add to his arsenal for the upcoming school year.
As he and other students scramble for quality information to add to their arguments, they pull index cards outlining background information from a book bag.
They tote the cards and their backup files around in large file tubs as evidence for debate students to bring up at tournament rounds.
But debate is heading into the digital age; searchable databases can find index cards, and the use of laptops is becoming common for competitive high school debaters.
“It’s important to learn how to get cards; information is cheap nowadays,” Lain said. “It’s important they know the difference of the information and how to deploy it.”
With laptops being cheaper than ever, it’s one more sign of the times, Barbosa said.
“We are moving toward going paperless in debate,” he said. “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re taking steps to get there.”
Other high school students like Faiez Saiyed, 14, said totes are part of debate and the digital evolution won’t likely change the need to have tangible backup information at the ready in a tournament.
“Tubs are one more part of debate; it’s one more tool,” Saiyed said.
Regardless of the changes in high school debate programs, the basics of speech remain the same, said Cholera, who spent nine years debating before he was deemed national champion.
The ability to sway a judge with speech patterns and ethos is important to a successful debater, he said.
“It’s difficult at this level [of debate],” Cholera said. “It’s tough to be smarter than the others at this level. You have to beat them out using outliers and adapt more.”
A physical display
In Round 8 of the National Debate Tournament in March, Cholera and his debate partner went up against a team from Northwestern University and lost, he said.
But the judges awarded Cholera with the highest number of speaker points, ultimately ranking him the top speaker in the nation, which is an amazing feat, Lain said.
Cholera has deferred acceptance into Columbia Law School for a year and will coach high school and college debaters until then, he said.
Along with researching and learning to communicate well, there is a physical side of debate, he said.
Cholera ran frequently to expand his lung capacity and practiced speaking often, trying to get as many words out with each breath while still clearly communicating.
“With every breath you take, it takes time out of the speech,” he said.
But speakers must have both quantity and quality in their arguments, he said.
He also strengthened his upper body by holding a chair as he spoke and reading aloud 30 minutes a day, clocking his progress against the pages he ran through, Cholera said.
And then he practiced it again.
After he won the national award, he held the trophy for 10 minutes at the tournament as the crowd stood, clapping and cheering.
“It made all nine years worth it,” he said.
CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com.
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