Debate: A Long but Beneficial Journey

I first remember meeting Caleb Brown in 2019 as I was a judge at the DBU mixer that year.  Caleb was always a strong Team Policy competitor, determined to present himself as prepared and ready for any argument.  As he grew into a seasoned debater I noted that he was one of the most polite, respectful, and courteous debaters competing on the Team Policy side of competition. But

Caleb especially had a gentle touch that I wish we would see more of in Team

Policy competition.  He was always a fierce competitor because he was always prepared. Success follows effort and he set a nice example for what that looks like.

Caleb is currently working as a 911 dispatcher, and graduated from

Liberty University with a degree in International Military Studies. He plans on either going to law school or studying cybersecurity. 

-René Schiltz

“Debate: A Long but Beneficial Journey”

by Caleb Brown

When my mom first announced my brother and I would be competing in debate, she was met with cries of despair and then resigned sighs. I was horrified at the idea - but six years later, my brothers and I would still be enthusiastically competing. We found ourselves investigating the quality of Japanese seafood, a litany of terrorist organizations, hazardous waste storage, foreign aid, and caribou. Debate led to some of my fondest high school memories and prepared me more for life than any other sport or activity. It ended up affecting everything from conversation topics, my job, college, my political views, and my faith. I wholeheartedly recommend it. 

Why the praise for debate? Simply pointing to its competitive nature isn't sufficient - other sports have that possibility for character development. And although it shares significant elements with formal speech competition, the direct clash of ideas found in debate leaves one with a much deeper understanding of the world than, say, an informative speech on coffee. The genuine exchange of ideas has the potential to solve a long list of world problems. It can also cause great harm. It might even corrupt your person (one should always remember Hitler was an excellent orator, even though the content of his speeches was horrifying). What does this mean for us? 

For me, competing in debate affected the simple things. I found myself grinning when I realized the topics for my college essays mirrored international relations content I had already studied in high school. My current coworkers who first interviewed me expressed surprise I showed up in a suit and tie. 

I dream of working as a PR specialist for a nuclear power company. There is a stereotype (sometimes an expectation) that debaters grow up to be lawyers, politicians, or some sort of other creature that hangs out around the federal buildings of Washington, D.C. Or, that debate is only useful if you aspire to a handful of careers and have a Type A personality. This may be true - Calvin Coolidge and Hillary Clinton both competed in high school debate. But debate is useful for far more than arguing. 

Here is a short list of benefits from my high school debate experience:

- Arguing with your parents. Many parents (including my mom) will later express exasperation at the monster they have produced. 

- Confidence, whether it be in social interactions, interviews, or anything in between. One of my brothers consistently won showmanship awards at his tractor shows, simply due to the ease of talking and answering pointed questions practiced through years of debate. In my case, I'm usually introverted, but am significantly more expressive post-debate. And if the right topic comes up, I can absolutely geek out with random strangers. 

- Knowledge. As noted earlier, what you learn in debate doesn't have to directly reflect itself in a career path. But a debater who researches trade policy and later works in retail at any level will appreciate understanding how tariffs or supply-side inflation works. While I love nuclear energy as a concept, I'll never have the math skills to be a nuclear physicist. But that doesn't mean I can't admire it from afar, get excited when ACU announces a new modular reactor plan, or support its resurgence. 

- Critical thinking skills. "Common sense," most of us discover, is often limited. The ability to expose fallacies or insist on evidence or sources is rarer still. As the information age and digital realm engulfs us further, reading past the Twitter blurb or hastily generated headline is important. It affects your worldview, and there are few things more integral to your person than that. 

- In a similar vein, I found my views on politics and faith changing. Some of this was more mundane. I now have an unfortunately nerdy perspective on the Federal Reserve's Dual Mandate. But it also changed my more profound, long-held views. No, debate did not make me a blue haired atheist. But it did force me to reexamine how the Church and politics intersect. Peter's admonishment to "always be ready to give a defense" does not materialize in a vacuum. 

- The preparation and practice found in debate is excellent for those who care to share their faith. 

- Debate teaches compassion. What an odd statement! If you are confused, you are probably thinking of the entertainment-dominated Presidential debates. There is a huge difference between the focus on one-liners and disrespect of televised debates and the more courteous and mostly well thought out arguments of high school debate competitions.

One of the things I struggled most with during my debate years was this notion of empathy. Particularly in my senior year of high school, I found myself experiencing fleeting arrogance due to my level of experience or a legitimate desire to correct opponents on facts or statements I perceived to be incorrect. At times, this was done in an overbearing manner. Debate - true debate - however, must stop short of winning an argument for the sake of or at all cost. After all, competitive high school debate should offer more than spirited Reddit comments or quick one-liner tweets. 

Genuine debate requires one to choose to look past deeply-settled notions in pursuit of the truth. It requires one to take the time to understand where your opponent (or neighbor, or family member, or coworker, or "those" political beliefs) are coming from. It requires you to address your opponent and their ideas civilly, and to be able to distinguish between the two. It requires respect. 

Debate will teach you many things. Some affect your life overtly, such as enhanced interview abilities or exposing you to new career paths and world issues. Some are more subtle, such as being able to cut to the heart of an intellectual issue faster. But the most important is keeping the perspective that your opponents, no matter how heated the debate, are still human. I shudder when I think about my rhetorical skills prior to competing in debate. But I would hope that observers today might find whatever exchange of ideas I'm participating in to be effective, civil, and ultimately, glorifying to the Lord.