Debate Leadership Committee

"That is what learning is. You suddenly understood something you've understood all your life, but in a new way." Doris Lessing

 

 

Overview

Learning to listen to an opponent’s perspective, address problems through research-based solutions and advocate for oneself are skills that every young person should develop. At the core of an effective democracy is an informed and engaged citizenry. American principles demand a return to the core values of family, country and personal development for our nation’s children.

Debate will reach millions of students in need ONLY if there are leaders who will stand up for its importance. ALOUD will gather individuals who, through their academic and/or professional careers use the skills of debate (critical thinking, research, persuasion, effective public advocacy) and recognize its unique power.

Structure

The Debate Leadership Committee will attract the country’s foremost leaders in business, entertainment, politics, law and academia. ALOUD’s national effort will revitalize the academic arena through debate education inside and outside the classroom. These Debate Leaders will be the vanguard supporting this movement with their names, their voices and their resources.

The Debate Leadership Committee will meet once a year and function as a flexible network of supporters. Debate Leaders will consult with staff about ALOUD’s operations and spur meaningful debate enterprises that apply their expertise. Their actions will form the basis of how ALOUD progresses towards its long-term goals.

Activities

Debate Leaders will:

• Advocate debate in public forums as a component of school reform

• Identify personal, corporate and public sources poised to invest in ALOUD

• Foster systemic change by demanding responses from powerful colleagues to burst through bureaucracies

• Use their contacts to bring debate to countless children nationwide

ALOUD Programming and Funding Objectives for the Debate Leadership Committee

Immediate

• Inform 500 school districts about the uses of debate as a transformative classroom tool

• Expand and improve urban debate offerings in ten major cities

• Fund rigorous national assessment of debate’s impact on literacy, risk-taking behavior and academic achievement

• Create a national public awareness campaign about the benefits of debate for students, parents, school officials and corporate leaders

Long-term

• Make debate available to every student in the nation as an interactive teaching tool

• Incorporate debate and public speaking as a requirement for graduation from high school

• Institutionalize debate training in the five hundred most impoverished school districts in the country

• Establish corporate internships for outstanding debaters

• Connect academic debate competitions to real world debates (public hearings, political candidate debates and issue forums) in the community

Engage 5,000 former debaters in creating “neighborhood debate communities

 

This is our message to America’s urban students:

Your Voice. Your Future. Debate.