Lincoln Douglass Style Debate: Course Analysis

My favorite thing we did this semester was the Lincoln Douglass style debate. I always wanted to be a computer engineer because I wanted to follow my father’s example. I can even recall a time when my mom and I went to go visit my dad at work, and as my dad walked towards our car, I pointed at a nearby building and said that I would one-day work there. When I started middle school, I had the chance to try some coding lessons at school so I tried it. However, it was not something I enjoyed but something I found rather boring and tedious, doing the same thing repeatedly without much or any motivation. However, after doing this unit, I will consider being a lawyer instead. I loved debating, because it was exciting, and I felt very motivated to

speak for a side.

For this project, we were assigned one of two sides to debate for.

The debate was about where a better home for the marbles would be, at Greece, or in Britain. Doing this debate was a challenge, as you could not change to the side you might have preferred but had to make the best out of what you got. I really enjoyed the aspect of not being able to choose the side you might have preferred, because it made researching harder, but more interesting.
Researching for this debate was enjoyable, because it felt like I had a lot of freedom on how I wanted to argue. I could choose between different speaking roles, as well as researching what I thought would best support my team’s argument. From researching, I learned about how tourism has positive effects on econom¬¬y, as well as about the Elgin marbles themselves. It felt like everything that I researched from this project, was something that I did not already know, which made it engaging, entertaining, and a great learning experience.
I have never joined a debate club because it required public speaking, and the most debating I have done before high school was arguing in Socratic seminars, so this debate was a completely new experience for me. I always thought of public speaking as something dreadful, but though this experience, I learned that public speaking is an opportunity to finally be in the spotlight and get others to listen to what you are

saying.

I really enjoyed doing this Lincoln Douglas style debate and learned about the Elgin marble, how debates like this work, as well as a lot about myself. I also learned to be more confident when it came to public speaking, and because of this, I will consider joining a debate club. Overall, I give this project a solid 10/10 for helping me improve my public speaking skills, and helping me find what I enjoy doing.