fact before drawing a conclusion. Among those who have debated under efficient guidance, one will seldom find the narrow-minded, prejudiced, or partisan. Neither will he find those who are easily influenced by false political leaders.

It is sometimes urged against debating that it tends to make a speaker insincere, in that he may be required to speak against his convictions. The fact is that the convictions which a young person may have on a debatable question are very likely to be mere prejudices which will vanish when the light of knowledge is turned on. We say "on a debatable question" because a question in which all the right is on one side and all the wrong is on the other is not debatable. We could not, for example, debate the proposition, "Resolved, That Mr. A. should throw his garbage into his neighbor's yard." The majority of debatable questions deal with reforms or policies. These have their advantages and disadvantages as compared with other reforms and policies; so that a thorough and conscientious debater may change his opinion several times before he has exhausted the study of his subject. Sometimes one newly discovered fact will outweigh all the plausible arguments on the opposing side. It is only when we know and have weighed all the facts on both sides that we may be said to have convictions which are worthy of the name. As Mr. G. J. Holyoake says, "Controversy is the pathway to truth and the final test of it."

The practice of debate will also help a student to become a leader among his fellows, because it not only increases his skill as a speaker, but also gives him the necessary foundation for persuasiveness. This claim is supported by the statement of the dean of a western law school.

He says of its graduates, "Those who were athletes enjoyed a brief period of glory while in college, but it is the debaters who are now helping to make the history of the community, state, and nation."

III. DEBATE AS AN EXERCISE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

Self-consciousness. — As a valuable exercise in public speaking, debating is unsurpassed. It helps to counteract a tendency to self-consciousness, for the debater's interest in the contest causes him to forget himself.

Thoroughness. No other exercise demands so much. thoroughness of preparation; this is especially true of the public contest. Prof. W. T. Foster says in his Argumentation and Debating, “Often the hard work for a given debate provides the student's first standard for sounding the shallowness of his knowledge on other subjects. Students have sometimes been able to use the thorough work done on a high-school interscholastic debate as the basis for a prize essay or discussion at college.

Mental Training. There can be no better training for the mind. The practice of debate, more than any other form of speech-making, compels a wise selection of material. If a speaker has no opponent, he may occupy ten minutes with almost any matter that refers to the subject; but if he debates, he must choose those arguments which will fill his time most profitably.

Furthermore, it sharpens the wits. The debater must not only think, but he must think quickly. This whole matter is admirably summed up by Edmund Burke, the great parliamentary debater, when he says, "He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This amiable con

flict with difficulty obliges us to an intimate acquaintance with our subject and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial.”

Conclusion. In this chapter we have learned: (1) that the game of debate has been devised to enable students to apply their knowledge of the rules of argument; (2) that the study of argumentation and debate has a very close relation to life; and (3) that as a valuable exercise in public speaking, debating is unsurpassed.

Introduction.

TOPICAL OUTLINE

THE GAME OF DEBATE

I. Relation between Parts I, II, and III of the text.

II. Relation of argument to persuasion.

III. Advance summary.

Body.

I. Relation of debate to argument.

A. Nature of debate.

1. Definition illustrated.

2. Causes of different opinions.
3. Qualifications of the winner.

B. Argumentative practice.

1. Purpose of debate.

2. Value as compared with the individual speech. 3. Value of understanding the game.

II. Relation of debate to life.

A. Personal problems.

1. Instances.

2. Prevention of error.

B. Citizenship.

1. Information.

2. Judicial habit of mind.

(a) Definition.

(b) Insincerity.

II. B. 2.

(b)

(1) An undebatable question.

(2) Character of debatable questions.
(3) Meaning of "convictions" - Hol-
yoake.

3. Leadership.

(a) Two reasons.

(b) Statement by the dean of a law school.

III. Debate as an exercise in public speaking.

Conclusion.

A. Self-consciousness.

B. Thoroughness.

1. Statement by W. T. Foster.

2. Use in college.

C. Mental training.

1. Selection of material.

2. Alertness.

3. Statement of Burke.

Exercise I. - Read the chapter and be able to recite from the topical outline.

Introduction.

CHAPTER XII

THE QUESTION

The subject for discussion is usually called "the question." This is allowable for the reason that there is really a question underlying every debate. For example, we may debate the proposition, "Resolved, That High School should adopt a system of student government." Involved in this proposition is the question, "Should High School adopt a system of student government?" To this, the affirmative side answers "Yes" and the negative answers "No."

The subject for discussion is always phrased, however, in the form of a complete statement. In the first place, for the purposes of formal debating, the statement is more convenient than the question form. The first, or affirmative speaker, supports or affirms the proposition; the second, or negative speaker, denies it; and the remaining speakers follow alternately, according as they affirm or deny. In the second place, the statement form can be made more clear and explicit than a topic. It would be impossible to debate successfully the topic, "Student Government"; for it does not state whether the dispute concerns college, high-school, or grammar-school students, or whether it concerns all schools or one particular school. In this chapter we shall learn: (1) that in phrasing a question for debate, one should seek to throw the burden of proof upon the affirmative, avoiding, if possible, a