Debating with faith and purpose

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, December 3rd.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: learning to speak up.

Glossophobia is the most-common phobia and has been for a long time. It’s better known as the fear of public speaking.

Researchers believe this fear begins when we’re adolescents. But just like sports: preparation, practice, and coaching can make all the difference.

REICHARD: Christians know that iron sharpens iron, and one national debate and speech group is helping homeschoolers conquer their fears and share their faith. WORLD’s Todd Vician has our story.

DEBATE: In general, should we pursue something like justice, or should we pursue truth for something else? Or should we pursue it just because it's good?

TODD VICIAN: Under the bell tower of a nearly two-century-old church, 16-year-old Andres Flores cross-examines his opponent.

FLORES: You said that essentially, in order for something to be intrinsically good, it has to lead to something good, correct?

TUCKER: No, basically, it just has to be. If you want me to redefine intrinsic it has to be an important or basic characteristic of another thing.

Flores and 15-year-old Walker Tucker verbally wrestle over a question Socrates posed more than two millennia ago: “Is the acquisition of knowledge an intrinsic good?” The boys are participating in a tournament run by Stoa. It’s a Christian homeschool speech and debate group named after the classical Greek term for a gathering place. The nationwide organization trains homeschool students to speak boldly for Christ as winsome and God-honoring orators.

CLAYTON: One of the many gifts that Jesus was endowed with was the gift of communication. You know, parables, prose. And so Stoa exists to help these young competitors grow in that very same way.

Josh Clayton is the director of the three-day “Fall Coyote Classic Speech and Debate tournament.”

CLAYTON: My encouragement to the students this morning was to take that competitive spirit that they have to compete, and to place, and to win, and to check, these are all terms that mean a lot to them, but to funnel that into the way that they love and serve one another.

There are no age brackets in Stoa tournaments, so a green 12-year old can be pitted against a seasoned 18 year old.

CLAYTON: For those, those more experienced competitors, to compete, to win, but to do so in a way that really equips and enables the younger competitors, that doesn't squash them or discourage them, but instead shows them what can be done, you know, brings them along.

Appreciation for debate clubs is growing. Stoa membership nationwide grew by 70 percent in the past three years. The National Association for Urban Debate Leagues said more than 10,000 students from 20 cities participated in tournaments last year. And a recent study of 3,500 low-income students in Boston, showed 70 percent of debate-club participants improved their ability to read and analyze information.

RIC: A big part of this is the refinement process of giving a speech or having a debate, getting the feedback, then going back and refining it over time.

Ric Flores is Andres’ dad. When they found Stoa 13 years ago, he thought his children would give a speech or two and then move on. Now he proudly says his five children use the skills learned through speech and debate almost every day.

RIC: I'm in business, and we do that, you know, as part of our business, product refinement over time. And so it's just a very powerful thing that that they learn, and it's amazing to see, like a speech that started out in November, how different it is in May.

Tournaments like the recent one put on by Stoa include a handful of competition categories. Sometimes students know the topics they'll be debating several months ahead of time. They can prepare and hone their arguments at home.

FLORES: As the season progresses, you go deeper and deeper into refining some of your arguments, actually coming up with a case that you're going to use, and then testing those ideas. And so that's what we have club for... We see which ideas are going to land, which ideas are going to, you know, completely bomb if we actually ran them, and so that's how you sort of refine your arguments.

But even when they know the topic ahead of time, students don’t know if they will present for or against the proposal until just before the session begins.

Then there are debate categories that are impromptu. In the recent “Parliamentary Debate,” Flores and the other participants had 20 minutes to prepare for a new topic: ranked voting at the national level. 17-year old Chloe Jones began the round presenting several rationale for the change.

JONES: If we as the government team can show that there are more benefits in passing this STV, then we warrant your ballot. What we’ll see is the single transferable vote actually allows for fewer wasted votes.

The opposition countered saying transferring votes from the last-place candidate to the next-highest vote getter would make current election problems even worse.

FLORES: Yes, there would be, I guess, no wasted votes. The problem is that their votes won’t actually be going to the candidate that they most prefer.

Andres Flores says improving his communication skills isn’t just an academic exercise. On a mission trip to Portland this summer, he shared the Gospel in a hostile environment.

FLORES: I was able to present some of, you know, Christian beliefs, Christian doctrine, but in a way that wasn't threatening. And so I do think that debate has helped with that, because if you're able to have an idea and then present it in a way that's kind and respectful, then I think that can go a long way in in terms of Christianity.

And Andres' mom, Michelle Flores, has seen participants mature in their faith through debate.

MICHELLE: There are so many of our former Stoa graduates that are alumni now that have gone on to take an active role within government. Some have started pro life groups. Some have gotten involved in their student government and made a stand for things that are explicitly Christian and have learned to take the heat when they were on their campus.

PICKUP LINE HERE FROM TODD

ANDRES: …because the acquisition of knowledge is both a process and is morally corruptible, I'd ask for a negative ballot. Thanks. [Sound of resetting timer]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Todd Vician in New Braunfels Texas.

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