Language
Country/Area
No result found
Do you know what the Cross-X debate is? What little-known secrets are hidden behind it?
In the United States, Policy Debate is a two-person debate competition, usually conducted when debating a resolution intended to promote policy changes in the United States federal government. This competition is also known as a cross-examination debate (Cross-X or CX) because there is a three-minute question period after each constructive statement. The core of the debate is the presentation of evidence, and the topic of the debate is a debate on whether the existing situation should be changed.
The main task of policy debate is to persuade the reviewers to support or oppose changes to a specific international or domestic problem.
Basic structure of debate
The policy debate is clearly structured and professional. Each debater will give two speeches. The first is called a "constructive" speech, which is the core part of the speaker's presentation of the team's position and does not contain any rebuttal. The second speech is called a "rebuttal" speech, where the debater attempts to refute the opponent's point of view and present his or her own arguments.
During the debate, the affirmative must convince the reviewers to support the resolution, while the negative must show that its position is the superior choice.
Historical background
Academic debate originated from on-campus debate clubs. Over time, many well-known university debate teams have established their position in policy debates. Among them, Wake Forest University’s debate team has been active in the debate world since its establishment in the mid-1830s. These societies started out as internal competitions, but gradually evolved into the competitive debates that they are now.
In the 1970s, standardized speech time gradually took shape. The number of speeches in each round of debate reached eight, and each debater would accept questions after his constructive speech.
Style and expression
Different competitions and leagues have different speed requirements for debaters. In some large-scale progressive competitions, debaters express themselves very quickly. This is called "spread" technology, which is designed to read more evidence within a limited time. However, this rapid way of speaking can become difficult for the average audience to understand.
Debaters often adjust the speed of their presentation based on the judges' preferences.
In addition to speed, debaters will also use a professional recording method called "flowing" to track the arguments in the debate, which helps to maintain a clear memory of the debate process.
Theories and evidence in the debate
An important aspect of policy debates is the need for debaters to support their arguments with evidence. The evidence is organized into units called "cards," which contain a summary of the argument, supporting evidence, and source citations. The way this evidence is presented plays a crucial role in the debate.
The strength and quality of evidence directly affects the outcome of a debate, and debaters often need to convey this content quickly and clearly in their speeches.
The role and importance of review
In debate competitions, judges are responsible for deciding the outcome, and their fairness is crucial to the integrity of the competition. The background and experience of judges will affect their judging criteria, which has led to the concept of "adaptive judging" popular in the debate community.
In short, policy debate is a complex and challenging intellectual competition that not only tests the debaters' logical thinking ability and presentation skills, but also requires a keen insight into current affairs. This highly structured debate mode is not just a competition, but also a process of in-depth discussion of social issues. This kind of debate provides a platform for young people to exercise their thinking and expression skills, but in this highly competitive environment, are you ready to meet this challenge?
