Conner Coutts

Bengal Contributor

“Indonesia can expect a serious earthquake and the resulting tsunami about as often as I can expect my dad to show up drunk to Thanksgiving: once a year,” I say as my heart races, my palms sweat and my knowledge flows.

Now while this may not be what you think about when you imagine speech and debate, it’s a more honest representation than you think. In my two years with the ISU debate team, I have watched us grow from a moderately competitive team to one that is hyper-competitive and involved in the community.

This is exemplified by our team winning 4 out of 5 online tournaments this year, our third-place finish at nationals and our newly founded Bengal Debate Institute, which provides a low-cost alternative to other, more expensive debate camps.

Now, I’m not here to pitch you debate or to try to get you to join the team (but we are always looking for new talent). I am here to explain to you why your rhetoric and communication shapes the world around you.

In the information age it can be hard, nigh impossible, to be able to conclusively pick a side on an issue, because there are so many opinions. The problem is that it is often those who speak the loudest, instead of the most truthful, who are heard.

Now, how to we fix this disconnect? The skills that are learned through oral argumentation.

The research skills I personally learned in debate were more useful for college than almost any English class I took.

When relying on evidence as the basis of an argument, you only want to have “top shelf” research. The skills I learned in deciphering articles and journals have shown themselves to be so important because of the advent of fake news.

Many Americans don’t know how to research, compare or evaluate the credibility of a source. This leaves us at the mercy of media corporations, politicians and others who would wish to disseminate false information in pursuit of a goal.

After participating in competitive speech and debate, you learn the unique tricks of the art of persuasion. This is a huge benefit for two reasons, the first being the ability to use those tricks in your own pursuits.

Let’s face it, there is no job in the world where you will never have to be persuasive. Whether you’re trying to convince your boss to give you a promotion, change a policy or even hire you at an interview, you will have to be persuasive.

This is an ability that transcends personal and professional relationships and is a major factor in an individual’s success.

I once heard that if you want to know how a magic trick is done, you must first become a magician. This also applies to rhetoric and communication, because once you know how to use strategies for persuasion, you can effectively identify them, so they will be less effective when used on you. This is especially important when analyzing political communications, or even for sniffing out your employee’s BS.

All in all, debate is cool, but the benefits of research and learning the art of persuasion are far more important than college students arguing over things they can’t change with strangers for pieces of plastic.