WEBVTT 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:03.700 [applause] 00:00:04.253 --> 00:00:06.254 - We’ve got four great debaters. 00:00:06.321 --> 00:00:08.100 I know they've both been working hard. 00:00:08.350 --> 00:00:12.200 This is going to be an awesome debate because we're going to see some clash right now. 00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:16.464 - It is one of the most difficult things you can commit yourself to. 00:00:16.700 --> 00:00:20.000 It is one of the most intellectually challenging games 00:00:20.335 --> 00:00:24.807 that a person can play and the way that you win 00:00:25.307 --> 00:00:28.109 feels so immediately rewarding in the moment, 00:00:28.643 --> 00:00:30.378 it's tough to find anything else 00:00:30.445 --> 00:00:34.449 that has the highs and lows of intercollegiate debate. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.621 - Like you are winning this activity 00:00:39.754 --> 00:00:42.991 and people are basically validating your personal intelligence, 00:00:43.150 --> 00:00:46.394 and it becomes an addiction in a weird way. 00:00:47.129 --> 00:00:51.133 There's something competitive inside of you that always 00:00:51.267 --> 00:00:54.702 just wants to prove that you're the best. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.239 - It pushes you to think outside of what you're comfortable with, 00:00:58.373 --> 00:00:59.841 but beyond that, it's like a game. 00:01:00.241 --> 00:01:02.577 It's the element of surprise, right? What could come next? 00:01:03.044 --> 00:01:04.646 [debating] 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:06.900 - Your capacity is self-defined, 00:01:07.300 --> 00:01:09.417 and if you find that you can handle more pressure, 00:01:09.551 --> 00:01:11.619 and you can handle difficult ideas 00:01:11.753 --> 00:01:16.291 and that you can handle lots of information and bring it together in unique ways, 00:01:16.691 --> 00:01:18.294 and you can handle overload. 00:01:19.228 --> 00:01:24.000 Being able to find out what your capacity is, is huge. 00:01:24.299 --> 00:01:26.500 [debating] 00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:28.050 - Think about it this way: 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:29.900 A student is talking 400 words a minute, 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.975 researching at the level of a master's student would for their Ph.D., 00:01:35.544 --> 00:01:37.512 battling back and forth, and then 00:01:37.579 --> 00:01:40.915 doing that over an entire weekend, and then over an entire season. 00:01:41.049 --> 00:01:44.300 [music] 00:01:44.553 --> 00:01:47.000 - When that student is done with debate, 00:01:47.356 --> 00:01:49.725 that student knows how to process arguments. 00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:52.500 They know what is persuasive. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:58.966 And so the rest of the world, and their class, literally operates in slow motion. 00:01:59.167 --> 00:02:02.339 [music] 00:02:09.277 --> 00:02:14.550 [debating] 00:02:14.683 --> 00:02:16.619 - Because I suppose it would be like watching a chess match 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:18.420 without any sense of what's going on, 00:02:20.455 --> 00:02:23.425 but it is like a chess match, in that once you know the intricacies 00:02:23.592 --> 00:02:26.600 that are going on, it is endlessly fascinating. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:28.164 - Why are DHRs inevitable? 00:02:28.364 --> 00:02:30.000 - No, you said, "Why aren't they inevitable?" 00:02:30.200 --> 00:02:32.835 I'm saying currently, they're in place in a lot of places because [crosstalk]. 00:02:32.968 --> 00:02:37.405 - So why is that system that has it in place inevitable then? 00:02:37.972 --> 00:02:38.908 - Because it's a form of help [crosstalk] 00:02:39.041 --> 00:02:41.743 - There's not much more of a group 00:02:41.876 --> 00:02:44.500 that I have ever encountered that enjoys reading books 00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:46.400 and then arguing and thinking about them. 00:02:46.615 --> 00:02:49.318 - What about the Black Panthers engaging in community healthcare 00:02:49.685 --> 00:02:52.421 was in the service of taking down [crosstalk]. What did they do? 00:02:52.688 --> 00:02:57.459 - They're the type of person who fundamentally enjoys a fierce argument. 00:02:57.593 --> 00:02:59.328 - How do we know that that operates separate? 00:02:59.461 --> 00:03:01.163 - Because that’s history, right? [crosstalk] 00:03:02.731 --> 00:03:07.869 - I enjoy the feeling of researching, learning more, competing more. 00:03:08.102 --> 00:03:10.200 - All the moving parts, the way different arguments interact, 00:03:10.472 --> 00:03:13.200 I guess that that process to me intellectually is pleasing. 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:14.944 - The research you do, the kind of ideas 00:03:15.077 --> 00:03:18.500 you can put forward and get away with is just uncomparable. 00:03:20.200 --> 00:03:20.900 - They're competitive, 00:03:21.083 --> 00:03:23.952 they're genuinely intellectually curious, 00:03:24.586 --> 00:03:28.856 and they really enjoy the process and challenge of argumentation. 00:03:29.591 --> 00:03:31.259 - We don't tell debaters what argument to make. 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:36.297 We make sure that debaters make arguments effectively 00:03:36.764 --> 00:03:38.734 in the areas they believe and they want to talk about. 00:03:40.102 --> 00:03:42.637 Some are more interested in philosophy, 00:03:43.738 --> 00:03:45.573 some who are more interested in social justice, 00:03:46.107 --> 00:03:49.143 some who are military historians and military planners. 00:03:49.500 --> 00:03:52.500 - Our model requires the student to be the one to come to us 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:54.300 and say, ”Here's my academic interest." 00:03:54.600 --> 00:03:57.552 So we need to find intellectually curious debaters, 00:04:00.155 --> 00:04:02.757 the kind of student that's attracted to 00:04:02.924 --> 00:04:07.328 a top-30 liberal arts university like Wake Forest University, 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:10.000 where they're going to have an engaged experience in the classroom, 00:04:10.331 --> 00:04:12.234 where they're going to have a debate team that supports that curiosity, 00:04:12.568 --> 00:04:16.004 and a track record of winning national championships. 00:04:16.471 --> 00:04:20.475 As a general rule, we find that if they want that, they'll come. 00:04:25.214 --> 00:04:31.419 So debate is the type of activity that lets our undergraduates try out ideas, 00:04:31.900 --> 00:04:35.657 fail, go back to the drawing board, and then try them out again. 00:04:36.058 --> 00:04:39.600 There's no places that students today are given the chance to fail. 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.765 Most of their lives have been about trying to avoid failure at all cost. 00:04:44.632 --> 00:04:48.569 But in debate, they have the opportunity to take an intellectual risk.