I watched this snippet from Jordan Peterson about a year ago, and was riveted by his reference to the need to be able to articulate an opinion verbally. My students all improve in their ability to communicate through writing, but I felt the need to explore the verbal component more. The result was the creation of THE DEBATE CLUB. I decided to model it after the debate clubs of my grandmother's generation, with introductory statements, rebuttals, and concluding arguments. Twelve students registered for my first club, back in January of this year, and over the subsequent months I realized that this club, perhaps more than all of my other courses, was equipping the students with the ability to think deeply, critically, and analytically, and to express their thoughts eloquently. I was incredibly impressed by the quality of thinking and creativity that I was witnessing. Thus, I will be running the Debate Club again this Fall, from September to December. This time, I'm capping the club at 10 members. Members of the Debate Club will meet once a month, for 60-90 minutes, to engage in debating, observing (and voting on) others' debates, and assessing the merits and demerits of debate tactics and styles. The cost for this club is $15/month. Feel free to check out the details here.
I simply can't say enough about the capacity inherent in the teens of today. I am regularly blown away by the high quality of their ideas, and nowhere has it been more apparent to me than in Debate Club.
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