The Very American, Very Intense World of High-School Debate

The children in these photographs are from Arkansas, California, Florida and Pennsylvania. They traveled to district and national tournaments to debate Venezuelan oil legislation and the morality of nuclear weapons in space. If you ask them what they like about debate, as I did recently, they will talk about the value of “multiple perspectives,” but other interests will surface as well. Mallory Cloud, of Russellville, Arkansas, wants to be a state representative. Carter Nelson of Palm Beach County told me, “I’ve always loved competition in general. »