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MAGAZINE: PERSONALITY
What Do You See in This Ink
Blot?
As always, may the best person win. The laureate of a debate is the person who
can best convince his or her audience of the truth of what is being said. The
subject can be absolutely anything – even the most unrealistic of topics is
fine. What’s important is to convince people using
demonstration and persuasion – and, obviously, using lots of specialized
vocabulary. It is pointless to lie, because it is not the content of the
speech that matters. Rather, it is the manner of presenting the content that
is important.
In Ancient Greece, the gym was a place of learning, where one went to learn
how to form and build one’s body. Later, however, debates were added to the
list of physical activities, as a way of linking the two most important
aspects of Greek education – the body and the mind. Almost two thousand
years later, despite many changes in the world, debates are still popular.
High school and university students – and indeed, anyone who is finishing up
his or her studies and needs some practice speaking before heading out into
the real world – are potential candidates for debates. Universities, high
schools, and scientific clubs organize formal debates on a regular basis,
usually at the end of the semester or school year. "Youth is not a myth,
because the youth are real people", was the topic of a recent high school
debate. You can be a talented philosopher but nonetheless prove pitiful in a
debate. The winner is the person who has the highest verbal intelligence.
More than just charisma, what is needed is the ability to rouse interest and
understanding in the topic. Today, the most famous formal debate is probably
that organized by The National Management Association. The American Enterprise
Speech Contest has been conducted annually since 1988. All speeches must have
the American Competitive Enterprise System as a main theme and must be
submitted to the contest director prior to each level of competition. The
CONTENT of speech reflects 50% of the overall points awarded, the DELIVERY of
speech reflects 30% of the overall points awarded and the LANGUAGE of the
speech reflects 20% of the overall points awarded.
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