Ft Hays and retention

[UWG Debate Team]

bear has a good point. there are many who want the hard and fast approach.
it is quite the adrenalin rush to boot. it's certainly one of the things i
like about it- intercollegiate policy debate is the only place i can get
it...

however, my experience at both westga and with rural high schools where i
teach workshops,is that the speed is always the biggest obstacle to
participation.

at the one day workshops we teach at westga, we always do a demo debate.
of the 200+ students in attendance, 95% are very inexperienced. 

no matter how slow i get the debaters to talk, the most common complaint
afterwards is "they talk too fast." 

try the example of the public debate on campus and see what happens...
even the folks who are awed by the technical aspects of it will say they
would prefer it be comprehensible to the untrained ear.


hester