[eDebate] ADA Rules

[Sarah Snider]

My question is this:

Most people claim that the content rules are rarely if ever enforced. 
If this is the case, and they don't really matter that much why is the 
claim made that the content rules are the basis for the large numbers 
of novices competing in the ADA?

Has anyone lost or won a debate on ADA rules in the last 3 years?

If the rules really don't matter, then they can't be what drives big 
novice divisions here.

I think the argument that the content rules are what drives the big 
novice divisions detracts from other reasons that there are lots of 
novices here. 

I think there is a general value for novice debate here, agree or 
disagree about the rules, that 12 hour ADA meeting surely solidified 
in my eyes a deep devotion in the ADA community for novice debate that 
goes way above and beyond content rules. 

I'd like ADA schools to share more about what they do to attract and 
retain novices than to just say that the content rules keep novices 
in. I'd like to think that coaches and squads are doing more than 
saying "and we have these rules that will make it easier for you to 
debate because we restrict the aff, restrict counterplans, and 
restrict critiques". 

As a part of the country where novice debate is thriving, I think the 
dissemination of ideas re: recruitment and retention above and beyond 
content rule based arguments would do more to assist those in other 
regions that are trying to revitalize novice debate. 

Sarah
-- 
Sarah J. Snider
Program Director- DCUDL
100 Peabody St. NW- 1st floor
Washington, D.C. 20011
(703)582-2040 
The DC Urban Debate League - www.dcdebate.org