The Art Of Persuasion High School Students Battle In War Of Wits At Regional Debate Competition

Sarah Stucky doesn’t believe there should be laws against suicide. They’d be pointless she said, because “it’d be like punishing a dead person.”

But the spectacled Gonzaga Prep senior can passionately argue otherwise, as she did Saturday for a debate held at Mead High School.

She and 150 other students from around the region sparred for 15 hours over government, current events, literature and consumer products.

When they weren’t spewing solutions to ensure peace in South Africa or their predictions on Boris Yeltsin’s survival over Chechnya, they were sitting in on as many other debates as they could - listening to their opponents, taking notes, comparing techniques.

The top talkers from Saturday’s competition will go to the state high school debate finals next month.

Stucky and her foe, Rachel Bowie, 16, argued about laws that protect citizens from themselves. Are they justified?

Absolutely, Stucky said.

In your dreams, insisted Bowie, a junior at Shadle Park High School.

“Well, Rachel, what happens if I jump off the Monroe Street Bridge?” Stucky asked, arms crossed. “Would I die?”

“Most likely,” Bowie answered, unflinching. “But we’re not talking about protecting against harmful consequences. We’re talking about the government infringing on someone else’s liberty.”

And so it went, 40 minutes of motor-mouthed, calculating teenagers cleverly bashing each other’s theories while shoving their own down the judge’s throat.

Penny Johnson, who coaches Mead’s 15-student debate team, calls the teenagers some of the most well-informed in the country.

“These kids read and read and highlight newspapers and magazines and study all the time to be prepared for whatever topic that’s thrown at them,” Johnson said. “They’re exploring education way beyond the classroom.”

Besides the current event debate topics, students participated in six other categories.

The oratory debate required them to give a persuasive speech from a list of topics offered by the judges.

Examples in Saturday’s rounds included crack babies, time management and controlling use of Prozac.

Students entering expository debates had 30 minutes to research a topic from a list they’d never seen before and give an informative speech on it. Some examples were Velcro, flies, Barbies and Spam.

”(Debating) is natural for me because I like politics and knowing what’s going on in the world,” said Stucky, who’s been to the state finals twice. “I like finding out what other people think and seeing both sides of an issue.”

Stucky said she specializes in the current event debates but also likes the impromptu category. In those rounds, students get six minutes to prepare and speak on a topic they choose from a list of three. On Saturday, Stucky did a speech on a quote by Gloria Steinem: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.”

She hopes to continue on a debate team in college, where she plans to study - what else?

Law.

“I’m still debating which kind of law, though,” she said with a laugh.