Resolved: States ought not possess nuclear weapons.

The September 2010 Public Forum Debate topic is:

Resolved: Allowing deep water offshore oil drilling is in the best interest of the United States.

Below is a running list of individual results, gathered together from what I know. Feel free to leave additions or corrections in the comments.

Archdiocese of Milwaukee:
Isaiah Grady, Bradley Tech – Octofinalist in Oral Interpretation of Literature
Alexis Wilkinson, Nicolet – Octofinalist in Original Oratory
Jake Tully, Brookfield East – Semi-finalist in Dramatic Performance
Gabby Termühlen, Brookfield East – Octofinalist in Oratorial Declamation
Jennifer Vosters, Brookfield East – Octofinalist in Dramatic Performance
Aditya Trivedi and Chih-Wei Wu,  Brookfield East – Double-octofinalists in Public Forum Debate
Jenna Huebner & David Mullins, Appleton East – Quarterfinalists in Duo Interpretation
Claire Zhuang, Appleton East – Octofinalist in Dramatic Performance

Diocese of Green Bay:
Alice Zhao, Sheboygan North – Quarterfinalist in Original Oratory
Caitlin Holzem and Amen Okundaye, Neenah – Double-Octofinalist Policy Debate
Kris Harmelink, Sheboygan South – Octofinalist in Dramatic Performance
Maria Giannopoulos, Sheboygan South – Semifinalist in Student Congress

Diocese of Eau Claire:
Megan Marquardt, Eau Claire North, Octofinalist in Original Oratory

Special congrats are in order to the kids at Bradley Tech and their coach Ernest Chomicki who saw their first student break to elimination rounds at nationals – an exciting and historic event in the life of a forensic program. Congratulations to Bradley Tech, and to everyone who represented our state with class this weekend!

Give Youth a Voice also offers some simple campaign tools, including the ability to set a goal, display efforts towards that fund raising goal graphically, and the ability to upload specific photos of your team.

This a great resource that helps fill a need that all teams have. If your school is an NFL member, I highly recommend you check this out. (Alternatively, if you’re not an NFL member, your school can join the NFL).

Round 1
1. What can be done to effectively combat Mexican drug cartels?
2. What should be done to ensure that banks are not too big to fail?
3. Did the Citizens United decision kill Stare Decisis?
4. How can democrats prevent massive losses in the 2010 midterm elections?
5. Will crumbling nuclear infrastructure collapse the credibility of America’s deterrent?
6. Is Obama bullying Israel?
7. What, if anything, can be done to remedy US-Iranian tensions?
8. Is it time for the Fed to raise interest rates?
9. Why were Haiti, Mexico, and China so unprepared for their earthquakes?
10. Will health care legislation negatively impact state budgets?
11. Are Obama’s fears of nuclear terrorism justified?
12. Is Syria moving toward nuclearization?
13. Has the American presence made Afghanistan safer?
14. What is the state of Asia’s economy?
15. What should be done to improve America’s critical infrastructure?

Round 2
1. Given foreign debt, who owns America?
2. Why is China outpacing America in alternative energy investment?
3. What can be done to curb piracy in the Horn of Africa?
4. Is Iraq prepared for an American withdrawal?
5. Is the American auto industry worth saving?
6. Is Hugo Chavez’ Venezuela a threat to South American stability?
7. START: Substantive or Symbolic?
8. Will the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” affect unit cohesion?
9. What should be America’s role in rescuing European economies?
10. Why were GOP efforts to block health care ultimately unsuccessful?
11. Does India’s possession of nuclear weapons threaten stability in South Asia?
12. Are recent congressional efforts to improve domestic cybersecurity sufficient?
13. Who will replace Justice Stevens?
14. Are Ahmadinejad’s accusations of American “nuclear blackmail” accurate?
15. To what extent are GOP criticisms of financial regulation accurate?

Round 3
1. What can health care’s passage tell us about Obama’s legislative prowess?
2. What should be the international community’s reaction to Syrian missile sales?
3. Is Blanche Lincoln an “awful democrat”?
4. What can be done to repair relations between Obama and Karzai?
5. How can America deter Al Qaeda from expanding its presence in the Arabian Peninsula?
6. How can Toyota regain the confidence of American consumers?
7. What can be done to stabilize Kyrgyzstan?
8. Has France fallen out of love with President Sarkozy?
9. Was the CITES conference a failure?
10. Is there a solution to America’s nuclear waste problem?
11. Will China ever properly value the Yuan?
12. What can the Republican National Committee do to regain its legitimacy?
13. Should the US pursue a free trade agreement with South Korea?
14. What can be done to resolve the state budget crisis?
15. What does the future hold for the Nuclear Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty?

Semifinals
1. Does America’s military alliance with Taiwan endanger the United States?
2. Should America “fight terrorism like Iran”?
3. Should air traffic control standards be reformed?
4. Will China’s gasoline sales to Iran offset the effectiveness of sanctions?
5. Does recent passage of health care legislation make more substantial health care reform likely in the next decade?
6. Will Israel deport Palestinians to Gaza?
7. Will Obama’s changes to the Nuclear Posture Review enhance global security?
8. What will be the result of the Iranian-hosted nuclear summit?
9. Who controls Russia?
10. Will congress renew Obama’s Trade Promotion Authority?
11. Can Spain save its banks?
12. How will Kyrgyzstan’s instability affect America’s reliance on the Incirlik air base?
13. What should be America’s role in pursuing ratification of the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty?
14. Are protectionist accusations directed toward the National Export Initiative accurate?
15. Will attempts to reform banking succeed in achieving market stability?

Finals
1. Will federal block grants targeted at job creation effectively curb unemployment?
2. Does Obama’s backtracking on detainee rights signify a broader ideological change?
3. Was Obama’s decision to cut funding for airborne laser technology a mistake?
4. Will Cuba’s free market experiment achieve success?
5. What can the 2009 Recession tell us about the viability of pro-cyclical economic policies?
6. Will internal conflict collapse the Tea Party?
7. Are Thailand’s legal crackdowns justified given protests in Bangkok?
8. Is the War Against Terrorism an acceptable justification for extraordinary rendition?
9. Will Villepin’s new party present a credible challenge to Sarkozy?
10. What can the Tories do to prevent a conservative majority in the upcoming British elections?
11. Will Sotomayor become the new liberal leader in light of Justice Stevens’ retirement?
12. Should Germany bail out Greece?
13. Given health care, has ideology replaced pragmatism on Capitol Hill?
14. Are Syrian allegations of Israeli “ethnic cleansing” accurate?
15. Why was Khatami barred from leaving Iran?

{Slight spoiler, one team is from James Logan. Another is from Eagan. Perennial final round contenders… so you know it’s going to be good.}

The screening is scheduled for this Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 7:oo pm. The show is at Brookfield East high school. Need an address to put in your GPS? Here you go: 3305 Lilly Road. Brookfield, WI 53005.

Tickets are just $5. There will also be snacks. All proceeds go to the Brookfield East Forensics Team.

If you are available and in the area, go out and see the show. It should be good and you end up helping a team out in the process – a win, win for everyone.

The National Forensic League topic is great for encouraging students to think about issues of national importance, but rarely do students consider public policies that exist on a smaller scale. There are plenty of important and easily researchable public policy topics that are considered in state government. The 2009 James Madison Memorial domestic extemp final round experimented with using state-focused extemp topics, for similar reasons. A state-focus topic would allow students to explore a high profile, important public policy issue that exists “in their own backyard.”

The National Forensic League has been using the PF topic as a vehicle to enhance outside involvement in speech and debate. It was suggested that the WDCA do something similar. For example, we could contact rhetoric and public policy professors around the state to develop a state-focused PF topic. Those academics could then be invited as distinguished guests of the tournament. And those academics could potentially become further involved and more supportive of high school speech and debate.

A couple noteworthy examples were mentioned. They were:

• Resolved: That Wisconsin should increase its investment in high-speed rail.
• Resolved: That the Qualified Economic Offer policy should be discontinued.

There are a couple of ways that this could be enacted. First, the Wisconsin Topic could be a substitute for the December Topic. Second, the Wisconsin topic could be only for the WSDT. This means that the first weekend in December could still be using the December topic. Alternatively, the first weekend in December could also just be a continuation of November topic. We could also just do away with the December topic in general and extend the November topic two extra weeks.

What are your thoughts? Would this be an enhancement to debate? Would this be a detriment?

Read on below the break.

Honorable «Title»:

Few people have difficulty seeing the value of high school debate. In addition to the abilities to research effectively, reason logically, and speak persuasively, high school debate teaches students to consider both sides of an important question—a level of understanding that cannot be easily earned just by reading a book. No one denies that our schools should be teaching these skills, but high school debate has nonetheless become an activity on the brink of extinction in Wisconsin.

The numbers are staggering. At this year’s state tournament—the culminating event of the season—only 29 high schools fielded teams. In comparison, 427 schools across the state competed in football during the fall. This means that less than one school in each football conference competes in debate, and that number continues to shrink. With retirements for several coaches looming, it is possible that there will be less than 20 schools actively competing in high school debate in Wisconsin in 2010.

I compare debate to football for good reason. Football is a resource intensive sport. Debate, too, requires resources—but it is a much cheaper activity, necessitating only a dedicated coach and the ability to cover travel expenses. Despite the undeniable academic benefits that the activity provides, many schools have eliminated their debate programs in order to cut costs. The result is a vicious cycle: as fewer schools participate in debate, the activity grows more expensive as those that remain are forced to travel longer distances just to attend competitions. And unlike football, debate brings in little revenue to support its academic mission.

Debate seems pressed into a losing game. Frequently, a dedicated coach retires and no one is hired as a replacement; within a few years, the program ceases to exist. The elimination of debate in one school district means it is more likely for another to dismiss the activity. Each of the debate coaches that I represent struggle to keep their program active. My organization does what it can to promote the activity, but we alone cannot keep it afloat.

I write to you, «Title», because I feel debate has nowhere to turn in Wisconsin. It is impossible for debate coaches alone to convince school administrators across the state to preserve and support this activity. Because of the economy, school officials are forced to make shortsighted decisions to shore up their budgets. Eliminating the activity that best instructs our students to research, reason, and communicate effectively will only deprive our future labor market of the talent that it needs to thrive.

Something needs to be done to preserve high school debate in Wisconsin. The greater political community must become involved if debate in Wisconsin is to endure.

Sincerely,

Nick Bubb

President
Wisconsin Debate Coaches Association

The point of my letter was to contact Wisconsin’s political leadership in hopes of finding a potential solution to address our current situation. I do not know what is necessary in order to ensure that debate endures and it is not unreasonable to assume that conversation with policy makers might be fruitful. I do know that without some kind of effort debate and its educational benefits will cease to be available to Wisconsin’s students.

Few of the responses I have received seem open to addressing the problem. To be fair, I did not ask for a particular action. Rather – I asked for a conversation. Instead, staffs of various representatives have told me that Wisconsin/the Federal Government does not handle these issues – school districts do. Which is precisely my point – school districts are making poor decisions because of the environment that state and federal policies/funding decisions have imposed on them.

Moreover, the civics lesson response is a bit insulting. I am fully aware of what each level of government is empowered to do. I had faith that my political system could address an important problem if made aware of it. Political representatives have more power than simply changing policies. Is it unreasonable to assume that people could exercise leadership on important issues? Is the real problem that we did not pay a lobbyist to tell political leadership the solution we would like to propose?

I have received responses from the following individuals:

Representative Baldwin (WI-2)
Representative Sensenbrenner (WI-5)
Senator Feingold
State Senator Risser
State Senator Lehman
State Representative Townsend
State Representative Davis
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers (far and away the best response).

I am working on a method of posting their responses.

Anyway, the results are here in PDF form: Full WFCA State Results

Congratulations to the individual category winners. And special congratulations to James Madison Memorial on winning their seventh WFCA championship. They now have tied Appleton East with the most number of state team championships. They have also tied the Chicago Bulls in Repeating the Threepeat (’02, ’03, ’04 and ’08, `09, `10). The Bulls won the Larry O’Brien Trophy in ’91, ’92, ’93 and ’96, ’97, ’98.

A review by WFD revealed 22 of the 141 Scholars are NFL members and 7 educators are current or former NFL coaches (Shen and Scheffler included). This recognition shows the value of Debate and Speech in brining out the best in students and the value that debate and speech coaches have on our nations brightest scholars.  (Full list after the break).

SCHOLARS:
California
CA – Fremont – Pooja K. Shah, Irvington High School, Distinction

Colorado
CO – Golden – Wendy S. Zeng, Lakewood Senior High School, Distinction
CO – Longmont – Kevin T. Wittenberg, Niwot High School, Distinction

Idaho
ID – Eagle – Karl T. Schutz, Bishop Kelly High School, Superior Distinction
ID – Pocatello – Alyson M. Gigger, Century High School, Outstanding Distinction

Illinois
IL – Highland Park – Jacob U. Arber, Highland Park High School, Outstanding Distinction

Indiana
IN – Carmel – Michael L. Wang, Carmel High School, Merit
IN – Kokomo – Lynelle T. Chen, Park Tudor School, Honor

Kansas
KS – Leawood – Andrea N. Hinton, Blue Valley North High School, Distinction

Maryland
MD – Rockville – Scott S. Yu, Montgomery Blair High School, Excellence

Mississippi
MS – Flowood – Andrew G. Li, Jackson Preparatory School, Excellence

Nebraska
NE – Lincoln – Maesen A. Churchill, Lincoln East High School, Superior Distinction
NE – Omaha – Wyatt N. Troia, Creighton Preparatory School, Merit

North Dakota
ND – Fargo – Phoebe Strom, North High School, Premier Distinction

Pennsylvania
PA – State College – Cody M. Wild, State College Area High School, Merit

South Carolina
SC – Mt. Pleasant – Anne V. Cai, Porter-Gaud School, Honor

South Dakota
SD – Sioux Falls – Kiah M. Schaefbauer, O’Gorman High School, Distinction

Tennessee
TN – Nashville – Ian S. Ball, University School of Nashville, Special Distinction

Utah
UT – North Salt Lake – Anne J. Wang, West High School, Superior Distinction

West Virginia
WV – West Liberty – Sharif I. Youssef, Wheeling Park High School, Superior Distinction

Wisconsin
WI – Verona – Valerie Shen, James Madison Memorial High School, Premier Distinction

Wyoming
WY – Gillette – Kaiser A. Mock, Campbell County High School, Premier Distinction

TEACHER AWARDS:

Ms. Pat Cannon ***, Highland Park High School, IL, Counselor
Nominating Scholar: Jacob Arber

Mr. Matthew Davis ***, Lincoln East High School, NE, Oral Communication
Nominating Scholar: Maesen Churchill

Mrs. Donna Hieb, Campbell County High School, WY, English
Nominating Scholar: Kaiser Mock

Ms. Mary Ellen Johnson **, West High School, UT, Language Arts
Nominating Scholar: Anne Wang

Mr. Darin Maier *, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, MS, Government
Nominating Scholar: Ann Burrell

Mr. Thom O’Rourke, University School of Nashville, TN, Debate
Nominating Scholar: Ian Ball

Mr. Timothy Scheffler *, James Madison Memorial HS, WI, Debate and Forensics Coach
Nominating Scholar: Valerie Shen

Reports
WDCA History Report – Doris Sexton, West Bend
2009 WDCA Season Survey Raw Data – Nick Bubb, Madison Memorial
2009 WDCA Season Survey Comments – Nick Bubb, Madison Memorial
Judge Certification Discussion – Dan Hansen, Mukwonago (document pending)
Ballot Tracking Initiative – Dan Hansen, Mukwonago (document pending)

Proposals
WDCA Paperless Barrier – Bill Batterman, Marquette (document pending)
WSDT Judge Preference Order – Tim Dale, UW-Green Bay (document pending)
Restriction on Maverick Debaters – Dan Hansen, Mukwonago (document pending)