For the first time all season, I judged Public Forum for an entire tournament (and not just a random round). It was a really small tournament, with only 8 or 9 schools attending. Just because it was small, doesn't mean that competition was nonexistent nor did it mean that kids didn't come up with some rather... unique arguments. Since it was a VERY local tournament, nearly every judge in the judges lounge was a rather familiar and friendly face so we all had a ball discussing the various things we "learned" from the crafty students.
The Resolution: "Birthright citizenship should be abolished in the United States."
While I didn't hear anything nearly as funny as some others, I did hear "No senator wrote the 14th Amendment. The amendments were written by the founding fathers!" I guess we need to pray for reincarnation (which in itself is a paradox, I think) if we ever need an amendment passed again!
One judge (and probably a couple of more) heard the following argument in negation of the resolution:
"Immigrants have lots of sex and therefore lots of babies. Having lots of sex is good because it creates greater genetic diversity." I can't be sure whether or not there was empirical evidence supporting this claim...
And finally...
"Statistics cannot be used to describe the state of the economy." Which horribly confused the judge after hearing that particular team's arguments referencing GDP!
Doesn't judging debate sound like fun?? If you are interested, let me know as there are hours upon hours... upon hours of judging fun available this weekend at our national qualifying tournament! Interested in spending your entire Saturday in a Massillon high school, just let me know!
It was a very successful tournament for us as my sophomore placed 5th in LD and my only PF team placed 2nd. Other kids on the team received some much needed experience and seemed to have a good time.
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