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An upvote is warranted for a life long gift to kids to be able to communicate confidently. A downvote is warranted for giving a bad advice on gaming a system a

An upvote is warranted for a life long gift to kids to be able to communicate confidently. A downvote is warranted for giving a bad advice on gaming a system and giving both parties in an interview process a poor indication of what is expected in possibly years to come. Thus, no vote given. I think given what I read about debate teams -- on podcasts and here in HN, I am on the fence on suggesting that to my kids. There are certainly great benefits, but not too certain if those out weights the drawbacks.

arp242 6y ago
I'm not from a country that really does "debate teams", but as I understand them a lot seems to be about "winning the argument", which doesn't strike me as especially great. On the other hand, it probably makes people better at spotting a bad/fallacious arguments, and gain appreciation that complex topics tend to have multiple reasonable opinions on it – two things we desperately need more of.
- fuzzythinker 6y ago
  True, "winning the argument" is one of the main drawbacks I fear. The main benefits for me is to foster (often quick) logical thinking and reasoning and the ability to articulate it. It is difficult to build this skill without a "debate team" setting. More so if your kids are more on the shyness scale.
  - twicetwice 6y ago
    I completely agree with all of that. Interestingly, I was an extremely shy kid growing up—less so now.
twicetwice 6y ago
I don't mean to give advice on gaming the system—I'm sorry if I came across that way. The point I was trying to make was much closer to your first line—that the current interviewing system rewards confidence and communication skills, and that debate helped me build those. Ironically, I wish I had communicated that better :) Also, I agree that there are drawbacks to doing debate. For one, there's a certain "debate kid" mentality that I picked up and had to unlearn.
- fuzzythinker 6y ago
  Thank you for clarifying and confirming my other fear of undesired debate mentality. FYI, it's a good idea to edit your HN profile. When you write good comments, people may check it.
  - twicetwice 6y ago
    Thank you for the feedback—genuinely. I always appreciate feedback given in good faith. What kind of edits do you have in mind? I somewhat-deliberately kept my profile vague, but I'm definitely open to suggestions on how to improve it.

arp242 6y ago

I'm not from a country that really does "debate teams", but as I understand them a lot seems to be about "winning the argument", which doesn't strike me as especially great. On the other hand, it probably makes people better at spotting a bad/fallacious arguments, and gain appreciation that complex topics tend to have multiple reasonable opinions on it – two things we desperately need more of.

fuzzythinker 6y ago
True, "winning the argument" is one of the main drawbacks I fear. The main benefits for me is to foster (often quick) logical thinking and reasoning and the ability to articulate it. It is difficult to build this skill without a "debate team" setting. More so if your kids are more on the shyness scale.
- twicetwice 6y ago
  I completely agree with all of that. Interestingly, I was an extremely shy kid growing up—less so now.

twicetwice 6y ago

I don't mean to give advice on gaming the system—I'm sorry if I came across that way. The point I was trying to make was much closer to your first line—that the current interviewing system rewards confidence and communication skills, and that debate helped me build those. Ironically, I wish I had communicated that better :) Also, I agree that there are drawbacks to doing debate. For one, there's a certain "debate kid" mentality that I picked up and had to unlearn.

fuzzythinker 6y ago
Thank you for clarifying and confirming my other fear of undesired debate mentality. FYI, it's a good idea to edit your HN profile. When you write good comments, people may check it.
- twicetwice 6y ago
  Thank you for the feedback—genuinely. I always appreciate feedback given in good faith. What kind of edits do you have in mind? I somewhat-deliberately kept my profile vague, but I'm definitely open to suggestions on how to improve it.