Current Event: University of the Pacific Hosts the Jon Schamber High School Speech & Debate Touranament in Stockton

University of the Pacific Speech & Debate Team

 A couple of weekends ago on October 28th through 30th, the University of the Pacific Debate team hosted on campus the 32nd annual Jon Schamber High School Forensics Tournament. This tournament a full, two day tournament for the high school students in Stockton or near Stockton. The tournament features the following: CX (Cross Ex) Debate, Lincoln Douglas Debate, Parliamentary Debate, and Radio Broadcasting, Ten Different Individual Events. The Pattern A individual events are Expository, Dramatic Interp, Impromptu, Thematic Interpretation, and OPP. The pattern B events are Oratory, Humorous Interp, Extemp (Combined National & International Topics), Duo Interpretation, and Oral Interpretation.




This debate tournament reminded me of something that I really enjoy in high school and the fond memories: being part of the debate team. I once was a competitive high school debater like the numerous debaters who attended this tournament who did LD Debate, CX Debate, and Expository Individual Event. Personally, I believe that debate and speech team in high school teach good valuable lifelong values for the students: teamwork, writing, speaking, thinking, and most importantly, the value of learning. 
If Confucius were alive today, I believe he would had approved of debate and speech. Confucius once said, "Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know humans." In fact Confucius thought writing was so important that he included it as one of the "six arts" that all scholars must know. He would had approved of the values that I listed earlier for the debaters: teamwork, writing, speaking, thinking, and especially, learning.

High School Students Waiting to Compete for Individual Events 

Another concept that Confucius emphasized was to approach goodness by being cautious in speech. "Imperturbable, enduring, simple, slow to speak - such a one is near to goodness." Lastly, Confucius believed speech and good learning of speech to apply speech properly was very important as shown in this quoted text below:
"When a man is broad-minded and acquainted with the past, and yet not filled with   incorrect legends or stories of events, we may be sure he is deep in the study of history....When a man is quiet and thoughtful and shows a sharp power of observation, and yet is not crooked, we may be sure that he is deep in the study of philosophy...When the people are cultivated in their speech, ready with expressions and analogies, that shows the teaching of prose, or Spring and Autumn Annals...And when a man is cultivated in his speech, ready with expressions and analogies and yet is not influenced by the picture of the prevailing moral chaos, we may be sure that he is deep in the study of Spring and Autumn Annals."