Schools: MCS elementary debate teams stoke skills in listening, respect and informed thinking
Rainbow’s 2024-25 Debate Team
There are polarizing opinions everywhere you turn: every click of a remote, every swipe of a phone, conversations of controversial subjects. A lot of times the truth is really somewhere in the middle, but we hesitate to consider the other side’s point of view. Debate can help.
I am a product of Madison City Schools. While at James Clemens, I co-founded and went on to serve as the president of our very first school debate team. I know from how much that experience shaped me as a teenager that our world today needs kids who think critically and who are willing to respect and consider someone who does not agree with them.
Our world today can benefit from debaters. With this in mind, I created the content for and now coordinate Madison City’s first ever opportunity for elementary debate teams.
Debate challenges students to consider what someone else may think about a topic or how it affects that other person. You may still determine that your original side is what you agree with, but it at least helps students to understand where the other side is coming from.
Horizon’s debate team
Take this past year’s 2024-25 Resolution for example: Resolved: Referring to academic material alone, computers can replace the need for a teacher. Most of my team at Columbia Elementary, unsurprisingly in today’s tech driven world, were completely Pro, agreeing that in essence a computer could replace the need for a teacher. However, when I surveyed the team again at the end of the year, most of my team had changed their mind after looking at the data and having to consider arguments for the Con. Those who weren’t swayed at least gained an appreciation for why it is beneficial to have a teacher around. That is what debate breeds. Understanding. We may still disagree, but when we look at both sides, we often find understanding.
This understanding is reached through the development of other important pillars outlined in my guidelines for debate such as Respect, Listening Skills, Public Speaking, and Informative Persuasive Writing. Students grow in these areas and more while working towards learning both sides of an issue during the debate season.
The dream of coaching an elementary debate team has been around since I was in college and it was so important that at every interview I asked if I could start a debate team. When I interviewed at Columbia Elementary, its principal, Mrs. Miranda Bolden, answered with an enthusiastic yes. The support that has followed from Columbia is really what helped me get this program off the ground.
Through Columbia, I piloted the team as a skill-building club back in the spring of 2024. For the 2024-25 school year we invited all elementary schools in the district to join us and were pleased to have Rainbow and Horizon trial the team with us. Every debate team member for the 2024-25 school year also had the opportunity to participate in the Powell Showcase (named for my debate coach at James Clemens, Mr. Powell) wherein students debated at random one of the sides they had prepared against another team.
I only hope that this opportunity continues to grow to all Madison City elementary schools and other school districts as well.
Olivia Cox is special education teacher at Columbia Elementary and founder/coach of the debate team.
