Debating Forms Habits of Correct Speech.—Next to its value in training for self-control, practice in debating is valuable in the formation of correct habits of speech. I do not mean the “fine writing” we recognize so easily, which is sometimes beautiful but more often only funny. I mean that direct English which aims to say certain things in the simplest fashion and in the fewest words. Never to use a long word when a short one will express the exact meaning, never to use a foreign word or a word of foreign derivation when a plain Saxon word will do—a few such rules as these will soon form a clear clean style, and no drill equals the debate for the recognition of this style or its opposite, huge bombastic statement. Haven’t you noticed how much worse a poor sentence sounds than it looks? It is like comparing cannon balls with toy balloons—they may look about the same size and may have the same general appearance but to use them—well, I would rather juggle with toy balloons than with cannon balls but the cannon balls would surely be the more reliable in an argument; which do you think would carry the most weight?
You surely recognize a clear exact style when you hear it, and you surely recognize slovenly careless speech when you hear it. Now you can’t in debate have a clean clear style if you haven’t a clean cut incisive argument—if you haven’t thought your subject through. And on the contrary, your very work thinking your argument out will strengthen your style and simplify your speech. Matters so ordinary as grammar and pronunciation will unconsciously correct themselves when you hear your own voice either gracing or disgracing your thought. Your vocabulary will be enlarged, your diction clarified, and, on the physical side, your articulation will be clearer and more distinct; you will learn to stand squarely on both feet and not wander aimlessly about or sway as if blown upon by contending breezes. You see, if you think a moment, that every one of these things, so important to you whether as boy or man, is drilled into you by practice in debate.
Debating Means Constructive Thinking.—In the next place, not only is practice in debate invaluable in acquiring self-control and correct habits of speech, but also it teaches you to organize your own powers; it drills you in constructive thinking. In much of your school work, you learn and recite the words of others—either of teachers or of textbook writers. But if a subject for debate is proposed, you must think it out yourself. For example, if some such question is proposed for your debate as: “Is the conservation of the timber supply of the United States wise?” you at once must by your own independent thinking prepare your argument. Your teacher or other friends will aid you but you must work it out yourself. You will first ask yourself what you mean and what is meant generally by “conservation”; you will then ask where and how much the same policy has been tried in other countries, why it should be tried here and what results may be reasonably expected to follow the policy here. You catalogue the reasons for and against the proposed policy and weigh the moral questions involved, if any. You limit the question within its proper bounds—in short you build up the structure of your argument much as you would build a signal tower. You see that your foundations are properly laid and that every upright and brace is properly placed and jointed.
Debaters Can Detect False Reasoning.—Then when you have found yourself, when you have acquired mastery of yourself, of your manner and of your argument, practice in debating has an additional value still greater. You will learn to recognize sound reasoning wherever you hear it and will detect the false with equal ease. Without conscious effort on your part, you will apply to the casual argument as you meet it, to the public address, to the written article, to the newspaper editorial, those standards by which you have built up your own argument. It will be difficult for you to overlook inconsistency and false reasoning, for your mind will have become accustomed to exact and clear thinking—your habits of mind will have become standardized, as the factory expert would say.
CHAPTER II
WHAT DEBATE REALLY IS
I have failed in my argument so far unless I have accomplished two things. First, and most important, I must have convinced you that I am right as far as I have gone. Second, to have my argument really worth while, I must have done more—I must have made you want to debate. For an argument is only half an argument unless it brings you to the point of doing. In this particular it differs from many other kinds of speaking—contention for example.
In contention, the contender has very little hope as a rule of changing his adversary’s mind. He is not arguing; he is simply sticking up for his point. How much of what passes for argument belongs to this class of effort! You hear it in the street every day, and on the baseball diamond—did you ever hear the discussion over a disputed decision by the umpire? Did you ever hear any argument there? Did Captain Jack, or Captain Frank, or Captain Chance, or Captain McGraw, ever really think he could convince any jury, either of players, umpires or spectators, that he was really right?
Argument Differs Also From Persuasion.—There are other forms of mental effort expressed in spoken word, perfectly legitimate in themselves, which are not arguments, although generally classed as such. There is a difference between argument and persuasion.