Student congress

Student Congress  

Student Congress (also known as Congressional Debate) is a form of high school debate in the United States. The National Forensic League and National Catholic Forensic League offer Student Congress as an event, as do many national debate tournaments and State Forensic Associations.

In Student Congress, high school students imitate United States Congresspeople by debating bills and resolutions. Before the event, each school submits 'legislation' to each tournament. After the legislation has been compiled, it is given to each participating team, which then attempts to research as much of the material as possible, with the goal of being able to speak on both sides of every bill. Before tournaments, many Congressional Debate teams practice speaking on the bills together.

At the beginning of the event, groups of students play the roles of Congressional committees, deciding which legislation is to be debated and in what order. Bills are debated through a series of mostly three-minute speeches, alternating between proponency of, and opposition to, a given bill. The speeches are designed to capture the attention of the audience and convince them to vote a certain way on each bill. Judges rank speakers on their logic, organization, and eloquence, usually on a scale from 1 to 6. After the chamber feels that debate on a particular bill has been exhausted, participants vote on the bill.

Many students and debate coaches enjoy the Congressional Debate format because

• it lets students debate material that they've written themselves, on topics that concern them.
• it gives students knowledge of a wide variety of important issues.
• it forces students to prepare arguments for both sides of any given topic.
• it introduces students to the practices and procedures of the U.S. legislature.
• it encourages students to think and speak "on their feet."

Critics of the Student Congress format point out that the debate can often sound more like a "symphony" than a clash of ideas, with each side of the debate repeating its points in succession. Ideally, Congressional debates include a large amount of refutation, with each side attempting to discredit the arguments of the other. If this fails to occur, and no new ideas are brought up by speakers, debate can become quite boring.

Format

The typical Congressional Debate speech is three minutes long. Within this time, the speaker must lay out an organized, logical defence of why the chamber should vote for or against a given bill. The general format of a speech is as follows:

1. Introduction: A statement, anecdote, fact, or statistic designed to capture the imagination and the attention of the audience. The introduction is then tied into the argument of the speech, as the speaker urges the chamber to vote one way or another. Then the three main lines of argument are "foreshadowed" to give the audience an idea of where the speech is leading.
2. Contentions: Usually three arguments for or against the bill. Each contention should be explained in the speaker's own words, as well as supported by evidence from reputable and relevant sources.
3. Conclusion: The speaker restates his three contentions, and hopefully returns briefly to the attention-grabber of the introduction to give the speech thematic unity.

Criteria for judging

While judging a speech is clearly, to a certain extent, subjective, there are certain key standards that most would agree distinguish a good speech from a bad one:

• Eloquence: A good Congressional debater should speak powerfully and clearly, correctly use appropriate vocabulary, and vary his or her voice throughout the speech to emphasize certain points or to create a specific mood.
• Logic: The points advanced by a debater should be well-explained and should effectively sway the audience towards the speaker's beliefs on the subject.
• Organization: The speech should have a well-defined outline, generally following the guidelines of the "format" section above.
• Extemporaneity: Although a speaker may bring up notes or a note card when delivering his or her speech, the less reading, the better. Pre-written speeches on a bill are referred to as canned speeches and are highly discouraged, and in some organizations considered a form of cheating. Unless it is the first speech of the session, a speech should refer to the points that have already been made, usually by refuting points brought up by the opposition.

Procedure

The exact procedure for Congressional Debate varies widely across the country. There is no one "standard" for correct Congressional Debate procedure. However, most Student Congress associations use some variation of the following outline.

Chambers and sessions

Students attending each tournament are divided up into groups of somewhere between ten to thirty (usually around twenty). These groups are called chambers, Houses, or Senates, depending on the region and the tournament (some tournaments include both Houses and Senates).

Time-wise, a tournament is divided into several sessions, each of which are several hours long. If a tournament lasts several days, there is often one session on the first night of debate, followed by several more on the subsequent day.

Presiding Officers and judges

Each chamber has a Presiding Officer (informally known as "the P.O."). The two main tasks of the Presiding Officer are (1) to enforce parliamentary procedure and (2) to record each speaker's number of speeches and questions. The Presiding Officer is generally a student debater, and is usually elected by the chamber. It is his or her job to ensure that the chamber runs smoothly.

Speeches are ranked by judges, usually adults, who rotate between chambers.

Some styles of debate include a Parliamentarian, an adult who remains with the chamber the entire time and resolves any difficulty with rules or parliamentary procedure that the P.O. cannot handle. Parliamentarians often serve a judging function as well, either ranking speeches like a judge or nominating students for excellent performance in the chamber.

The format

Committees

Rounds usually begin with a method for selecting which bills will be debated, and in which order. In some styles of debate, students break up into committees to set an agenda, or "docket," of bills. One popular arrangement of committees is to have three: one for bills related to "Public Welfare", another for "Economics," and a third for "Foreign Affairs." Each committee is headed by a chairperson, usually an experienced debater.

After the docket has been set up, Presiding Officers are voted on, and once one is selected, debate begins.

Parilimentary procedure

Congressional Debate uses Robert's Rules of Order, a popular system of parliamentary procedure. The debate is guided by motions made by students, who rise and say "motion" to get the attention of the P.O. Motions guide the general flow of debate, but the P.O. himself is responsible for acknowledging motions, conducting votes, and generally running the chamber.

Some styles of debate require a motion "to open the chamber for debate," or a "main motion." If committees are not used to set a docket, a motion is made to choose which bill to begin with. To begin debate on a bill is to, "take a bill of the table." "The table" refers to bills which are not currently being debated. Once a student feels that debate on a bill is exhausted, he or she may motion to "lay a bill on the table," which ceases debate on that bill.

Once a bill is taken off the table, the Presiding Officer will either read the bill, or "waive the reading" of the bill in the interest of time. Debate then begins.

The authorship

The Presiding Officer then announces that a speech in authorship/representation of the bill is now in order. The representative that wrote the bill must give an introductory speech laying out the main arguments for the bill. This speech, unlike any other Congressional Debate speech, may be pre-written. If the author of the bill is not present in the chamber, someone from his or her school gives the authorship speech. If no one from that school is present, a "sponsor" gives a "sponsorship" speech instead.

Subsequent speeches

After the authorship or sponsorship speech, the Presiding Officer calls for a speech in opposition to the bill. Whichever debaters which to speak on the bill stand, or otherwise indicate their desire to speak. How the P.O. chooses speakers varies greatly by region and by level of competition. In general, however, two rules are observed:

1. When one speaker has given less speeches (either in that session or in the tournament as a whole) than another speaker, the former has precedence.
2. When one speaker has spoken earlier in the session than another speaker, the former has precedence due to speaking order.

At the beginning of each session, when few debaters have spoken, most speakers standing will have equal precedence. The Presiding Officer announces his/her method of selection at the beginning of the session. Practices vary in popularity based on the tournament and the region, but include:

• Calling "randomly" on speakers
• Considering which speakers were the first to stand
• Considering which speakers have been standing for the most number of speeches
• Distributing speeches equally among geographic regions (considering separately the four quadrants of the chamber)
• Following a pattern based on location, for instance, by calling on speakers from front-to-back, or left-to-right, and then reversing the order in the following session

Another process that is used: In the first preliminary round, as well as the semi-final and final rounds, each speaker is issued a set of priority cards, typically one through five or one through six depending on the number of rounds and bills. Speakers wishing to speak on the side of the bill (Proponency or Opponency) currently in order hold up their lowest number priority card to indicate the desire to speak. Lower numbers have priority over higher numbers, and in case of tied numbers, priority is given to the speaker who has unsuccessfully attempted to speak the most times or asked the most questions. In cases of an absolute tie, speakers are asked to yield or to participate in a coin toss or quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The speaker who wins the floor surrenders their lowest number priority card to the Presiding Officer. A speaker who has exhausted the supply of priority cards may only speak if no other speakers contest said speaker for the floor.

Questioning

Once the floor is awarded to a speaker, a three minute maximum speech is given, the remainder of the time either yielded to questioning or "absorbed by the chair." At this point, the House has two minutes to ask questions of the speaker with the floor. Speakers who have given the least questions are called on first. If the chamber feels that the content of the speech or the speaker's response to questions merit additional questioning, some tournaments allow for the suspension of the rules to extend questioning time.

Typically, questions will attempt to expose faults in the speech just given. Sometimes speakers planning to speak or having spoken on the same side of the bill as the Senator currently holding the floor will ask him or her to agree with a statement pertaining to the relevant side of the argument. This is known as a "friendly question" and in some regions is discouraged. Questions, and their respective answers, are to be short and to the point, as delays will unfairly cut into other speakers' question time. However, asking questions to suggest the speaker to make a point is against NFL rules.

Motions

A pair of one proponency and one opponency speech in that order is considered a cycle. In between cycles, time is given for speakers to introduce motions onto the floor. In most tournaments, the Presiding Officer has a large amount of discretion to exercise over whether or not to rule motions in order, but at high level competitions, such as CHSSA State Qualifiers, the Presiding Officer is meant to be a strict procedurist; that is, the P.O. should simply follow through with any motions introduced.

Some motions are meant to change the topic of debate. Motions falling under this category include motions to lay a bill on the table (ending debate on a bill), motions to take a bill from the table (re-starting debate on a bill), and the motion to previous question, which is a motion to vote to pass or fail a bill. Some tournaments establish a minimum time before the Previous Question can be called; others have a limit on how long debate can run. Because voting on a bill will end debate on that bill immediately, it is sometimes considered rude or in bad form to make such a motion before all participants who desire to speak on that bill have done so. A Presiding Officer might rule the motion dilitary in such a situation. If some participants wish to speak while others want to move on, a compromise might be reached in which the bill is tabled and then returned to.

Conclusion

After the Previous Question has been called and the bill or bills voted on, the Presiding Officer announces whether or not a two-thirds vote has been reached, which is required to pass any bill. This is merely a formality, as well as in some states an explicit signal of the end of the round. The Presiding Officer will than entertain Motions to adjourn or recess, which is seconded and passed. The speakers exit.

At most Congressional Debate tournaments, awards are given to recognize the best speakers in each chamber. Often, members of the chamber itself vote for one of the awards given. The best legislation written and best all-around teams are also often recognized.