High School Speech and Debate: A Parent's Perspective

Two years ago, my son signed up for speech and debate class at his high school. I had heard that it was a great class, one of the school's best offerings. What we found was something far more than expected both in commitment and in "return on investment" and it opened us up to a world that I hadn't known existed.

Thinking that this was an in-school, one class per day venture, my first inkling that this would turn out to be much more than we'd bargained for was when I emailed my son's coach and mentioned that he wouldn't be able to attend an upcoming tournament because of family plans.

Now, we are in the south, and southerners are nothing if not polite, but I sensed an undertone of irritation when the email was returned with a short but pointed response that left no doubt that my son was expected, nee required, to attend. He has a partner that would be affected, the good of the team, etc. This was no ordinary school activity and there was no turning back.

Before I knew it I was shopping for a suit. Not just any suit, one that brought out his eyes - his eyes! He's thirteen years old and I'm buying him a suit. For school. And I need to find a suit that matches his eyes. And only a certain type of shirt would do (no buttons on the collar, still not sure why), tie and shoes. Apparently his old shoes made his feet look big, so we had to get a second pair, a pair that made his size elevens look less eleven-ish.

I have to admit that my kids, well, my whole family actually, is pretty low maintenance, and one of the great things about boys is that they're happy with one drawer of t-shirts, another of some basic pants and shorts and a few other assorted items.

Alas, the clothes thing should've been an indication of what was to come. From then on, most weekends were spent on the road. By spring, he had been to what seemed like every town in the state, large and small, and then onward to New Orleans, North Carolina, Texas, Atlanta and Massachusetts (Harvard!).

I travelled to some of the tournaments with him, trying to figure out how to help corral thirty high schoolers to their rooms all at one time, all girls or all boys in each, then up, fed and on the bus by 7am.

I found out how hard the kids work. After going to school all week, prepping their speeches and their debate cases, travelling and competing until 10 or 11pm on a Friday night, they come back to the hotel and... practice!

It's been an amazing experience. I've been broken in and I'm glad for it. I've learned to judge debate and speech events and watched kids blossom from paralyzed introverts into confident leaders. And I've seen my own son mature through the experience. He's become a confident, well-spoken and disciplined young man and I have his high school speech and debate experience to thank.

Now my younger son is beginning the process. I'm glad I can help him more than I could my first. And I'm already seeing a spark developing in his eyes as confidence emerges. Speech and debate is an incredible program and I'm immensely grateful that we took the plunge.