Middle School Debate

About the Middle School Debate Sessions

In brief…

• There are 3 middle school debate sessions.

• Claremont Sumer is administered by the founders and directors of the Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP).

• It is the only official instruction in the MSPDP model. All sessions use the MSPDP format.

• It is a program of the Claremont Colleges Debate Union, centered at Claremont McKenna College. It is not administered by an outside group using the college as a summer conference site.

• Each middle school session is appropriate for new and experienced middle school debaters. Each year, there are novice and advanced competitors at each of the middle school sessions.

• Students may attend any or all sessions.

• If a student attends more than one session, the student is placed in an accelerated track to build on learning from the earlier summer experience.

• There is core instruction for students of all experience levels at all three middle school sessions but there are special features for each session.

Summer programs are offered online, as well as in-person for in-residence and commuter students. Students entering 5th-8th grades (ages 10-14) in Fall 2024 are eligible to participate. The session is appropriate for new and experienced students. Each session includes small group instruction, elective classes, and practices with certified instructors.

The training prepares students for the Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP) and Youth Public Debate Program (5th/6th grade leagues; the YPDP is a subset of the MSPDP). The Claremont Summer program is the only official instructional program in the MSPDP format. Any rules changes in the format are implemented and practiced in the summer sessions. In previous years, this included format changes regarding the length of rebuttal speeches, POI and heckling practices, and judging guides. Students attending Claremont Summer sessions learn and practice the new rules and argument techniques first.

The Claremont Summer program uses program/summer institute certification for all instructors. It is the only summer debate program to ensure quality instruction through certification.

The middle school sessions offer comprehensive instruction in public speaking, critical listening and note taking, speech organization and narrative structure, argumentation and refutation, and analytical reasoning. Eligible students are those entering the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in Fall 2024.

The MSPDP program is an integrated part of the Public Debate Program. The PDP includes youth, middle school, high school (national and international), college, and community debating. In addition, the features of PDP debating were designed to enhance student critical thinking, oral communication, and argumentation skills necessary for outstanding academic achievement and career success. Students learn to apply their MSPDP debate training for professional communication opportunities – classroom discussion, interviewing, roundtable discussion, shared inquiry and focused brainstorming, and team management. In other words, PDP programming is designed to maximize student skills and achievement in the best professional communication practices for lifelong learning – it is not organized to teach a set of disposable tricks and tactics for temporary success in a specialized debate format. PDP debate training includes the most sophisticated argumentation techniques – the same used by undergraduate and graduate students in elite competition but explained with an age-appropriate vocabulary for ready adoption by younger students. The experience of thousands of successful Claremont Summer students is convincing testimony of the method.

The Curriculum

Students learn advanced public speaking, argumentation, and refutation tactics from the Speak Up! and Speak Out! textbooks by John Meany and Kate Shuster. Students will learn the rules, guidelines, best practices, and judging rubrics for MSPDP debating from the program founders and administrators. Students learn and practice any MSPDP new rules, rules changes, and rules clarifications first.

The summer program provides comprehensive debate training. Students receive small group instruction (4-1 student-faculty ratio) in public speaking, argumentation, refutation, dynamic format elements (Points of Information and argumentative heckling), and topic-based research and applied strategy and tactics. In addition, they participate in MSPDP-format debates critiqued by program/institute certified judges. There is optional/elective time for student-directed learning. Debaters have the opportunity to have all their questions answered at the end of each day in open forum sessions. They can also get a jump-start on the following day’s debate activities. 

Special Features of the First and Second Sessions

The first and second sessions offer comprehensive programming for new and advanced students. There are additional opportunities for elective courses for experienced students. Advanced debaters may choose from a set of small group instructional courses for more detailed and applied learning on sophisticated debate and argumentation/refutation techniques.

Special features of the Third Session

This is the summer Supersession. It offers comprehensive instruction for all students – it is appropriate for new and experienced debaters. What makes it a Supersession? It is a longer program, with additional instruction days. There are more practice debates. The session also includes a full summer debate championship tournament with team and individual awards.

The Schedule

Students receive a detailed schedule of their daily instructional and practice events during registration. In the interim, there are schedule templates for family and student planning.