Students' Perspectives on Debate Exercises in Content Area Classes

The recent movement to promote debate across the curriculum presumes that debate-like activities in content-area classes can enhance disciplinary learning as well as core skills. Yet students in such classes may resist debate activities if they believe (1) debate promotes hostility; (2) debate disadvantages demographic groups preferring noncompetitive communication styles; or (3) debate is too unfamiliar. The present study elicited end-of-term written evaluations of debate-like activities in a 70-student class on rhetorical traditions. Students in the class worked in small groups to prepare debates on issues arising from lectures and reading. Teams presented debates during weekly discussion section meetings; those not debating acted as judges and wrote explanations of their decisions. Thematic analysis of the student responses indicated that, while a few students expressed discomfort with the competitiveness of the activities, most were laudatory. Results point to the value of debate-across-the-curriculum for promoting small group communication and for fostering divergent perspectives on course topics.