[GFCA] The By-Laws

Tue Oct 19 11:29:10 PDT 2010

Just to contribute my two cents.

1) The bylaws should make a clear exception that judges should be able to
interact with the debaters. (Calling time, asking for evidence after the
round, etc.)
2) Electronic "jumping" a speech from one computer to another should be
clearly allowed under the bylaws.

3) My true concern is with the issue of internet research during the round.
One of the skills I believe we are trying to prepare our debaters for in
debate is to anticipate an opponents arguments.  If we allow access to
internet research within a round, it eliminates a student's need to prepare
answers outside the round.  They can simply wait for the round to begin and
start "googling" recent news articles.

Kevin Travis
Dunwoody High School
On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 12:27 PM, Eric Crisp <ericcrisp at walkerschools.org>wrote:

> Coming from a school that would be at a disadvantage from this research
> potential, I still am not sure we should ban it.  I'm worried about
> enforcement.  As a teacher, I don't want to try to figure out whether teams
> are on line with their laptops and if so, with whom they may be interacting.
>  I'm not sure my teams' potential disadvantage is worth the Pandora's box of
> trying to outlaw this...
>
> Eric Crisp
> Ridgeland HS
>
>
> On Oct 19, 2010, at 12:14 PM, Sean Hiland wrote:
>
> I have of couple of concerns
>>
>> 1) Allowing students to use the internet during rounds does provide a
>> disadvantage to students w/o computers. It also lends to confusion about
>> when said research would be done. Could it be done after round to justify
>> statements made without evidence? This could be problematic in that it could
>> lead to long delays in finishing rounds as competitors frantically search
>> for evidence they never had. At the last tournament we competed in, students
>> even took a judge back to their teams table in the cafeteria to show him
>> evidence. When is the cutoff for evidence research? This could get out of
>> hand.
>>
>> 2) Am I missing something? Why would the partners need to communicate
>> electronically with each other? texting? How does anyone know whether
>> they're texting each other or a coach, parent, or a team member in another
>> room?
>>
>> 3) As far Jenny's comment about people downloading something they forgot -
>> most debaters come prepared and I have no sympathy for debaters who do not.
>> Consider it a lesson in responsibility. This also comes back to my previous
>> comment. If evidence is produced post-round then your opponent's lose the
>> opportunity to challenge your evidence by requesting to see it in context.
>>
>> 4) This last comment refers to something said previously about to which
>> tournament(s) the bylaws apply. Even if the bylaws are not binding on all
>> tournaments, we need to recognize that they are still looked to as a guiding
>> principles by some tournament directors. My team lost a ruling at the last
>> tournament under the justification that something was not prohibited by the
>> GFCA bylaws.
>>
>> Sean Hiland
>> St. Pius X
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org [mailto:
>> thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org] On Behalf Of Berthiaume, Maggie
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 11:05 AM
>> To: Spiegel, Jeremy J; thegfca at lists.gradyspeaks.org
>> Subject: Re: [GFCA] The By-Laws
>>
>> It seems like that is clearly no - then coaches would be doing work
>> during the debate.  That's why I think it's best to say no internet but
>> yes communicating between the two members of the team, at least at this
>> point.
>>
>> Maggie
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org
>> [mailto:thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org] On Behalf Of Spiegel,
>> Jeremy J
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 11:00 AM
>> To: thegfca at lists.gradyspeaks.org
>> Subject: Re: [GFCA] The By-Laws
>>
>> I agree with Jenny, but have one question:  What if a coach works on a
>> file during the 1ac and posts it to the teams' server.  Is it ok to use
>> it?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org
>> [mailto:thegfca-bounces at lists.gradyspeaks.org] On Behalf Of Jenny Heidt
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:56 AM
>> To: Berthiaume, Maggie; Jeffrey Miller; thegfca at lists.gradyspeaks.org
>> Subject: Re: [GFCA] The By-Laws
>>
>> I agree with both of Maggie's suggestions but also think that students
>> should be allowed to research in debates.  2 important examples re: why
>> this should be the case:
>>
>> 1) A few years ago where there was some very surprising aff T
>> evidence--a search during the debate revealed that it was fabricated.
>>
>> 2) A politics DA was read that had passed.  The aff found one card
>> saying "it passed."  The judge did not know either way so that was
>> critical and prevented what would have been a fairly dumb debate from
>> occurring.
>>
>> If a position is so bad that it can be beaten with a card or two found
>> during prep time, why not?
>>
>> Also, we have our files on email and a server.  If someone forgot to
>> download something, why couldn't they access it?
>>
>> So, I think that the rule should exclude electronic communication
>> between anyone besides the partner but not otherwise limit internet
>> access.
>>
>> Jenny
>>
>>
>>
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