White,+Ben

I debated at Highland Park High School (in Minnesota!) for the past four years, where I ran both policy and kritikal arguments. I have judged about 15 novice rounds this year as a coach for the Highland Park novice team.

I generally am open to just about any type of argument, although I'm not willing to change speech times or anything.

Framework: I'm not a huge fan of framework debates, as I feel they often end up with two very different stories and very little clash. If you want me to vote for you on framework, make sure to explicitly answer your opponent's arguments. I tend to default towards an inclusive framework, but voting for it is not remotely a certainty.

Theory: I have a couple of pet peeves with respect to theory. Jargon is not a warrant – I need more than just the words “breadth over depth”. I also find that I am much more likely to vote on theory when it is well impacted, as just a generic statement about education is kind of meaningless to me. If you're going for theory, please make sure you spend sufficient time explaining it. For most theory arguments, I think there's not much reason to reject the team rather than the argument.

Kritiks: As a general statement, I am a fan of kritiks. That said, I really like to see either specific links to the plan or a genuinely different alternative. Just rejecting the plan based on a generic link doesn't make sense to me. If you make permutations, please explain them decently in the context of the kritik and not just based on a generic perm card.

Disads: I don't think I need to say much here. If you want to improve my enjoyment judging the round, don't run politics, but I understand its value and it won't hurt speaks or your chances in any way. I guess one thing specific to me is that I am more receptive to defence on the disad debate than other judges.

Counterplans: I love good counterplan debate, but I will admit that I am not a fan of certain blatant PICs that get run over and over. NEPA might be my least favorite argument ever. Again, I'll vote for it if you win it, but I might frown throughout the debate, and nobody wants that, right?