Freedman,+Richard

Richard N Freedman

I debated in high school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Back then, there were not so many forms of debate. Basically, what we did was very much like PF debate today. So that is the format I am most comfortable with. If I am pressed into judging policy or L-D, I will be less comfortable.

I came to Iowa a little less than five years ago, to work on software for John Deere. A city boy all my life, I now live on a farm with a small herd of goats and sheep, and about fifty chickens. I decided to renew my acquaintance with debate, and have helped to coach at three different schools and have judged several tournaments.

I'm more impressed with a good logical argument and an illustrative metaphor than with a fast flow of words. If you want to speak fast, you had better enunciate well. Don't worry about my not understanding if you get technical, but by that I mean on a technical subject like computers or medicine or economics. I'm turned off by debate jargon. That doesn't mean I won't appreciate claim, warrant, and impact, but you have to express them in logical terms and not just by reciting them as magical buzz-words. I'm even more turned off by debaters telling me how I have to vote. (You're entitled to urge me to agree that you have the stronger argument. You can entreat or cajole for my vote. But don't tell me I //have// to cast my ballot for you. I'm the only one who gets to decide that.)

If your case consists of three main points, I would prefer you to list them, telling me they are your main points, before you go back and support each one in turn. If you state point A, and then offer your evidence and argument for it, I might miss your transition to point B. I guess that's called outlining.

If your opponent says something stupid, and I know it's stupid, I still have to accept it unless you challenge it.

I appreciate good grammar, good diction, and a rich vocabulary, but those are more likely to affect my awarding of speaker points than deciding who wins or loses a debate.