Policy debaters attempt to revive event at SHS

Junior Venkata Munukutla

Policy debate requires students to research a single topic for the duration of the year. A partner debate, policy consists of four 8-minute speeches followed by four 5-minute speeches.

To be successful, teams must accumulate hundreds of pieces of evidence to support their arguments, Haran said.

This year, policy debaters will be weighing pros and cons of U.S space exploration. Haran estimates that by now he has over a 1,000 pages of evidence supporting the increase of space exploration.

“You have to read hundreds of articles or papers on the subject, then you’ll synthesize it and file it away to read in a debate,” Haran said.

Munukutla believes that the rewards gained from policy far exceed those gained from any other debate.

“[Policy] is a lot more in depth than other forms of debate because you find many connections between different things that you would never think were related,” Munukutla said.

Though Haran and Munukutla do not have an official Policy coach, they are still affiliated with the school and are still a part of the school’s speech and debate team, according to team coach Erick Rector.

“[Rector] is not fond of Policy debate and has said for now we are the only team that is allowed to participate,” Haran said.

Rector feels that the time spent researching one topic for an entire year, as with Policy, could be better spent learning many various topics as with other debate formats.

If Rector allows, Haran sees himself starting a Policy team at Saratoga in the near future. Policy debate, though still unpopular in public schools, is on the rise in private high schools throughout the nation.

Haran said that Policy debate is hard to do not only because of the cost of participating but also because participants need to transport giant tubs of evidence during tournaments.

Haran and Munukutla attended the Davis Trojan Championship Tournament the weekend of Nov. 5 at the University of Southern California. Though disappointed by a 3-3 record, and their inability to move into elimination rounds, the pair are confident that they will be able to pull ahead in future tournaments.

“We don’t have a coach for guidance, or team members to help us find evidence, but this was only our first tournament and I am sure with a little bit of practice we will be able to improve our record in future tournaments,” Haran said.