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Many United States colleges and high schools field teams that participate in competitive debate. Competative debate in the United States can be divided into three general types.
Competitive intercollegiate debate in the U.S. is typically
Debate in Education
Parliamentary Debate
"Parli" is conducted under rules derived from British parlimentary procedure. It features the competition of individuals in a multi-person setting. It borrows terms such as "government" and "opposition" from the British parliament. On the East Coast of the U.S., the standards body is the American Parliamentary Debate Organization. Parliamentary debate is very popular in collegate competition, and has begun expanding on high school circuits. Student Congress, Model UN, and the American Legion's Boys State and Girls State events are different but related activities. Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Lincoln-Douglas Debate (named after the famous series of Senate debates between the two candidates) has two participants who argue against each other. The arguments center around philosophy, and thus it is also called Value Debate. High school LD competition is typically conducted under the rules of the National Forensic League or the Catholic Forensic League.Polcy Debate
The other form is Policy Debate. In this event, two teams of two students argue over a topic using predominantly facts and data. High school policy is also overseen by the NFL and the CFL. Collegate policy debate is overseen by the National Debate Tournament or the Cross Examination Debate Association. Debate Tournaments
High school debate tournaments are held often every week during the season. Regional tournamnents, often held in high schools, attract other local teams. Major tournaments (such as Harvard's) attract students from the national circuit. The NFL national championships attracts debaters from all over the country as well as from overseas including Panama Canal Zone, American Samoa and Guam.External links