Convention

Debate Reforms

1. Chapter Equality

   1. Problem: Many people have brought it to my attention that bigger chapters are “stacking” debate rooms, meaning that they are simply flooding each room with many students. Essentially, this is causing unfair, subjective voting to take place when it comes to the best speaker. We need to ensure that the best speaker voting truly represents what was said in the round.​

   2. Solution: Introduce binary voting. Essentially, each voter will receive two random speakers, and they are going to have to vote for the speaker that they think was “better.” This will be integrated into the JSApp. At the end, debate agents will use the information collected to determine the best speaker. This strategy will help decrease subjectivity and bias in best speaker voting, making debates a fairer system for all.

      1. We would like to extend a thank you to Raghav Ramki of ​Jasper High School for sharing this idea with us.

2. Security

   1. Problem: In the status quo, we have noticed that when voting for best speaker, there tends to be a security issue. In other words, students from outside each debate room have been voting for the best speaker in a room that they are not even in. This is a concern, as this is undermining the democratic voting principles of JSA.

   2. Solution(s): 

      1. Principally, we need to implement security codes, meaning that in order to vote on the Google Form for beast speaker, each respondent will have to enter a code given to them by the moderator of each respective room.

      2. But secondly, in order to introduce another layer of security, I plan to require a sign-in sheet at the beginning of each debate. Each JSA-er that enters a debate room will quickly sign-in. Afterwards, when evaluating the votes, Debate Agents will cross-check each submission with the sign-in sheet to ensure that there was no “interference”.

3. Moderator Training

   1. Problem: In the past, debates, especially satiricals, have gotten particularly rowdy and out-of-hand. To a certain extent, the moderator should be held responsible for not instating authority and control over the room.

   2. Solution: Therefore, it is necessary to introduce in-depth moderator guides that will serve to instruct to-be moderators on proper procedure and what steps to take when a room becomes chaotic. This will allow for debates and satiricals, which have both become a staple of JSA, to run smoothly, allowing for productive political discourse.