Written by Jason Stansell

I’m certain that many of you are confused as to why I brought in that geometry/shape adage in my title. However, here I’m using it as a metaphor, because honestly, it’s the most apt expression for what I am about to talk about. 

Throughout your lessons for Speech and Debate, you’re going to learn a lot of rules, techniques, variations, skills, talking points, argument styles, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes, even oftentimes, that can and will get overwhelming. We as your coaches, are trying to provide you all that we can offer to give you the best options and opportunities to succeed. However, that doesn’t mean you have to include everything we provide you. In fact, some can actually contradict each other.

So, let’s start here with the basics. The rules for a particular event or debate set the parameters we all must follow. Time limits, topics, etc. That can be compared to the fact that all rectangles have four sides, and all corners are at 90-degree angles. Thus at this point, all rectangles are also squares. However, that’s where things begin to diverge.

When your coach, parent, partner, or even yourself, shows you a video of a particular debate, those debaters are demonstrating their own skills, their own choices. The majority will happen to perform intensely, and often very fast, making point after point after point, sometimes where you can’t keep up. You might start to feel that you can’t do that. I’m going to tell you something you likely didn’t expect to read in response to that… you might be right. But guess what? That’s not a bad thing. Not all debaters, even national champions, debate like that.

Find your own voice, your own style. Maybe what works best for you is going for the heart strings laying under the resolution. Or maybe focusing more on a unique approach that turns the resolution on its head works better for you. Possibly speaking calmly and explaining fewer points in a conversational manner is your way. Listen to advice, sure, but find your own approach, your own shape. 

Here’s an example resolution: “Resolved: In the United States, K-12 public schools should be required to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.” This is an Aff/Pro leaning resolution that can mostly write itself. Thus, we’re going to focus on the Con/Neg side for this. Typically, a debater’s first instinct is to go toward the idea that this costs money, or not all kids have the same dietary restrictions, etc. And that’s a perfectly valid, square, approach. In all honesty, that’s also likely how your coach will teach it, as broad-spectrum information can be approachable for everyone. But what if rolling off a flood of statistics isn’t you? Listing off problem, after problem, after problem with the resolution. Not feeling like this square case is the approach for you is just as valid.

So, let’s take a wide-rectangular look at the resolution: “Resolved: In the United States, K-12 public schools should be required to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.” What could be missing? One idea… There’s no specific reference to where the funding is coming from. So, while still related to statistics, with evidence, you could make as the focus of your case, the heartfelt argument that you’re: actually for the idea that all schools should provide free meals, but that the resolution itself is flawed, as it does not provide a funding source. Many schools, especially in low-income communities, aren’t even able to afford adequate teaching materials, using history books that still describe Ronald Reagan as president. Some already cannot provide a school lunch despite desperately wishing that they could. Requiring all schools to feed all students for free, without a source of funding, could result in the closure of many schools for lack of funding to do so, all throughout the nation. Thus, causing more harm than good.

However, maybe that approach also doesn’t work for you. So, a tall-rectangular look at the resolution shows a very clear point… that the meals are for students in school. You could take the approach and focus on the idea that: while great in theory, this is just a band-aid to a much bigger problem of food insecurity across the nation. It’s like putting lipstick on a pig. It might lift spirits a bit, but in all honesty is only a distraction before that pig gets taken to the slaughterhouse for bacon. It doesn’t change the fate, and could actually derail other efforts to solve the crisis. So, instead of just school meals, we offer a counter resolution: “Resolve: All families should be allowed $300 a month food budget from federal taxes, regardless of income level, to be used to purchase food on top of any government SNAP/Food Stamp they receive.” Food money there if you need it. Thus, not just students getting two meals a day, but, by taking your own lunch to school or work thanks to these funds, everyone in the household getting three meals a day.

Tailor your approach to your case to you. If you can’t be a machine gun of facts with a square case, don’t try to be. Find a rectangular approach that works for you.

The same can be said for Speech. While I don’t suggest using Shakespeare in competition, let’s take a look at “Hamlet”. Without major spoilers for the multi-century-old play, it’s a piece in which almost every principal character dies, and the main character — who just returned from the medieval equivalent of being hospitalized for mental instability — begins to break down while trying to avenge the alleged murder of his father. So, you can imagine it can be a rather morbid, sad, and anger-filled tragedy. Perfect for a square Dramatic Interpretation performance. However, perhaps you look at “Hamlet” in a rectangular way? Maybe you see it as a dark farce, putting the mirror of absurdity, albeit performed as if serious, toward the well-documented backstabbing and villainous nature of the royal society of that time. So, while others might perform it with dread and angst, you might “ham it up” or overact it in a way that almost borders on comedy to present it as said farce. This is just as valid a performance.

Overall, rectangles come in all sizes and colors. Some are squares and some are not. Some are wide, some are tall, some are blue some are clear. Find the rectangle that is you. Maybe it’s a square, maybe it isn’t. Who knows, maybe you might even find that you’re more of a rhombus.