Why
Debate?

There are hundreds of extracurricular activities for your child. But debate is special.

Debate helps students develop critical life skills that are not taught in most other academic settings. And you don’t have to take our word for it. Dozens of research papers have shown the value of debate for a students individual growth, academic goals, and professional skills.

The Researched-Backed Benefits of Debate

Important Life Skills

Our classes help students develop critical life skills, from becoming better thinkers to better speakers, we’re helping to build the next generation of leaders. In fact, a study by Rodie Akerman & Ian Neale in 2011 found that by participating in communication skills classes, students can increase critical thinking skills by as much as 44%,

Academic Outcomes

In every academic area – attendance, graduation, GPA, standardized test scores – debate has a big impact. Data shows that debaters outscore non-debaters on every section of the ACT (Peters, Tammy 2004). It’s no surprise that students who participate in debate are up to 27% more likely to meet college readiness benchmarks (Mezuk, Briana et al. 2011).

Socialization Skills

Increasingly, children are struggling with making friends, building connections, and social anxiety.
Studies also show that students who debate have higher grades in school, on average. An analysis by Cometa Research in 2017 found that “there is a straight link between the ability to co-operate with others, social ease, comprehensibility and debating. Participation in the debates can be a great opportunity to develop this set of skills”.

College Admission

Not only do colleges love to see debate listed on a student’s application, but debate is actually one of the best extracurricular activities for college admissions. Professor Minh A. Luong of Yale University writes that even without winning major awards, debaters stood a 4% better chance of being admitted to college and willing a major award increases an applicants chances by at least 22%. Luong notes this is a higher improvement in college admission chances than any other extra-curricular activity.

View how these benefits
translate to real students

Most importantly, debate gave me confidence as a speaker, which helped greatly not only in interviews but also in almost every facet of academics, from making a good impression on teachers who write recommendations to connecting with professionals, to presenting at science fairs and conferences.

Photo of Dhruv P.
Dhruv P.
Stanford University

Potomac students went on to attend

  • Yale University Logo
  • University of Penn Logo
  • Princeton University Logo
  • Harvard University Logo
  • Dartmouth Logo
  • Cornell University Logo
  • Columbia University Logo
  • Brown Logo
  • Benefits of debate
    • Better communication and collaboration skills
    • Improved logical reasoning skills
    • Expanded knowledge of social and political issues
    • Higher standardized test scores and GPAs
    • Increased chance for college admissions
    See Debate Program
  • Benefits of public speaking
    • Stronger foundational communication skills
    • Learning to articulate ideas persuasively
    • Lifelong confidence in speaking to an audience
    • The ability to advocate for important issues
    • Improved writing and researching skills
    Public Speaking