Blog #9

The two debates we had were interesting, talking about very controversial and powerful topics that we all had different views on, lowering the drinking age 18 and violence in video games. I personally found both topics to be right up my alley since I am an avid gamer and I come from a country where the drinking age is 18, but people are still allowed to drink even when they are underage. The drinking age just states the age required to be able to purchase alcohol. I have been drinking since I was 13, and growing up while drinking has helped me become a responsible drinker and taught me my limits and how to drink with moderation. 

As for the actual debates I thought they were on par and both of the groups did an equally good job on each. One thing I noticed about the other group during both debates was how they had most of their responses written down, almost like a script. This was especially noticeable when Joseph was debating while reading off the iPad. It didn't make the debate feel as authentic, which is one of the key elements in an actual debate. After both debates, I was under the impression that the team relied too much on their captain, Lauren. One of the reasons we did this activity was to be able to distinguish our individual ability and teamwork, not one person carrying the other team. My team did a good job during the debates, doing our rebuttals on the fly instead of written down, which makes it easier to reflect our personal opinions and also gives us a chance to truly respond to what the previous person said. However, I felt like we did need better organization for some of our responses, in order to make them sound clearer. As for the results, I believe that the other team won the debate on violence in video games due to them having more data and better points, while my team won the debate on the drinking age, due to us having more experience with the subject and better responses to the other teams points. I am looking forward to the 1 on 1 debates where I feel much more confident and proficient in.