Should we ban books? It's DebateAble.

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Did you know that the first book was banned in the United States in 1637? That year, Thomas Morton published what the Puritan government considered a severe and heretical critique of Puritan practices in his book New English Canaan. Called “an infamous and scurrilous book,” it was subsequently banned throughout Quincy, Massachusetts. Book bannings are still with us, of course, and in the past two years more books have been banned or challenged than at any other time in our history.

This past fa…

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DebateAble Table Volume 3: Freedom of Speech in Schools

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Today we're asking kids to think about freedom of speech - what it means and how it applies to them, as students. This is a topic very large in scope that a lot of smart people, from educators and students to politicians and voters, continue to debate, and we tried to narrow it down to make it relatable for kids. In the end, we know that no matter what anyone's opinion might be, there's always more than one side to every issue. Every perspective has value. And everyone has a seat at the table.…

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How to practice civil disagreement

Debaters use persuasivearguments to disagree with one another. Their success depends on making the mostcompelling arguments--irrespective of whether a judge actually agrees with their positions. In real life, we generally believe that our arguments are successful only when we change the other person's mind. Madeline L'Engle, author of "A Wrinkle In Time," gives this example:
 
One time I was in the kitchen drinking tea with my husband and our young son, and they got into an argument about ice …

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Debate changed my life. A kid's perspective.

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Guest Writer Maggie Wyman is a debater and current sixth grader. Maggie participated in DebateAble Clubs in 2015-2017, when she won a Tournament Team Award. She wrote about her experience in a school memoir assignment. We're honored that she's allowed us to share an excerpt of that piece with you.

There are all different kinds of tournaments; basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming, spelling, hockey, football, running, slalom, ping pong, ballet or gymnastics. But when I hear the word "tournament" …

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