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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.

MAGGIE 1

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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