September 11, 2007
This is a trailer for a new documentary about high school policy debate, Resolved. Watch it. It will be, I promise, one of the most astonishing things you'll see this week. This year. Ever.
Policy debate, which was a wonderful, extremely enjoyable activity when I was in high school, has been completely emptied of any substance whatsoever. To say it's a horrific farce does not begin to describe it. (I haven't seen Resolved yet, but I judged some local high school debates a few years ago.)
One of the kids seen near the beginning of the trailer, Sam Iola, is "ranked in the top 1% of all debaters nationwide". Listen to him and then join me in mourning the loss of a great part of my youth.