Debate

Dylan and Merrill are in homeschool debate class, pondering and preparing to argue that a government's legitimacy is determined more by its respect for popular sovereignty than individual rights.  Or not -- maybe government legitimacy is based more on individual rights.  They talk about slavery, Stalin, China, the health care bill, consent of the governed, Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Jefferson, and much more.  They read and write and speak, read some more, rewrite, say it over.

They practice at  meetings of the local speech and debate club and then, every few weeks, gather with homeschoolers from five states to argue their ideas at tournaments.  Each competitor must first defend one viewpoint, trying to convince a judge that popular sovereignty determines legitimacy. The next round, they face a new opponent and this time must convince the judge that legitimacy is based on individual rights.  Then there's another round, another opponent, and they flip sides again.  Six or eight or nine times, back and forth, back and forth, over three days of speaking and debating.  

I am their coach.  I never took a debate class, and never even thought much about debate until last year when Merrill joined this league.  Last year's coach moved on at the end of the year, and the job fell to me.  This is one of the best things about being a homeschool teacher - you learn so much,  right alongside some of your favorite people.  We're having a lot of fun.