The first debate topic for the year has been decided.  For the month of October students will debate the issue of if  the U.S. Federal Government should pay reparations to African Americans.

According to speech/drama teacher Alex Bales, four students will attend the first tournament which is on Oct. 16 and 17 in Des Moines. They are only taking four students because Friday is also a home football game and some of the speech and debate students will be in the band or on the football field.

Future tournaments will have around 10 to 15 students participating. Bales said his favorite debate category is public forum because it is the easiest for anybody to get in and understand. In public forum Bales tells students that they should be able to take anybody off the street and make an argument with them.
This semester’s debate class included  three freshmen, one sophomore and one junior. According to Bales, the freshmen are working on things that are easier to grasps because this is their first year of debating. “The freshmen are taking  to it really well,” he said.