Introduction to policy debates

Why Debate?

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR (Leader in the American Civil Rights Movement): I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!

BARACK OBAMA (President of the United States): Tonight there is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.

MALALA YOUSAFZAI (Nobel Peace Prize Winner): One child. One teacher. One book. And one pen. Can change the world. Education is the only solution.

VICTOR FINKEL: Debating can change the world. Martin Luther King led a movement that ended state-sponsored racism, not by the force of arms, but by the power of his words. Nelson Mandela’s inspiring message helped end the racist apartheid policy in South Africa. And today, advocates from around the world use the power of persuasion and argument to advance the causes that matter most to them.

I debate because debating helps me to understand the reasons why other people hold the views that they do. And from that understanding, we can work together to find solutions to the world’s most complex problems. I also debate because it’s really fun.

But everyone debates for different reasons. So let me now introduce you to the Big Voice team, who’ll share what debating means to them.

NITA RAO: I debate because I love the thrill of speaking in front of an audience. I also love to argue.

KIRAN IYER: I debate because I want to develop the skills that you need to change the world – an understanding of how the world works, an awareness of different perspectives and the ability to communicate my ideas powerfully.

Introduction to policy debates

The Big Voice Approach

VICTOR FINKEL: Hi, I’m Victor. Welcome to Big Voice – the world’s first massive open online course for debating.

We at Big Voice achieved the success we did because we were lucky enough to be coached by some of the best debaters in the world. Our goal in this course is to share with you the ways of thinking about debating that worked so well for us, in the hope that they can help you become the best debater you can be.

Big Voice is run by an Australian charity, African Voice, that has conducted debating workshops across the African continent. While we came up with the idea for an online course as a way to complement our training in-country, this course is for debaters from across the world who are looking to improve their skills. It will be most useful for beginner and intermediate debaters.

Now let me explain the Big Voice approach to training. This is the approach that is used at Monash University, the winner of three consecutive World Universities Debating Championships. We’ll avoid spending too much time in this course on the boring stuff – on the rules and technicalities of debating – although if you are interested in that material we’ll show you where to find it. We’ll instead focus on the more challenging and interesting content – how to develop a policy, how to make powerful arguments and how to approach some of the most controversial debates in the world today.

In lessons one and two, we’ll teach you how to develop a powerful policy and build compelling arguments to support it. And in lessons three to six, we’ll introduce the Big Ideas – the key concepts in debates about ethics, individual freedom, international relations and economics – giving you the tools to approach a wide range of debates with confidence.

Before we continue, I do need to emphasise a couple of things. First, Big Voice is a non-partisan organisation. That means we won’t try and convince you to support particular policies or make particular arguments, but rather give you a framework to understand different beliefs. We want you to think about the issues and come to your own conclusions. Secondly, Big Voice aims to be relevant to people from across the world. We understand that different cultures approach issues differently and do our best to reflect a diversity of perspectives. At the end of each lesson, we’d love your feedback on how we could do this (and everything else!) better.

Before you begin the course, click on the Using Big Voice tab under the Welcome page on the home screen. That will give you a better idea of how the course works and how to use the platform. To get the most out of these lessons, you might want to work through them with a friend or with your debating society, so that you can practice debating about the topics that we explore together.

We’re really excited to run this course and we hope you will find it helpful.

Now join us as we begin to explore the wonderful world of debating!