I hadn't heard of spreading in the debating sense until yesterday. It
is short for speed reading and in "spreading" "reading" is pronounced
like the present participle of to read (not like the name of the town
in England). Anyway, one of my granddaughters was debating champion of
the USA in her last year at high school. She now has a debating
scholarship at the University of Southern California, and under the
terms of the scholarship she is in the debating team of the university.
However, she doesn't like the style of debating that consists of
reading a script as fast as possible in the hope that the opposing team
will be penalized for failing to address all your points. I have
watched a video of some boys spreading, and it is more ridiculous than
you can imagine. No nonsense about marshalling cogent arguments, just
getting out as many words as possible in the time available.

It's not often I find myself in agreement with Senator Ted Cruz (indeed
this may be the first and last occasion), who was a national debating
champion in his student days, and who has described spreading as "a
pernicious disease that has undermined the very essence of high school
and college debate". (Wikipedia article entitled "Spreading (debate)")

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
in England until 1987.

Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

> I hadn't heard of spreading in the debating sense until yesterday. It
> is short for speed reading and in "spreading" "reading" is pronounced
> like the present participle of to read (not like the name of the town
> in England). Anyway, one of my granddaughters was debating champion of
> the USA in her last year at high school. She now has a debating
> scholarship at the University of Southern California, and under the
> terms of the scholarship she is in the debating team of the university.
> However, she doesn't like the style of debating that consists of
> reading a script as fast as possible in the hope that the opposing team
> will be penalized for failing to address all your points. I have
> watched a video of some boys spreading, and it is more ridiculous than
> you can imagine. No nonsense about marshalling cogent arguments, just
> getting out as many words as possible in the time available.

> It's not often I find myself in agreement with Senator Ted Cruz (indeed
> this may be the first and last occasion), who was a national debating
> champion in his student days, and who has described spreading as "a
> pernicious disease that has undermined the very essence of high school
> and college debate". (Wikipedia article entitled "Spreading (debate)")

When I was a high school debater, we didn't read scripts, and talking
fast to introduce a lot points, in hopes that your opponents wouldn't
address all of them, was called "spreading", rhyming with the town in
England and the one in Pennsylvania. I suspect the modern
pronunciation is supposed to be a blend of "spreading" in that sense
and "reading".

I didn't spread. I was also not a good debater. I remember the best
debater in my class once told me the supposed best debater in the state
had lost a debate because the judge said he couldn't understand such
fast talking.

I too must agree, possibly for the first time, with Sen. Cruz.

--
Jerry Friedman

Athel Cornish-Bowden <me@yahoo.com> writes:
> I hadn't heard of spreading in the debating sense until yesterday. It
> is short for speed reading and in "spreading" "reading" is pronounced
> like the present participle of to read (not like the name of the town
> in England). Anyway, one of my granddaughters was debating champion of
> the USA in her last year at high school. She now has a debating
> scholarship at the University of Southern California, and under the
> terms of the scholarship she is in the debating team of the
> university. However, she doesn't like the style of debating that
> consists of reading a script as fast as possible in the hope that the
> opposing team will be penalized for failing to address all your
> points. I have watched a video of some boys spreading, and it is more
> ridiculous than you can imagine. No nonsense about marshalling cogent
> arguments, just getting out as many words as possible in the time
> available.
>
> It's not often I find myself in agreement with Senator Ted Cruz
> (indeed this may be the first and last occasion), who was a national
> debating champion in his student days, and who has described spreading
> as "a pernicious disease that has undermined the very essence of high
> school and college debate". (Wikipedia article entitled "Spreading
> (debate)")

"My honourable opponent's first 83 points can be dismissed as pure
logical fallacies, as can his final 39, so I shall restrict my rebuttal
to the single one that had any merit, though, even then, not much. ... "

Phil
--
We are no longer hunters and nomads. No longer awed and frightened, as we have
gained some understanding of the world in which we live. As such, we can cast
aside childish remnants from the dawn of our civilization.
-- NotSanguine on SoylentNews, after Eugen Weber in /The Western Tradition/