Athens vs. Sparta Debate

We will be holding debates in class on Mon and Tues, March 25 & 26. On Monday, half of the class will debate while the other half judges. On Tuesday, we switch.

Both debates will be on the relative merits of Athens vs. Sparta. The debaters will be acting as representatives of their polis and will try to convince a group of citizens from other poleis to join their league. To be convincing you will need good facts to support your case and will need to argue them persuasively. You should use the information in your textbook, the handouts I distribute, and anything else you can find on your own.

Each team will have 7 members. The debates will start with each team giving an opening speech of no more than one minute on their first topic (see below for topics). After that, each side will get a chance to make one point. Then the other side gets to rebut the point and make its own point. We will continue until I judge that enough has been said. Then each team will make a closing speech of up to one minute. After that, we repeat the process with the second topic (with different people giving opening and closing speeches). While debating, make sure to stay focused on your topic and don’t veer off onto other things!

The topics are:

Monday (March 25):

Topic 1 – GovernmentTopic 2 – Quality of Life

Tuesday (March 26):

Topic 1 – Treatment of Non-CitizensTopic 2 – Trade & Prosperity

I will hand out a scoring rubric on Thursday and explain how the scoring will work. For now, just know that the more good facts you have the more points you will score. It will also be important that every member of the team speaks and that you balance things so that one or two people do not dominate. You may refer to note cards before you speak, but you will get points off for reading while talking. So, as you prepare, if might be good for each team member to be responsible for 1-2 points that they can memorize.

Good luck!

Athens Sparta

Wesley Bamboo

Yaya Tweety

Amy S Albert

Victoria Justin

Ryan Vincie

Aaron Evelyn

Phoebe Rina

The teams are:

Monday’s debate Tuesday’s debate

Athens Sparta

Sandy Anne

Lannie Amy C

Kai Xing Emma

Mirah Art

Evan Jane

Henry Ming

Sarah Kevin