Written By: Simranpreet Kaur, Staff Writer
COMMUNICATING: Let’s get to know Political Debate Club, its advisors, and their goals for the future.
Introducing the newest organization at our school, the Political Debate Club. It has not only been the talk of the town recently but also a refreshing new opportunity to discuss current events that are taking place in our community and global events. It’s become a new outlet for students to discuss controversial topics in a safe, monitored environment. So how does it work? Who is in charge? How did political debate even form, and why did they find it necessary? These are questions that a lot of students have been wondering about, and with the insight of the co-presidents, Zander Hix and Mary Garcia, we can dive deeper into the thought process around the club and understand its future intent at Poly High School. Given the fact that the club has only just been formed, there is still a lot of skepticism around what it even stands for; we, however, are here to provide answers to these questions.
The Political Debate Club was formed when two students gained interest in creating a debate club centered around politics during a debate that happened in their English class. This spark of interest was quickly ignited as they took further steps into finding people interested in similar topics as them when they were given a positive response from their peers. They took further actions by going to Mrs. Douty and presenting to ASB, where they were “really receptive to the idea because they felt it was needed for a good discussion on politics,” as Zander, co-president of the political debate, told us. They also wanted to form the club after the 2024 election, where they felt that many discussions around the election were speaking from a viewpoint of bias and lack of exposure to new perspectives and ideas. This was in their eyes a new opportunity to allow students to cultivate their own opinions and thoughts while taking into consideration the ones around them. Following the belief that students should have the opportunity to form their thoughts from what they learn through reasonable conversations with their peers, not just the opinions they are surrounded by. Mary Garcia explains that “it was nice to see how many people spoke their minds and understand what they thought because a lot of students don’t during a normal class period.” Political Debate Club offers an environment where your opinions about topics that are being discussed are validated and taken into consideration; you are allowed to take turns talking and understand other peers’ reasoning even if it contradicts your own.
The process of actually forming the topics that will be debated and organizing a meeting, on the other hand, is tedious but 100% worth it from the perspective of the officers. However, according to them, the topics are typically agreed upon by votes before the meetings to make sure that people have topics they are interested in and have genuine feelings and thoughts on. The first topic they have discussed so far was the death penalty and whether or not it should be legalized. Not only did this cause lots of intrigue with a fully booked enrichment period, but students were extremely passionate and well-educated on the subject matter itself. The meetings usually begin with a “short presentation to explain the topic to all the members, and then we allow one side to start; the next side will then reply,” Mary explains. After viewing the first meeting, it was clear that Political Debate is a very organized and well-thought-out club. Everyone on the board introduces themselves and gives a detailed description of the topic that will be discussed. It is then followed by a subject-focused overall question that allows for all sides to interpret the questions and discuss back and forth based on the answers of either side. Once both sides have discussed the question for a significant amount of time, they narrow the scope to two different perspectives. One that typically falls under one side and another question that leans towards the opposite side of the given issue. This is not only significant for putting students into the perspectives of their opposing counterparts but also allows us to question our own beliefs. At any time during the debate, students are allowed to switch sides and choose whether or not to share their reasons as to why. Zander tells us that he “tries to find pressing issues of our time to get people better connected and involved in our subject.” The usage of recent examples and current issues helps offer a better understanding of our thoughts as well as engage students and encourage them to get better acquainted with politics and stay up to date with what is going on in our world.
The political debate club is not only significant to Poly but also gives us hope for the future of the club! Many people hope that the club remains active after the co-presidents leave. Poly and continue to provide an educational environment for students to learn how to have healthy, active conversations with other people even if their views clash with each other. Poly students must have the opportunity to discuss pressing matters that are happening in the world and not stay blindsided by other views. Political debate offers a “friendly space for us high schoolers to be able to express our opinions. It can be hard to be heard, so political debate helps people get their points across,” in the words of Mary. She stresses the importance of being aware of what goes on in the political world and how just showing up to meetings and listening to others discuss topics can help educate others on points they may feel less educated about. The future of political debate clubs is still undecided, but we do know that debate competitions may have a future where organized competitions may come into play. The further improvement they hope to see in the club itself is more input from its members. They hope that, in the words of Zander, “it [political debate club] doesn’t feel like a chore’. They would also love to see more students gain the confidence to speak up and express their views and hope to disprove any nervousness and unwelcomeness peers may feel and welcome them to join in a political conversation that is nothing but fun. With the hope of keeping things as lighthearted as possible, it’s no surprise that Political Debate Club is not only a raved-about new club but an extremely likable, well-rounded one. If you are interested in joining, next meetings will be taking place every other Thursday in Zlaket’s class.