Info

  • Debate Resources

    For more information on the debate formats for CLAREMONT SUMMER, as well as topic-based debating for competitive tournaments, classes, academic conferences, and public events.

    Online Resources

    • HSPDP, Leadership/Professional Communication – highschooldebate.org
    • MSPDP – middleschooldebate.com, highschooldebate.org (middle school page on this site)

    Textbooks

    • Speak Up! Debate and Public Speaking in High School (HSPDP) (includes middle school information), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2015
    • Has the Civil Rights Movement Been Successful? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2009
    • Can Earth Support Our Growing Population? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008
    • Is There Other Life in the Universe? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008
    • Is Genetic Research a Threat? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2008
    • Is Nuclear Power Safe? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2008
    • Should We Ever Negotiate with Terrorists? (What Do You Think?), John Meany, 2008
    • Is Homework a Waste of Time? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008
    • Is Television a Bad Influence? (What Do You Think?), Kate Shuster, 2008
    • Speak Out! Debate and Public Speaking in the Middle Grades (MSPDP), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2005
    • On That Point! An Introduction to Parliamentary Debate (CHSSA high school parliamentary), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2003
    • Art, Argument and Advocacy, Mastering Parliamentary Debate (College – NPDA/WUDC-BP), John Meany and Kate Shuster, 2002
  • High School Leadership Academic Conference – Topic

    Students attending the High School Leadership/Professional Communication session will participate in an academic conference, featuring competitive awards in several categories.

    The topic for this summer’s conference is US Electoral Reform.

    Students will research and submit a 5-page paper on the topic. Guidelines for the paper will be emailed to each registered student beginning June 1.

  • Summer Tournament Registration

    Students attending the Claremont Summer middle school and high school debate sessions are eligible to participate in an online summer debate tournament. There is no registration fee for the events.

    In addition to the championship tournaments held during the SuperSessions, there is an online tournament for middle school students and another for high school students.

    Saturday, August 14 – Middle School Summer Online Championship
    (Registration deadline, Wednesday, August 11, 6PM)

    Sunday, August 15 – High School Summer Online Championship
    (Registration deadline, Wednesday, August 11, 6PM)

  • Daily Schedule

    The daily schedule is basically the same for all programs, with the exception of High School Leadership/Professional Communication. The core schedule is listed for all programs and that is followed by the High School Leadership/Professional Communication schedule.

    DAILY SCHEDULE FOR ALL PROGRAMS (except High School Leadership)
    All programming is synchronous

    Day 1
    9:00-9:30 AM Registration – Zoom Login
    9:00-9:15 AM Registration for students with the last name A-M
    915-9:30 AM Registration for students with the last name N-Z
    9:30-9:55AM Welcome and Program Introduction
    10:00-12:00 PM Instructional Sessions
    12:00-12:55 PM Lunch Break
    12:55 PM Zoom Login
    1:00-3:00 PM Instructional Sessions
    3:00-3:55 PM Break
    Optional Programming – Open Forum – Begins at 4:00 PM
    3:55 PM Zoom Login (Later Zoom Login for later scheduled sessions – please login 5 minutes prior to scheduled session start)
    4:00-5:30 PM Office Hours, Electives, Ancillary Programming Daily

    Subsequent Days
    8:45 AM Zoom Arrival
    8:50-9:00 AM Public Speaking Practice
    9:00-9:55 AM Homework Review and Opening Exercises
    10:00-12:00 PM Instructional Sessions
    12:00-12:55 PM Lunch Break
    12:55 PM Zoom Login
    1:00-3:00 PM Instructional Sessions
    3:00-3:55 PM Break
    Optional Programming – Open Forum – Begins at 4:00 PM
    3:55 PM Zoom Login (Later Zoom Login for later scheduled sessions – please login 5 minutes prior to scheduled session start)
    4:00-5:30 PM Office Hours, Electives, Ancillary Programming Daily

    Last Day
    8:45 AM Zoom Arrival
    8:50-9:00 AM Public Speaking Practice
    9:00-12:00 PM Performances and Instructional Sessions
    12:00-12:55 PM Lunch Break
    12:55 PM Zoom Login
    1:00-4:50 PM Performances and Instructional Sessions
    4:50-5:00 PM Final Gathering

    DAILY SCHEDULE
    HIGH SCHOOL LEADERSHIP/PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION

    DAY 1-Last Day
    Same as above

    Last 2 – Days – Conference
    8:50 AM Zoom Arrival
    9:00-12:00 PM Performances and Instructional Sessions
    12:00-12:55 PM Lunch Break
    12:55 PM Zoom Login
    1:00-4:50 PM Performances and Instructional Sessions
    4:50-5:00 PM Final Gathering

  • 2021 Parent Guide

    The Parent Guide is emailed to all registered families at least 2 weeks prior to the start of each summer program session.

  • The 2021 Sessions Schedule

    Schedule dates for Summer 2021 sessions. Please go to the ‘Daily Schedule’ post for an explanation of the schedule for each day of your program.

    Each summer session involves daily lectures and small group practica, homework and homework review, open forums and strategy games, electives, and event performances.

    Summer Tournaments and High School Conference (additional event for summer institute students)
    Registration begins July 15 – Email announcement to all institute attendees
    No fees for tournament registration. Registration deadline for both middle school and high school optional tournaments is Wednesday, August 11, 6:00 PM.

    High School Academic Conference, integrated in leadership session, July 17-18
    Middle School Summer Online PDP Championship Tournament, Saturday, August 14
    High School Summer Online PDP Championship Tournament, Sunday, August 15

    Middle School Debate (all sessions are appropriate for a student of any experience level)
    Session 1, June 14-19
    Session 2, July 6-11
    Session 3, July 24-31 (SuperSession, includes additional instruction and summer championship tournament)

    Middle School Scholars (appropriate for students at all levels of experience)
    Session 1, June 21-25
    Session 2, July 19-23

    High School Debate (all sessions are appropriate for a student of any experience level)
    Session 1, June 22-29
    Session 2, August 1-9 (SuperSession, includes additional instruction and summer championship tournament)

    High School Leadership/Professional Communication (appropriate for students at all levels of experience)
    July 10-18

  • The Claremont Difference

    • Learn from John Meany, Director of Forensics at Claremont McKenna College
    Founder of the Middle School/High School Public Debate Program, Creator of the CHSSA Parliamentary Debate format, Sponsor of the first 3 intercollegiate championships in the British Parliamentary debate format, Author or co-author of 10 debate textbooks and a monograph series on professional communication, Director of the US World Schools Program and International High School Public Debate Program for 15 years, Coach of multiple national debate champions, Director of the Civics in Action high school leadership initiative, Sponsor of multiple academic conferences for secondary schools and colleges/universities, Director of more than 250 summer debate, speech, and professional communication sessions in the US and abroad

    • Staff and judges/evaluators complete a certification program to work at Claremont Summer events, the only summer debate or communication enrichment program with this requirement. Certification ensures a knowledgeable staff, diligent lesson planning, and implementation of best practices.

    • Innovative operations. The Claremont summer programs have led innovations for summer debate and communication workshops for more than 30 years, including more than 20 years of secondary school programs. Online sessions will include the research clinics, open forums, strategy board gaming, home study assignments, and practicum exercises that have been previously featured in on-campus programming.

    • Best practices from other formats. The Claremont staff has experience in multiple secondary school debate formats, including PDP, policy, parliamentary (including several high school domestic models and APDA, NPDA, IPDA), Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, World Schools, British Parliamentary, All-Asian, Karl Popper, Civic Debate. in addition, the staff has substantial experience developing specialized professional communication training programs and events (workshops, conferences, public debates, policy lectures, cable television and podcast public affairs programs, advocacy seminars, etc.) for education, business, civic, social, and political groups.

    • Value-added academic term programs. The Claremont Colleges Debate Union supplements its summer programs with conferences, workshops, curricular information, and leadership activities during the summer and academic year. These include a writing workshop presented by staff of Claremont McKenna College’s Center for Writing and Public Discourse, a leadership program – Civics in Action – a social and political advocacy project for schools and communities, international debate demonstrations and public debates (e.g., high school students invited to Panama to support debate development in English and Spanish), and academic conferences with competitive awards for top papers, panel presentations, and multimedia performances. Students receive periodic newsletters and public speaking/argumentation guides. The documents include speaking exercises and helpful information to improve their argumentation, negotiation, writing, and management skills.

  • Academic Preparation

    STUDENT ACADEMIC PREPARATION GUIDE 

    2021 Claremont Debate and Leadership Communication Institutes

    The CDLI is the most comprehensive, sophisticated, and innovative instructional program of its type. It is the only officially sanctioned summer program instruction for the Middle School Public Debate Program and High School Public Debate Program. The middle school debate institutes use the Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP), a proprietary debate format developed by John Meany and Kate Shuster. The national high school institute uses the High School Public Debate Program (HSPDP) format. John Meany developed the HSPDP model.

    John Meany has developed leadership and professional communication programs and conferences for educational institutions, non-profit organizations, businesses, and government agencies in the US and abroad. The leadership/professional communication program uses these instructional and practice methods, adapted for the summer institute.

    More than 800,000 students and teachers in 36 countries participate in Public Debate Program middle school and high school class critical thinking activities and contest debate events.

    One of the important elements of Claremont Summer is the expectation that students PREPARE to participate. There may be exceptions (students involved in other summer academic and athletic programs, family travel, etc.) But students should make their best effort to prepare. Although a student’s inability to prepare will not interfere with success in the summer program, advanced preparation gives students the opportunity to participate in the program in a more efficient manner. They will be able to maximize their opportunities, move ahead at an advanced pace.

    PUBLIC SPEAKING PREPARATION

    FOR MIDDLE/HIGH STUDENTS IN ALL PROGRAMS
    (Appropriate for students new to summer program events)

    Students should practice public speaking, about 2-3 minutes for a practice performance, initially on issues that are personally important and well known. Select the topic and deliver an extemporaneous speech (limited preparation on a research-based topic, from 1 hour to up to a day for research before speech delivery) or an impromptu delivery (from 60-90 seconds of preparation time to as much as 30 minutes of preparation time before speech delivery). Challenge yourself with different topics when you feel that you might be able to deliver a more convincing, persuasive speech than the first one.

    Try to use the A-R-E method for argument development. Assertion-Reasoning-Evidence. An assertion is a brief and clearly expressed claim or opinion. The reasoning is an explanation or justification of the opinion. Reasoning explains why an opinion makes sense. Evidence is the experience, observation, or researched fact that supports one’s reasoning. Evidence proves that an opinion is more right than wrong. It is based on facts, rather than speculation or a guesstimate.

    During summer programming, all debate and leadership communication students will learn the comprehensive argument method created by John Meany decades ago and subsequently refined as A-R-E-S-R, Assertion-Reasoning-Evidence-Significance-Result.

    Video your practice speeches. Practice the same speech several times. After the fourth or fifth presentation, examine the first and most recent video to identify strengths and weaknesses. Communication strengths include eye contact, confidence, volume, alteration in pace (avoid a monotone), emphasis of key words, and appropriate, integrated gestures. Core weaknesses include too much reading of a text, limited or exaggerated movement (no hand/arm movement or pacing, rocking back-and-forth or side-to-side), reduced volume at the end of sentences or paragraphs, and too similar tone and pace for the entire delivery.

    As practice improves, select more challenging topics, practice more impromptu than extemporaneous speeches, and reduce the amount of preparation time before delivery. In general, a student should practice public speaking about 30-90 minutes each week to ensure effective, professional, competitive performance.

    It is possible to use the topics listed here or substitute your own topics.

    Middle School Speech Topics

    • The least favorite things about school
    • My favorite thing to do on vacation
    • The voting age should be lowered to the age of 16
    • Soccer is the best sport
    • Two things I would like to learn
    • All middle schools should have school uniforms

    High School Speech Topics

    • The least favorite things about school
    • My favorite thing to do on vacation
    • Should the US military stay in Afghanistan?
    • The US should elect the president by popular vote
    • What is the most important issue facing the United States?
    • Standardized testing does more good than harm
    DEBATE PREPARATION – MIDDLE SCHOOL

    If one has time, the best way to prepare is to research and discuss debates on the listed topics. During the program, students will research and prepare argument sets with staff and other students  for debates. Students may use any research files, casebooks, dictionaries, and other reference materials  for debates. For those new to debate, students will learn how to analyze a topic, conduct and organize research, and prepare files and casebooks. Novice debaters might have some information on topics but are not expected to have fully prepared to debate any of the topics.

    Topics – Middle School Session 1 

    • All middle school students should wear uniforms.
    • Relatives of top government officials should be ineligible for elective office.
    • Facial recognition technology does more good than harm.

    Topics – Middle School Session 2 

    • Twitter should not delete President Trump’s account.
    • The US Federal Government should bailout the states.
    • Viruses are alive.

    Topics – Middle School Session 3 (SuperSession)

    • It should be illegal to post known false information on digital and social media platforms.
    • Defund the police. 
    • Lower the voting age to 16.
    DEBATE PREPARATION – HIGH SCHOOL

    The summer program uses pre-announced and impromptu debate topics.

    To prepare for the institute, each student might research and organize materials for debates on the listed topics. Students will also conduct research, organize arguments, build cases and counterplans, and prepare with staff and other students for debates. Students may bring any research files, casebooks, dictionaries, and other reference materials for use for debates. For those new to debate, students will learn how to conduct and organize research and prepare files and casebooks during institute sessions. Novice debaters should have some information on topics but do not need the same preparation as experienced debaters. Students should research current events from major newspapers and other periodicals for impromptu debates.

    Pre-announced Debate Topics – HSPDP Debate Session

    • The US should re-write the Constitution every 25 years.
    • The US should eliminate the unilateral pardon power of the President. 
    • The US should pay reparations for slavery.

    There will be additional impromptu topics, selected from enduring ethical controversies and major current events.

    HIGH SCHOOL LEADERSHIP/PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION & MIDDLE SCHOOL SCHOLARS PREPARATION

    The CDLI provides training for effective communication in professional settings – leadership positions for student government, clubs, and organizations, participation in social and political activism, and success in interviews, internships, roundtable discussions, town hall meetings, academic conferences, and public debates.

    The CDLI will offer the experience that students need to develop the required communication skills for educational and career success – the ability to identify problems, propose solutions, express vision, and motivate others. Through educational seminars, practice exercises, readings, roundtable discussions, case studies, negotiation games, decision groups, and a conference for high school students, students will learn the 3 I’sof highly effective leadership communication – Influencing, Implementing, and Innovating.

    Students will research current events and organize for discussions and presentations on select topics.

    Research & Resume

    High school students should review daily newspapers and online news. In addition, they should read subject field documents, such as academic periodicals and online political reviews – a daily major newspaper (e.g., New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal); weekly national or international news periodicals (e.g., Time, The Washington Post Weekly, Economist, Newsweek); online current events reports (e.g., Google News), and additional specialized periodicals (e.g., Foreign Policy, Columbia Journalism Review, etc.)

    Students should send a digital copy of their resume to the program at least one-week prior to arrival. Please send it to John Meany, john.meany@cmc.edu.

    Middle school students should review current events, particularly about the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath.

    High School Speech and Discussion Topics

    • The US should substantially change its process of electing the president.
    • Animals and inanimate objects should have standing to sue. 

    Middle School Speech and Discussion Topics

    • Abolish the Electoral College.
    • The US should adopt a year of mandatory national service for all students attending college.

  • Mailing Your Payment

    Please mail your payment to the following address:

    John Meany
    Director of Forensics
    749 Lancaster Drive
    Claremont, CA 91711

    Please mail payment to arrive at least 48 hours prior to the start of your program (please consider slowed and weekend mail delivery).

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