The World of Debating Beyond World Schools
BP. AP. Australs.
To the average American high school debater, these words likely draw a blank. The only BP and AP they’ve heard of is blood pressure and a dreaded exam in May.
In the realm of international debate, however, these terms hold an entirely different significance. British Parliamentary (BP), Asian Parliamentary (AP), and Australia-Asia Debate (Australs) are all major formats of academic debate that competitors from around the world participate in. Unlike World Schools, these formats appear in both university level and high school level competitions. Because of their resemblance to World Schools, American debaters can derive substantial advantages from both observing and taking part in debates using these formats.
In the words of pretty much every World Schools debater, a few things you can expect from my speech–or in this case, blog post. First, some general benefits to participating in these other formats, followed by personal experiences (including my own) from engaging in each format. Lastly, ways that you and your teammates can both spectate and compete in international tournaments.
The remarkable part about speech and debate is that the skills you gain from one event are easily transferable to other events. This is especially true in the case of World Schools debate as it is made to be an accessible event. In the World Schools division of the NSDA National Speech and Debate Tournament, for example, district teams often consist of students who primarily compete in other events like Public Forum Debate or Extemporaneous Speaking. They utilize the same argumentation and speaking skills from their original event, altered stylistically to fit the new format. In addition to practicing rudimentary skills, international formats provide an opportunity to hear about topics from non-american perspectives. One of the major critiques of the American debate circuit is the fact that most debates tend to ignore global perspectives. In particular, many debaters use western-centric examples and fail to consider the implications or possibilities for other countries. Exposure to teams from different countries gives you the chance to hear a variety of perspectives and global examples being used in round.
With all of that said, here is some background information as well as some specific benefits for each format:
Asian Parliamentary Debate
Out of the three, this one is easily my favorite. It closely resembles World Schools, making it easy for American debaters to grasp. The main distinction lies in the speech times: constructive speeches are typically 7 minutes and reply speeches are 3 minutes, as opposed to the conventional 8 minutes and 4 minutes. (Note that this timing can vary between tournaments) Additionally, the team proposing the motion is referred to as the “Government” side instead of Proposition.
1. Prime Minister - 7 minutes
2. Leader of the opposition - 7 minutes
3. Deputy Prime Minister - 7 minutes
4. Deputy Leader of the Opposition - 7 minutes
5. Government Whip - 7 minutes
6. Opposition whip - 7 minutes
7. Opposition Reply - 3 minutes
8. Government Reply - 3 minutes
I recently competed in the AP International Schools Debating Championship hosted online from South Korea. While 7 minutes may not seem like a huge change from 8, I quickly realized I was struggling to cover content to the extent that I wanted to in my speeches. During the tournament, I primarily gave whip speeches, meaning my third clash was cut short. This time constraint may have seemed like an obstacle at first, but gave me the opportunity to practice my word economy and time management skills, both of which are incredibly important in any format. Another distinction between World Schools and AP is that AP only allows 3 members per team as opposed to 5. Instead of rotating between team members, each debater must debate in every single round. On top of that, every round is an impromptu round, meaning you are constantly thinking on the spot. My initial AP rounds forced me out of my comfort zone, but practice gradually transformed that discomfort into familiarity.
British Parliamentary
Bo Seo, perhaps the most well known debater of all time, competed in BP debate throughout his college years. If you’ve ever heard the words “Madame Chair, the global poor all around the world, and no matter what country in which they live, currently live in a system of dictatorship,” you are probably more familiar with this format than you think. If you haven’t already, I suggest setting aside some time to watch the 2016 World Universities Debating Championship (WUDC) final round where these famous words were spoken.
BP gets its name from “British Parliament”, which it is modeled after. Instead of 2 teams, there are 4 teams that participate in each round: Opening Government, Opening Opposition, Closing Government, and Closing Opposition. The length of speeches tend to differ between tournaments, but are approximately 7 minutes each. In order to select a winner, the 4 teams are ranked by judges after the round is completed.
1. Prime Minister
2. Leader of the opposition
3. Deputy Prime Minister
4. Deputy Leader of the Opposition
5. Member of Government
6. Member of Opposition
7. Government Whip
8. Opposition Whip
9. Government Whip
While my competitive experience in BP is limited, I have watched numerous online rounds and had the pleasure of meeting several fellow World Schools debaters who also compete in BP. According to Ella Chi, member of the 2023 NSDA Worlds Education Program, “BP is a lot more fast paced,” than other variations of parliamentary debate. “Because there are 4 teams competing against each other, there is more creativity put in,” Chi said. “This makes it so that nothing is black and white, and everything is further developed.” For example, she noted that general arguments like a principle of democracy (something very commonly run in World Schools rounds) would be unstrategic because the other team on your side will be able to use more nuanced argumentation and rank higher than you. Another distinct aspect of BP is the 15 minutes of motion preparation time as opposed to the 1 hour that most American World Schools debaters are accustomed to. When I competed in my first BP tournament, this was the biggest barrier of entry for me. I was used to having an entire hour to plan out arguments and write down every detail, but I had to condense all of that thinking into 15 minutes. For Chi, the shortened preparation time “trains [her] brain to internalize the logic for each argument, and lay it out mentally instead of writing paragraphs on paper.” Being able to internally extend arguments during preparation time is incredibly important across all debate events, including World Schools. If coming up with arguments on a time crunch is something you and your teammates tend to struggle with, try using Hello Motion to generate random motions and practice preparing arguments in 15 minutes.
In addition to speeding up argument generation, Chi mentioned that BP helps her gain better round vision. “I was taught that a good 2 should take a spin at the strategy of the round; to generate that spin, knowing how to gain winning grounds as the back half in BP really helps!” she said. In recent years, many teams competing in the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) have won rounds by shifting their strategy in the later speeches like the 2 and the 3. If you notice that the last few speeches from your side tend to go over the same points, consider blowing up the impacts of arguments your opponents may have ignored or underestimated.
As Chi said, BP speakers “waste less time trying to make everything sound good with rhetoric and instead use “straight to the point” sentences to convey [their] ideas.” Following that principle, I’ll be very straight to the point. Every World Schools debater should try competing in BP at some point in their debate career if they are able to!
Austral-Asia Debate
As the name suggests, Austral-Asia Debate primarily happens in Asia and Australia. It is a 3v3 format like World Schools and Asian Parliamentary, and it usually allows up to 4 people on a team. Australs is unique in that in some cases, it excludes both reply speeches and points of information. Additionally, sides are often referred to as affirmative and negative. For instance, I competed at the 2023 Monash Open (an Australian university competition), and was intrigued by the changes that occurred from not having a reply speech. One of my teammates, and member of Team Texas, Julia Mickiewicz, was especially impacted as she was our third speaker. When asked about the experience, she noted that “it taught [her] a lot about the affirmative/proposition three because in the absence of the reply, [she] was forced to anticipate the negative/opposition collapse a lot more than [she] usually would.” Without the reply to leave an impression on a judge, affirmative teams must establish convincing points from the very beginning of the debate to prevent the third negative speaker from undermining their case and shifting the judge’s decision at the end. This forced us to increase our focus on strategy during the impromptu preparation period as we would need to set up our collapse significantly earlier in the round. As the second speaker, I had to thoroughly weigh arguments and provide the highest ground analysis earlier in the debate than I was used to. “I made sure to reference the speech before me heavily,” Mickiwicz said. “I found that the second speakers adjusted their strategy to do the majority of damage to the opponents case in their speech, meaning it was my job to call out all the work that had already been done in the round.
These lessons are very applicable to World Schools as well. Many second speakers dedicate a substantial amount of time to line-by-line refutation and neglect to weigh the arguments sufficiently, placing a significant burden on the third speaker. To address this issue, there has been a trend towards including clash points in the second speech. Whether you choose to follow this or not, be conscious of how many weighing mechanisms you are introducing in the two and make sure the round is perfectly set up for your third speaker to secure a win.
How can you participate?
The timezone difference certainly complicates participating in international tournaments, but it’s definitely possible to do so occasionally. Typically, I adjust my sleep schedule by resting during the day, which allows me to stay awake and debate through the night. With the exception of one round during which I regrettably fell asleep (apologies to my teammates for causing you stress), I’ve consistently managed to participate in tournaments and have gained numerous benefits from them. If you and your teammates decide to take part in an international tournament, make sure you modify your sleep schedule to get sufficient rest. While competitive experience is important, your health should be your first priority.
In terms of finding tournaments, most are unfortunately not posted on Tabroom. Instead, they are posted on Facebook and are tabulated through “Tabbycat” (the name of which I have always found quite hilarious). There are various facebook groups such as Asia Debating, Online Debates, Debate Asia. and more. One thing to note is that some of these competitions may be targeted towards college students. This doesn't, however, prevent high schoolers from participating. In fact, many tournaments include a “schools'' break, meaning there will be separate elimination rounds for high school teams. At first, the idea of competing against older students seems daunting, but it is still great practice. In fact, I’ve found many college teams to be at the same level as my teammates and I. The bottom line is, if you choose to participate in an international tournament, there are various opportunities available for you.
