belatedness
Belated update on preceding entry.
So, after said alleged cheating incident in the previous post, Cossette fired off an e-mail to the NFL, which is the national debate organization we're part of. Don't ask me why they would choose those initials. He wanted clarification of the rules and be sure that we were in the right.
Well, in response to his lengthy e-mail explaining our concerns about these "NewsViews" briefs, he gets one sentence: Briefs, outlines and pre-written speeches are forbidden, but NewsViews are considered electronic news articles.
Both Cossette and I call bullshit on that. The way we see it, NewsViews could be any or all of the three forbidden aids. Recall that NV are page-length summaries of the different sides of various current events issues, citing various news sources along the way. So, they could be briefs, since they are briefing the extemper on a current events topic. Or, they could be outlines, since they are structured in a first, second, third manner. Or, they could be pre-written speeches, since you could memorize an entire sheet and have a speech.
Why would the NFL, then, make such an apparent contradiction? Cossette's theory is that the company that produces them, West Coast Debate, gives a lot of money to the NFL in advertising dollars (with ads on their website and in the monthly debate magazine). He reckons money is the driving force (shock) and that the NFL just doesn't want to risk losing that advertising revenue.
I know it sounds a bit conspiracy theory-esque, like we're just looking for sinister motives behind everything, but I honestly believe the NFL is wrong and we are right. I think they are very clearly contradicting their own rules, and that's pretty frustrating. and I don't think there's much Cossette or I could do, as far as appealing or making a fuss about it. We'd probably get nowhere for our troubles, I just don't think it's worth it.
The obvious question in all of this is, will we start using them? And I am adamant that we will not, at least this year. I will have no control over the team next year, but I still hope we won't use them. First, there's obviously no integrity in getting so pissed off about them and then using them ourselves. But second, more importantly, using those briefs won't help out extempers get better. They won't teach them anything about reading articles quickly to find important analysis, they won't teach them anything about constructing a speech from scratch, they won't help our extempers innovate in speech structure and style. And since there's no way NV could possibly cover every topic, sooner or later, our extempers would be left trying to figure out how to make their own speech. We're better off teaching them how to rely on themselves.
in other news, I got an additional scholarship from Marquette, which is helpful. it's tough being middle class... anyway, I got an additional $5000 a year, on top the $13000/yr I've already received. And I think our Florida prepaid stuff will be worth another $2000-$3000. So, right now, I'm probably covered $20,000-ish, which means we'd be left paying $7000 for tuition and another $8000 for board. sigh...it's pretty said, that I can get this much money but still be paying $15,000 a year. but, I'm happy I can alleviate the load for my parents some. I'm still waiting to hear back on two scholarships, one would be an additional $3000 a year, the other up to $5000 a year....it's a lot of dollar signs and zeroes, yes?
So, after said alleged cheating incident in the previous post, Cossette fired off an e-mail to the NFL, which is the national debate organization we're part of. Don't ask me why they would choose those initials. He wanted clarification of the rules and be sure that we were in the right.
Well, in response to his lengthy e-mail explaining our concerns about these "NewsViews" briefs, he gets one sentence: Briefs, outlines and pre-written speeches are forbidden, but NewsViews are considered electronic news articles.
Both Cossette and I call bullshit on that. The way we see it, NewsViews could be any or all of the three forbidden aids. Recall that NV are page-length summaries of the different sides of various current events issues, citing various news sources along the way. So, they could be briefs, since they are briefing the extemper on a current events topic. Or, they could be outlines, since they are structured in a first, second, third manner. Or, they could be pre-written speeches, since you could memorize an entire sheet and have a speech.
Why would the NFL, then, make such an apparent contradiction? Cossette's theory is that the company that produces them, West Coast Debate, gives a lot of money to the NFL in advertising dollars (with ads on their website and in the monthly debate magazine). He reckons money is the driving force (shock) and that the NFL just doesn't want to risk losing that advertising revenue.
I know it sounds a bit conspiracy theory-esque, like we're just looking for sinister motives behind everything, but I honestly believe the NFL is wrong and we are right. I think they are very clearly contradicting their own rules, and that's pretty frustrating. and I don't think there's much Cossette or I could do, as far as appealing or making a fuss about it. We'd probably get nowhere for our troubles, I just don't think it's worth it.
The obvious question in all of this is, will we start using them? And I am adamant that we will not, at least this year. I will have no control over the team next year, but I still hope we won't use them. First, there's obviously no integrity in getting so pissed off about them and then using them ourselves. But second, more importantly, using those briefs won't help out extempers get better. They won't teach them anything about reading articles quickly to find important analysis, they won't teach them anything about constructing a speech from scratch, they won't help our extempers innovate in speech structure and style. And since there's no way NV could possibly cover every topic, sooner or later, our extempers would be left trying to figure out how to make their own speech. We're better off teaching them how to rely on themselves.
in other news, I got an additional scholarship from Marquette, which is helpful. it's tough being middle class... anyway, I got an additional $5000 a year, on top the $13000/yr I've already received. And I think our Florida prepaid stuff will be worth another $2000-$3000. So, right now, I'm probably covered $20,000-ish, which means we'd be left paying $7000 for tuition and another $8000 for board. sigh...it's pretty said, that I can get this much money but still be paying $15,000 a year. but, I'm happy I can alleviate the load for my parents some. I'm still waiting to hear back on two scholarships, one would be an additional $3000 a year, the other up to $5000 a year....it's a lot of dollar signs and zeroes, yes?