National Speech And Debate Association Impact

The Impact of the National Speech and Debate Association
“The Capacity to innovate - the ability to solve problems creatively or bring new possibilities to life - and skills are critical thinking, communication, and collaboration are far more important than academic knowledge.” The words of Tony Wagner, co-director of the Change Leadership Group (CLG) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) is a leading innovator in these vital skills. Speech and debate is an activity commonly available to middle school, high school, and college students. Like some athletic sports, it is challenging and competitive. Also similar to sports, speech and debate needs practice, coaching, and hard work (National).Through
There are NSDA programs in over 3,000 schools in more than ten countries, with a total of 1.4 million members worldwide, making it the largest academic competition in the world (National). The NSDA even has programs in both North and South Korea (National). Heidi Son, the executive director of the Korea Chapter explains the significance of the organizations in Korea stating “Through speech and debate, South Korean students have progressed from a methodical education to one which fosters students’ creativity, critical thinking skills, and civic engagement.” Son puts emphasis on increasing skills. Speech and debate is an activity that exposes diverse groups to diverse cultures and humanitarian issues. NSDA has launched a program in North Korea teaching refugees and defectors. These international compromises expand the horizon of the NSDA. (Young) Not only are there programs that are international, but international competitions as well. Tournaments that are held throughout the world. For example there was recently the International Tournament held March 12th through 13th in Montreal, Canada (Luong, et al). Speech and Debate is a far reaching program that impacts the lives of people across the