Choosing Sides: Debate and Persuasion (cl2014ASU2)

• Blaise
  • Overthrow the world
• Ben
  • Lose his glass slipper
• Brandi
  • Write a book
• Caitlyn
  • Set off the library alarm
• Caroline
  • Be a lawyer
• Ian
  • Rule the world
• Jaylin
  • Be a senator/Beyonce
• Juna
  • Overthrow another planet
• Karina
  • Throw a frisbee accurately
• Madelyn
  • be the best Einstein ever
• Madison
  • Be president
• Mckenzie
  • Fangirl
• Megan
  • Be Sharpay in HSM
• Taylor
  • Win a Tony
• Grant
  • Know more about military strategy than the teacher
• Pam
  • say "Debaters in a very high pitched voice" (TA)
• Alex(instructor)
  • Make our brains hurt

This class was amazing. We started the first day by playing a game called "if I ruled the world." We had to say what we would do if we ruled the world. Some responses I remember are: Blaise,"If I ruled the world, I would probably end up resigning at some point." Juna, "If I ruled the world, I would rule the world." McKenzie, "If I ruled the world, Youtubers would rule the world with me." Grant, "If I ruled the world, I would create a non-corrupt socialist government." Caitlyn, "If I ruled the world, I would live in a castle." We then went over the very long, very boring syllabus. I don't know about the rest of the tipsters, but I was lost in the first minute.

We became like a family somewhere around the 3rd day. Jaylin began to impersonate our TA, Pam, with her super high pitched voice. The term "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS" was commonly used.

The first big project we did was Balloon Debates. Each tipster had to choose an influential figure, and do research on why their person should stay in the hot-air balloon. We had to imagine that the balloon was going down and the only way to keep from crashing was to throw people over the side to their death. When one was thrown over the side of the balloon, it shows that that person no longer exists in history, so everything they did didn't happen. This is how we chose who to throw over. There were three balloons, which would debate against each other in the preliminary rounds.

                 Balloon 1                                       Balloon 2                                  Balloon 3
             Leonardo DaVinci(Madison)*                     Dolores Huerta(Jaylin)                  George Washington(Megan)
              Albert Einstein(Madie) *                      Nelson Mandela(Kenzie)                    Isaac Newton(Karina)* 
               Abraham Lincoln(Ben)                           Aristotle(Brandi)                        Karl Benz(Grant)*
            William Shakespeare(Taylor)                         Tesla(Blaise)*                     Franklin D. Roosevelt(Juna)
               Confucius(Caitlyn)                           Hammurabi(Caroline)*                        Elizabeth I(Ian)
     
                                                          *moved on to next round

The final three were DaVinci, Tesla, and Einstein. Einstein and Tesla tied for the win.

The next big project we did was Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Our Lincoln-Douglas debate topic was Resolved: Targeted killing with unmanned aerial vehicles is morally justified. We had to research and build arguments for both the affirmative and negative sides of the resolution. After five days of hearing about drone most of us got sick of the topic. Jaylin and Ian ended up going to the finals, which were held at Greir Auditorium. Myths and Legends came to watch. Jaylin argued for the affirmative, while Ian took the negative. Jaylin won by a landslide.

The next and final project we did was Student Congress debate. We learned about fracking, and how it's both good and bad, but mostly bad. Don't forget. Wind turbines are 24/7 BIRD MURDERING MACHINES RIP Larry.

Now to the story of Karl. One day, the class was outside on break. Grant walks up to a tree with a Robin on it, stuck his finger out, and Karl stepped on his finger. Grant channeled his inner Disney Princess and walked around with the robin, which was later named Karl. How Grant really did this no one knows.

The class created a gang sign. It was a heart made out of our hands. Pam then informed us that the term 'Gang sign' wasn't TiProppriate, so we called it a love sign.

Ian slept with Jesus.

This class was amazing and I never wanted to leave them. Regular school is going to suck compared to you guys. Love you all.

QUOTES:

"Debaters, count off!"

"1, 2, 3, POWER CLAP."

"Thanks, Karl Benz."

"Sleeping with Jesus"

"YAAAAAAAASSSSS"

"Bye Karl"

"So that's where Larry went..."

"Wind turbines - 24-7 bird killing machines."

"Who is this Oprah you speak of?"

"MY FRISBEE!!!!"