Brooks gauging interest in youth debate team; touts benefits

While adults bicker on social media about everything from the presidential election to whether pineapple belongs on pizza, one local man is hoping to teach young people the art of debate, presentation and self-confidence, skills that will translate into college, future careers, and even social media discourse.

Layson Brooks, of Lewisport, is gauging interest in a local parliamentary debate program that he said could open up a whole new world for students from eighth through twelfth grades and improve how they interact with society.
“Parliamentary debate, if you want to keep it very simple, is arguing but there are some rules to it,” Brooks said.
In such a debate judges present a resolution, or topic, and one person or team must argue for it, with the opponents arguing against it, and the judges choose the winners. But it’s more than just printing out information from the internet and reading it.

“In parliamentary debate you’re not allowed to bring in articles of evidence, so basically you need to know the information,” he said, “so it requires that you have a wide range of not expertise, but know a little bit about a lot of things.” Competitors get a heads up on what the topics might be though, so it not only tests their debate skills but also their study skills.

Debate isn’t exactly a common thing in rural Kentucky, but Brooks first found it years ago at the community college in Owensboro.
“I got introduced into it in college by Owensboro city commissioner Bob Glenn, on the recommendation of a speech teacher,” he said.

Soon he was on the team and they competed against much bigger schools, like the meet at Ball State where he and his partner took second place over teams from Notre Dame, Illinois and other universities.
When he mentioned debate to a friend recently they suggested that it would be a good thing to bring to the area.
“I’m looking for an activity to kind of occupy the youth and to introduce them to something that they may not have even known that they were interested in,” he said.

He wants any young adult from eighth to twelfth grades from any county, to commit to learning the skills of debate but also of improving themselves overall.
“It has immense benefits, I believe,” he said. “A lot of people get a confidence. I’ve seen people who were kind of shy at the beginning and then after a couple of tournaments, a couple of practices, they turn into different people.”

Debate is about presentation of not only facts but of the debater, which Brooks said is equally important.
“Your appearance, that’s part of your confidence, if you dress nice people tend to believe your argument even if you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.  And the team will be about self-discipline, starting practices on time, with dress codes for both boys and girls.

They’ll also learn how to vet their sources to find reliable information, as well as how to use that information properly to make clear points and to understand the argument of whoever they’re debating against, both of which Brooks said would be useful for the general public.
“I watch Facebook just like everybody else. You see a lot of arguments and a lot of them you’re like, wait a minute,” he said. “No matter which side you’re on you’re like, OK, that doesn’t sound right.”

“If we could get that next generation… even when you have a different viewpoint you can at least agree on a set of facts and then go from there,” he said. “We can’t be arguing about the sky and you’re talking about the grass.”
For now Brooks is gauging interest in the team and finalizing the details, but he believes that any student could benefit from exposure to debating and that the skills will translate into the remainder of their lives.

“My hope at the end is that they take something from it, whether that’s success and winning tournaments, or a sense of confidence, or they just expand themselves as a person,” he said.
For more information about the team find Layson Brooks, Jr. on Facebook, beatitjerk96 on Instagram, or email  [email protected]

Dave Taylor