Description:
A collection of essays bringing together the leading scholars, teachers, coaches, and program administrators in the field of speech and debate, reflecting on the role of curricular and co-curricular speech and debate programs in civic education.
Brief description: Michael J. Bergmaier is a Ph.D. candidate in Communication Arts and Sciences with a Minor in Social Thought at Penn State University.
Review Quotes:
"An outstanding volume. Both wide-ranging and deep, Speech and Debate as Civic Education enlarges our understanding of intercollegiate debate by framing it in a historical context as well as by exploring its philosophical, ethical, and political possibilities. The essays consistently thematize gender, race, and culture, and together they paint a persuasive picture of why debate matters to education, and therefore to democracy. Anyone who cares about the role of rhetoric and argument in a deliberative democracy should own this book."
--William Keith, author of Democracy as Discussion: Civic Education and the American Forum Movement