DEBATE IS FOR THE COOL KIDS

"STUDIES SHOW THAT debate is good for you" is exactly the sort of thing you'd expect someone in an ill-fitting blazer and awkward shoes to say at a high school debate competition.

- KATHERINE MANGU-WARD

Despite what you might think about libertarian magazine editors, I wasn't a high school debater. So technically, I don't have a dog (or a cat) in this fight.

But studies really do show debate is good for you. A 2011 study by the University of Michigan's Briana Mezuk and her colleagues found that compared with their nondebating peers, participants in the Chicago Debate League were more likely to graduate, were more likely to meet ACT college-readiness benchmarks, and had greater gains in GPA. The study went to great pains to control for self-selection, suggesting that what matters is the practice of debate itself, and not just an argumentative disposition. In another study a decade later with her Michigan colleague Tomohiro M. Ko, Mezuk found similar boosts to GPA and SAT scores for Houston debaters. And a 2021 study of New Jersey students found significant GPA and SAT bumps as well.

Anyone who has ever met a high school debater knows that they show the kind of self-possession, confidence, and critical thinking that is too often absent in their peers. They're also rarely the most popular kids in school, perhaps because in their enthusiasm for engagement, they sometimes tend to practice their skills in inappropriate circumstances.

In a culture where young people in particular are taught to go to great lengths to avoid giving offense, carving out space where disagreement is not just tolerated but encouraged becomes even more important. These are the opposite of the much-derided "safe spaces" of the 2010s.

The best relationships have space for respectful disagreement. Couples go to therapy to learn how to fight. Family members and friends can and should learn to talk through their differences before it comes to a dramatic will reading or a messy wedding toast. But when it comes to politics, many people are unwilling to agree to disagree and have lost the trick of disagreeing amicably.