INTRODUCTION

Public discussion in the form of debating at the University of North Carolina as a means of training young men for citizenship, dates back to the year of the University's opening, 1795. From that early beginning to the present, through the Dialectic and Philanthropic Literary Societies then founded, the University, with full knowledge of the tremendous good growing out of such discussion, has jealously fostered this form of intellectual activity, with the result that Vance, Aycock, McIver, Alderman, Joyner, and hundreds of other North Carolinians trained in the halls of these Societies, have gone out into the State to think rightly concerning its many problems and to mould and touch its life at its very heart.

Fully alive to the vital importance of arousing intelligent interest in the questions affecting modern life, the University has in more recent years, through its graduates, its instructors, and its library, attempted to extend public discussion throughout the State at large, especially in the secondary schools. Graduates have organized literary societies in the schools in which they have taught, professors in the University have answered communications received from the societies organized, and the library has loaned reference material from its shelves to aid in the preparation of debates. A still more significant step in this direction was taken in 1912-1913 when, under the leadership of the Societies, the High School Debating Union was established, and more than one hundred schools were brought together to participate in a State-wide debating contest. Again this year, the lines of organization have been further extended so that the Union's membership has been doubled and the value of debating to pupils and communities alike has been sharply called to the minds of the people of North Carolina.

PURPOSE

Wendell Phillips once said "Agitation is education. Agitation is marshalling the conscience of a nation to mould its laws." The stimulation of agitation in this sense, stimulation of public discussion, either through school debating societies or civic clubs, whereby the youth and adults of North Carolina may be brought to see North Carolina problems in their true light, is the purpose of this manual. In the case of the schools it is intended that the handbook shall be used in promoting discussions that shall be more or less formal. In the case of civic clubs of any nature whatsoever, it is intended that it shall be used to suggest informal discussion of problems which affect the every day life of the community in which the club exists. Discussion of this sort will prove fully as effective as formal debate in arousing interest and serving the ends of ultimate truth. It should be remembered

that it is not the primary object of debate to train pupils in parliamentary procedure and oratorical speech-making, valuable as these may be, but rather to cultivate in both the youth and the adult the development of real civic opinion by means of a sincere search for truth.

SCHOOLS AND CIVIC CLUBS

While the handbook is primarily intended as a guide for use by the schools of the State and for those especially which have membership in the High School Debating Union, it is also intended for every society or organization in the State which may wish to discuss public questions intelligently and thereby promote the public good. Its arrangement, content, and suggested methods of work, with slight modifications, are suited to the needs of Farmers' Union Locals, Women's Clubs, and other similar organizations, and the University hopes that it may be used in this wider sphere.

CONTENTS

The handbook is divided into six sections. The first discusses the importance of debate; the second suggests methods of preparation for public discussion; the third contains a number of queries with briefs, outlines, and references; the fourth gives a further list of queries for which no briefs, outlines, references, etc., are furnished, but for which limited reference material may be borrowed from the University Library or complete package libraries from the North Carolina Library Commission; the fifth division contains a list of debate handbooks and aids more extended than this one and gives sources from which additional information may be secured; the sixth presents a model constitution, by-laws, and rules of order. These models, to be used in organizing new societies or conducting previously organized societies. are based in the main on the constitutions, etc., of the Dialectic and Philanthrouic Societies of the University.

While this handbook is necessarily limited in scope, it is hoped that it may meet many of the actual needs of the State. In its preparation the editor has been assisted by Prof. N. W. Walker, State Inspector of High Schools for North Carolina; Prof. G. M. McKie, Associate Professor of Public Speaking in the University, who prepared the article on "Preparation and Argumentation;" and Mr. E. R. Rankin, Secretary of the High School Debating Union of North Carolina, author of the model "Constitution and By-Laws." The editor is also greatly indebted to Messrs. Clarence H. Poe, R. F. Beasley, W. H. Swift, J. S. Holmes, F. P. Graham, E. J. Justice, Professors C. L. Coon, W. H. Hand, E. C. Branson, Drs. J. H. Pratt, W. S. Rankin, P. W. Covington, Rev. G. W. Lay, Mrs. T. W. Lingle, Miss H. M. Berry, and others for the suggestion of subjects relating directly to North Carolina life. LOUIS R. WILSON.

The Importance of Discussion and Debate

HIGH SCHOOL LITERARY SOCIETIES

Every high school in North Carolina should have a literary society. Such a society trains its members in effective public speaking; makes them at ease before an audience; familiarizes them with correct parliamentary procedure; teaches them to think rightly; gives those who are pupils an opportunity to apply the history, English, and other subjects which they study daily; causes them to read outside of their assigned school work; leads to independent, interesting investigation; arouses school spirit; and adds tremendously to the social life of the community. If the society centers its work on the problems of the community of which it is a part, it sets the whole population to thinking, and out of that springs a higher and happier daily life.

ESSENTIALS IN ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURE

No fixed rules can be laid down for the conduct of every society, but certain fundamental principles must be observed.

1. The society should have the constant, sympathetic interest and supervision of the teachers. Its direction should not be left to a teacher who reluctantly assumes the work as an added burden. A principal can well afford to give his best teacher one period less a day in order to make a success, not a farce, of a voluntary society of twenty boys. The wise direction of a society is a far more difficult task than class-room teaching. It is also richer in opportunities. Take such a matter as the choice of questions and the wording of propositions. It is of the utmost importance that the proposition be worded carefully. Nothing kills initial interest in discussion so easily as the choice of trivial, worthless, or inappropriate subjects. This is but one essential of good debating for which the society advisor must assume responsibility.

2. Separate societies should be formed for the boys and girls unless the number of pupils is too small to justify them. Joint meetings of the boys' and girls' societies might be held two or three times a year, but not oftener.

3. Meetings for the boys should be held preferably at night. Local conditions may make this inadvisable. Occasional opportunities should be given for the repetition of the best debates, declamations, literary exercises, and reports before the whole school. Inter-society and interscholastic debates will necessarily be held less frequently, and the participants will be chosen with great care and thoroughly trained. The public should always be invited in the case of these special meetings.

4. The society should have a comparatively short season, divided into two periods of eight to twelve meetings each, the first beginning after the fall term has been well started and the second ending sufficiently early so as not to interfere with the closing examinations and commencement exercises. This will insure interest and snap. An intersociety commencement debate can be held if desirable after the regular work of the society has closed.

5. Programs should be planned carefully by the teacher advisor and the society committee, and the programs should be posted for meetings several weeks in advance. An effort should be made to have each member take part in a definite number of meetings a year. For example, each member should participate in two debates, two informal discussions, write an essay, and give a declamation in each half year. Whatever the program, it should be well thought out and carried through in strict parliamentary order.

6. The query debated should be carefully selected. Let it relate, in so far as it can, to the life of the community and the State. One of the chief objects of the local society is to train the members to study and investigate vital questions with a view to local improvement. Discuss bond issues for good roads, whole-time public health officers, the salary versus fee system of paying county officers, etc., instead of such questions as the retention of the Philippine Islands.

7. Investigations for material should be made first from facts and things common to the every day life of the members. Let each debater observe and study local forces, conditions, and tendencies. Then let him turn to the school or public library or to the material sent out by the University Library, the North Carolina Library Commission, or other loaning agencies, in order to extend his observation and check up his conclusions in the light of wider information. If need be, members of the society can well afford to subscribe for several magazines which treat the subjects under discussion and can have their friends in the community make clippings on the subjects from the daily newspapers. 8. In presenting arguments for and against a proposition, let the members of the opposing sides divide the question in such a way that the second and third speakers follow in regular logical sequence after the first speaker. Let each member make a definite contribution to the argument. Let the team work be consistent and cumulative.

9. The final essential is downright, persistent, hard work. Every member should put forth his best effort. Development comes in no other way and every member should strive after the fullest development possible.

CIVIC CLUBS

Public discussion in North Carolina during the past decade has undergone a most desirable change. Emphasis hitherto placed largely on things political and national, is being placed on questions affecting

the every day life of North Carolina. To make this change even more far-reaching, every North Carolina community should resolve itself into a community club and devote itself seriously to the quiet, persistent study of its economic, social, educational, and religious problems.

The plan of organization and the method of procedure in such clubs should be simpler than that of the school societies. Their object should be open, frank, earnest discussion. The building up of a strong constructive community spirit and community interest should be a second object. Out of such discussions characterized by such a spirit, will inevitably come the solution of problems upon which the welfare of the community absolutely depends.

If a place of meeting is the only obstacle in the way of the formation of such a club, the local school house can well be used for this purpose. It ought to be widely used and made the real social center of the community.

For guidance in the formation of such clubs, this handbook, with slight modifications, may be used. For material for use in such discussions, the Bureau of Extension of the University, the North Carolina Library Commission, and State offices can be called upon. The State press, especially The Progressive Farmer and The State Journal, will also be found of inestimable value in furnishing weekly discussions of the topics which it will be desirable to make the subject of these meetings.