As was done for the Catholic Forensic League (CFL) national tournament, Extemp Central provides you with this topic area analysis for the United States extemp portion of next week’s NFL national tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.

In the third of our four-part series, we explore three of the thirteen topic areas at the 2010 NFL National Tournament in United States Extemp.

Topic Area #7:  Education
Topic Area #8:  Energy & the Environment
Topic Area #9:  Health Care Reform

Keep reading to explore these areas in further depth.

Topic Area #7:  Education

This is the first time that I can recall that education does not have the “issues of youth” label beside of it, which is probably for the better.  A major piece of advice that past readers of these topic analysis have read a million times by now, is that all of your judges in some way shape or form will have a stake in the American education system.  You are a part of it as a student, your coaches are parts of it because they teach you and likely teach for a living, and some of the judges you will run into are parents whose children are part of the public or private education system.  Because of this dynamic you cannot go into rounds and merely bash the entire education system.  Yes, you may not like it but you have to portray a balanced approach.  If you were a teacher you would not like a student coming and telling you that what you do on a daily basis is wrong or a waste of time so unless you want a quick exit from the tournament in Kansas City tread carefully in this round.  Before heading to the tournament, I would recommend that extempers visit the Department of Education’s website and print and read any reports on where the United States stands compared to other nations around the globe in subjects like math, science, and reading.  It would also be wise to print off summaries of reports on strategies to improve American education.  Think tanks like the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation have occasional pieces that talk about improving American education and since these are written by respected scholars they are credible pieces of evidence.  In any speech involving education, make sure you discuss the bureaucracy involved.  Most teachers would agree that they are being swallowed by red tape and the bureaucracies that states have to erect to satisfy requirements in No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and other state standards are drying up funds that are meant to be given to teachers in their classrooms.  If you don’t address some of the bureaucratic problems in the education apparatus and place all of the blame with teachers then you are completely off the mark in this round and you are similarly off the mark if you believe that more funding is the easy cure-all for America’s woes.  Finally, be aware of the growing socioeconomic gaps in the American education system.  In the 2008 presidential contest Senator John McCain called education reform “the biggest civil rights issue of the 21st century” and those words were warmly received by the African-American and Latino communities.  Although Brown v. Board of Education began the process of desegregating American schools, some fear that poorer students are being trapped in poor schools and richer students are in better schools that are attracting better teachers.  A “one size fits all” approach to reform in American education would be misguided right now because of different student populations, different levels of community involvement, and different standards in each of the fifty states.  I don’t like a lot of education speeches because extempers think that one solution will solve all of America’s problems and they never reflect on local concerns.  Have local examples in your speeches and address these various concerns in American education if you want to leave this round with a good rank.

Issues you might face in this round include:

  • The use of merit pay for teacher’s
  • If charter schools are better than public schools
  • If American students need to go to school more days
  • If there should be national standards for education instead of state standards
  • What changes should be made to No Child Left Behind
  • How much control states and local communities should have over education
  • If school vouchers are good for minority and low income students
  • How America can improve its math and science scores relative to other nations
  • Texas controversial social studies curriculum and Arizona’s ethnic studies ban (although these might come up in the state and local issues topic area)

Topic Area #8:  Energy & the Environment

I like this topic area this year because it makes sense.  I remember in the past that energy and the environment were placed with the media as a topic area and it was a question of “which of these doesn’t belong?”  If I were to do a quick survey of domestic extempers on what issue they felt they were most likely to see in this topic I imagine that the Gulf oil spill would win by a mile and rightfully so.  However, you are not going to get fifty questions on the Gulf oil spill in this round because first, the topic writers aren’t that stupid or sadistic and second, your judges wouldn’t want to hear ten speeches about the Gulf oil spill in rounds (since the NFL prelims are flighted and judges watch two sections of five speakers in one round).  In fact, since the Gulf oil spill is constantly in the media I might recommend that extempers NOT take a topic on it because it will help you stand out if everyone else chooses to talk about it.  Just like I recommended for the education topic area above, extempers should go to the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) websites and print off summaries of current actions that these agencies are participating in.  You always have to remember the bureaucracy when confronting government policymaking in these areas and there have been criticisms from Republicans in recent years that the EPA is making environmental policy without Congressional approval, notably on carbon emissions which the EPA has classified as a threat to public health.  If you have to talk about alternative energy resources, don’t forget that there is a lot of skepticism about these energy sources.  How much will they cost?  Can they effectively replace fossil fuels?  How will it impact the way that Americans live?  I find that a lot of time extempers gloss over all of these factors and merely discuss the benefits of alternative energy without addressing the economic implications of replacing fossil fuels whether it be in terms of cost, economic growth, or jobs.  Addressing these economic concerns would greatly enhance a speech about alternative energy sources and help you avoid falling into this trap.

Issues you might face in this round include:

  • If wind, solar, nuclear, or biofuels are good alternative energy sources and what America can do to encourage more innovation of alternative energy sources
  • The impact of a cap and trade bill on the U.S. economy
  • If the U.S. Congress will pass a cap and trade bill
  • What role America should play in the international community in dealing with global warming
  • The Gulf oil spill (impact, what should be done to clean it up, how should BP be held liable, etc.)
  • If America should drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
  • If America should ban plastic bags at grocery stores (California is thinking of this)

Topic Area #9:  Health Care Reform

If your file on health care reform is exploding then please sub-divide it before nationals because if you have a file that has 100+ articles in it you will not give a good speech in this round.  I would recommend subdividing it into files that discuss the number of uninsured Americans, the political fallout from reform, the deals that had to be made to make reform work, the economic impact of reform (good), the economic impact of the reform (bad), the cost of reform for the federal government, etc.  Health care reform dominated the political landscape for most of this extemp season and I’m sure there are a great deal of extempers out there that don’t want to talk about it anymore.  Well guess what?  You will have to talk about it in this round but don’t confine yourself to the healthcare legislation that Congress passed.  Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drug costs, doctor’s salaries, the number of health care professionals currently practicing, and innovations in health care technology are all areas of concern in this topic area as well.  Not all of these concerns were addressed by Congress’s legislation and will likely have to be part of a future reform effort.  Since extempers won’t have the time to read the lengthy health care reform bill and don’t have room for it in their files they should get a quick summary of the bill.  If you to go to a think tank to get a summary make sure you note its political leaning and you might want to print off summaries from various think tanks and compare them.  You’d be amazed at some of the crazy interpretations out there about the bill…or maybe not based on the lack of civil political discourse concerning the legislation.  Since there will be constitutional challenges to the legislation by states, this is another reason for you to have a copy of the Constitution with you.  For the constitutional argument, make sure you have a good understanding of the commerce clause and the Supreme Court’s interpretation of it because that will be the ground that the federal government tries to use in arguing that the bill is constitutional.  If extempers can find any medical journals for this topic area that would help them out as well because judges usually perk up when they hear sources they have never heard of before.  Believe me, citing the Psychiatric Times helped me win a round in Salt Lake City in 2004.  As a final word of advice, make sure you bring the impact of the reform effort down to the audience’s level.  Show how health care reform (or the lack thereof in certain areas) will impact regular people and how it will or will not improve their quality of life.  Two or three analogies of this type in a round will help you stand out, especially as the tournament whittles down and everyone is largely equal on delivery.

Issues you may face in this round include:

  • The constitutionality of the health care reform bill
  • How the health care reform bill will impact the number of uninsured in America
  • Reforms to Medicare and Medicaid to make them sustainable
  • How prescription drug prices can be lowered for seniors
  • If America is doing enough to help those with mental health disorders
  • If America should legalize marijuana and other narcotics
  • The cost of the health care bill and how it will impact the U.S. economy
  • If the Republicans will succeed in repealing the health care reform bill if they win the 2010 midterms
  • How the American government can encourage doctors to work in low income communities