Speech and debate

I did a year of speech and debate in high school. I actually preferred it to tennis, but my father had somewhat delusional aspirations for me to become the next Pete Sampras and, well, I’d thought I’d just entertain him at the very least lest he got pissy. Speech and debate at the high school level is an interesting set up. Parents act as judges by listening to the arguments and ultimately deciding who the winner is. Obviously, you can’t judge your own child. In a way, speech and debate is like a mini law school. I think I would’ve went to law school had I been a native English speaker. It’s where the grown ups are.

But even at the high school level, I did sense that the outcome of some of the debates were biased by other factors–such as appearance. Studies have shown consistently that better looking lawyers are perceived to have stronger arguments and to be more just. I think this is largely true of good looking people within society that they are somehow perceived to be more pious, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy situation. The beauty advantage is real.