Introduction MAKE YOUR BED Finish your HOMEWORK PUT DOWN that screen You’ve probably heard these orders before And you’re a kid What choice do you have How could you possibly convince your mom that she’s wrong about early bedtimes Or tell your dad to stop serving salad with dinner Well you’ve opened the right book The Best Way to Get Your Way is about debate skills A debate is a formal way of having an argument It can be used in all sorts of situations In court lawyers appear in front of a judge and debate whether there’s enough evidence to prove that someone’s committed a crime We watch online or on TV as politicians stand at microphones and debate about the best ways to lead the country In schools and universities debate teams meet to argue against teams from other schools School debate clubs tackle issues from whether phones should be allowed in classrooms to whether waffles are better than pancakes One team takes the affirmative or yes side and the other team takes the negative or no side Then the battle begins In the debate between waffles and pancakes French toast is the clear winner SILAS MARIA LILY AMIR BRENDAN
The Kitchen Court Formal debates don’t usually happen around the kitchen table until now After reading these chapters you’ll know all the pros and cons of cleanliness screen time veggie servings early bedtimes and homework You’ll be able to choose your side use solid research to support your case and state your views clearly You’ll even be able to handle any tricky counter arguments your family members throw your way The goal of this book isn’t to convince you or your parents that broccoli servings should be gobbled up or that homework should be banned forever Most debate questions don’t have clear right or wrong answers You’ll have to check out the research read the pros and cons and then choose for yourself You may decide that screen-time limits are reasonable Or you might argue that you should get unlimited coding practice on weekends Either way you’ll have the facts the critical thinking skills and the debate know-how needed to defend your position Get ready to gain some persuasion superpowers The Debaters Meet our star debaters These 10 students signed up for the school’s debate club eager to tackle big issues and controversies They’re fierce competitors who never back away from a word-wrestling match Each will try to win your support in the upcoming chapters so read their arguments carefully and decide who battles best RILEY IZZY BENJIRO HAILEY BECCA
CHAPTER 1 Get Your Way about Chores A formal debate always starts with a resolution That’s a fancy word for a statement about a topic Here’s the topic we’ll be discussing in the next few pages Kids should clean their rooms Silas will argue that tidiness is terrific Maria disagrees She says that sometimes mess is magnificent Who will make the more convincing points Dust off your curiosity and see what you decide Opening Statement Silas The Case for Clean Of course we should keep our rooms tidy The skills we learn while straightening our sheets and organizing our desks can make us more successful in life It’s time to clear away the cobwebs and take a close look at the research behind cleanliness Here’s what the science says Kids who do chores are nice and have tons of friends People in clean rooms make more logical decisions Mess-free is stress-free Clean rooms help keep us calm Don’t let the opposing side clutter your brain with illogical points Instead stay clearly on the side of my clean and organized arguments
Opening Statement Maria The Case for Clutter Making your bed is a waste of time Do you really want to spend precious hours folding your laundry and organizing your pencils Why not embrace a bit of chaos It might take longer to find your socks but you’ll get lots of benefits in return People in messy environments are more creative They’re willing to take risks and they think in more imaginative ways A lot of genius scientists and inventors were famous for their messy desks Girls do way more chores than boys If we all refuse to make our beds we’ll achieve gender equality It’s possible we were born to be geniuses But if we’re forced to clean our rooms and clear away our creativity how will we ever find out Ruling with Research Maria and Silas have outlined their main points Now they need to present evidence Debaters often use examples from history They might also speak about their own personal experiences But the most convincing debate arguments always rely on scientific research Let’s see what evidence Maria and Silas use to argue the messy question of room cleaning
