Chapter III: Introduction: I. Definition of terms

1. Contests, ordinary competitions in:

a) Athletics.

b) Debating.

2. Intra-high-school contests (contests within each school).

3. Inter-high-school contests (contests between different high
schools).

II. Restatement of question in light of these definitions. Contests
within each high school should be substituted for contests
between high schools in Northern Illinois.

III. Determination of issues.

1. It is admitted that:

a) Inter and intra contests both exist at present in the
high schools of Northern Illinois.

b) Contest work is a desirable form of training.

c) Not all contests should be abolished.

2. Certain educators have asserted that:

a) The inter form of contests is open to abuses.

b) The intra contests would be more democratic.

c) Intra contests would be practicable.

3. Other educators disagree with these assertions.

4. The issues, then, are:

a) Are the inter contests so widely abused in the high
schools of Northern Illinois as to warrant their abolition?

b) Would the proposed plan be more democratic than the
present system?

c) Would the proposed plan work out in practice?

PROOF

I. Contests between the high schools of Northern
Illinois are not subject to such abuses as will warrant
their abolition, for:

A. If the abuses alleged against athletic contests ever
existed, they are now extinct, for:

1. The alleged danger of injury to players physically
unfit is not an existing danger, for:

(1) It has been made impossible by the rules
of the schools, for:

a) This high school requires a physician's
certificate of fitness before participation
in any athletic contest, for:
(a) Extract from athletic rulings of
school board.

b) Our opponent's high school has a similar
regulation, for:

(a) Extract from school paper of opponents.

c) The X High School has the same ruling.

d) The Y High School has the same requirement.

2. The charge that athletic contests between high
schools make the contestants poor students is
without sound basis, for:

(1) A high standard of scholarship is required of
all inter-high-school athletic contestants, for:

a) Regulations of Illinois Athletic Association.

B. The evils charged against inter-high-school debating
cannot be cured by the proposed scheme, for:

1. They are due, when they exist, not to the form
of contest, but to improper coaching, for:

(1) "Too much training," one of the evils
charged, is an example of this.

(2) Unfair use of evidence, the other evil alleged,
is simply an evil of improper coaching.

II. The proposed plan would not be so democratic as the present
system, for:

A. The present plan gives an opportunity to all students, for:

1. Its class and other intra contests give a chance to the less
proficient pupils.

2. Its inter contests afford an opportunity for the more
proficient pupils.

B. The proposed plan would deprive the more capable pupils of
desirable contests, for:

1. They can find contests strenuous enough to induce development
only by competing with similar students in other schools.

III. The proposed plan would not be practicable, for:

A. It is unsound in theory, for:

1. No pupil has a strong desire to defeat his close friends.

2. There is no desirable method of dividing the students for
competition under the proposed plan, for:

(1) Class division is unsatisfactory, for:

a) The more mature and experienced upper classes win
too easily.

(2) "Group division" is not desirable, for:

a) If the division is large, the domination of the
mature students will give no opportunity to the younger
students.

b) If the division is small, it is likely to develop
into a secret society.

B. Experience opposes the proposed plan, for:

1. College experience is against it, for:

(1) N. University tried this plan without success, for:

a) Quotation from president of N.

2. High-school experience does not indorse it, for:

(1) It is practically untried in high schools.

REFUTATION

I. The argument which the affirmative may advance, that the experience
of Shortridge High School demonstrates the success of this plan, is
without weight, for:

A. It is not applicable to this question, for:

1. The plan at Shortridge is not identical with the proposed
plan, for:

(1) Shortridge has not entirely abolished inter contests, for:

a) _School Review_, October, 1911.

2. Conditions in Shortridge differ from those in the high schools
of Northern Illinois, for:

(1) Faculty of that school has unusual efficiency in coaching,
for:

a) Extract from letter of principal.

(2) Larger number of students, for:

a) Extract from letter of principal.