That debating is a waste of time

My opponent has made a few errors in his argument. “The topic that has been chosen is that debating is a waste of time”. These are his opening arguments. 1. Kids loose valuable skills. 2. Debating can escalate into violence. 3. It teaches kids to talk back and argue. 4. People suffer loss of health and social skills. He insists that debating will degrade your mind and your health; it is actually quite ironic that he is debating this topic. Contention 1 “--It cuts into kid's precious learning time making them loose valuable skills. There are also many extra sporting opportunities you could be doing to keep fit” This is a flawed statement, debating is a considered a healthy way to open your mind and fine tune and sharpen your lingual skills. Debating requires you to engage in a battle of knowledge testing your opponent’s statement and arguments. “Making them loose valuable skills” This excerpt is fatally wrong; to be an adept debater or even a debater it requires you to have certain skills such as understanding of the language and punctuation that you are debating in. Having avid knowledge of the topic you wish to debate, or having the ability to understand and internalise facts of the topic. Therefore how does debating cut into kids learning time when debating is a learning tool itself. http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg... Contention 2 Debating is not a gateway for violence and misconduct. Debating can be misconceived as being just an argument; however debating has been described as a form of argument with strict rules and conduct with quite sophisticated arguing techniques. To participate in an actual debate you must uphold politeness and refrain from abusing your opponent. If you are just stabbing at the person you are debating then it is clearly not a debate. The definition of a debate is this, “A formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward”. Putting an emphasis on formal discussion. I will now address the points my opponent has made about this contention. “He has said that it creates loads of arguing everywhere which can easily escalate into physical violence”. If we look at my definition we can see that a debate cannot and will not escalate into physical violence. He has also said that “it teaches kids to talk back and argue”. Again we can see from my previous contention that there are a set of rules of conduct that must be followed when debating, and the putting emphasis on the definition of formal discussion. A debate doesn’t teach kids to talk back and argue, this is a part of a Childs nature and there is ways to deal with that but the root of that cause cannot be linked back to debating. Forms of child back talk. http://www.empoweringparents.com...# Why children back talk http://www.fisher-price.com...; Contention 3 Debating cannot cause health issues. In my opponents last topic he seems to be focused on the biological issues that debating or online debating to be more specific. He states that “online debating, it keeps people glued to the computer instead of being outside with friends keeping healthy”. Let’s use this site for an example, you have the ability to pick your debates or create your own, this site does not force you into debating all the time. If you do participate in a debate there is a time limit of at least 2 days giving you the option to break up the development of your argument. Like many addictions it’s a behavioural problem the person has a problem with being on the computer rather than being stuck on debating. This argument doesn’t meet his topic nor will make his resolution. http://www.indiana.edu... To make another note about this contention “Studies show that people who spend more time on the computer have reduced real life social skills”. Again how does this show that debating is a waste of time, it shows that being on the computer is a waste of time and is a burden on your health. In Closing My opponent has not been able to state why debating is a waste of time. My argument poses many reasons why debating is good not a waste of time. My opponent seems lost in the argument, stating many facts about health rather than the topic at hand.