I still want debaters to make arguments. To me this means a claim supported by evidence and reasoning. What constitutes evidence and reasoning should be debatable. I would prefer if the debaters engaged-in determining what is and is not acceptable in terms of evidence and reasoning in rebuttals. I also tend to view debates through a competitive lens rather than an educational one.
Games have rules.
Appeals to rules can be an argument so long as the rule is fair for both teams. I donUt have a list of rules for the debate, the ideas I have in mind are flexible and subject to change if a good argument is made. I do not mean to say that the activity does not have an educational purpose. Quite the contrary, I believe that debate is perhaps one of the most educational activities around. However, education over the topic issues occurs between tournaments.