On May 8, Sasha Morel published an editorial in The Alligator arguing the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative isolates Florida's best debaters and does more harm than good. As a speech and debate coach, social studies teacher, father of a competitor and combat veteran, I cannot let those claims go unanswered.
Full disclosure: Gov. Ron DeSantis and I agree on very little. But as someone who defended this nation in uniform, I believe it is our civic duty to acknowledge when a policy works, even when it comes from someone we disagree with.
The most glaring omission in Morel's piece is cost. Competitive speech and debate is expensive. Tournament fees, hotel rooms, transportation and food create financial barriers that prevent countless students from competing. The FCDI provides tournaments free of charge to member schools and charges non-member schools just $10. It also funds regional competitions across the state.
One regional tournament in St. Augustine this past year drew over 400 competitors. To dismiss those students as competing at a lesser level simply because they aren't at a Florida Forensic League tournament overlooks the reality that most of them wouldn’t be competing at all otherwise.
The FCDI also provides new teams a $3,000 annual stipend and returning teams $2,250. This year, that funding reduced our students’ cost for the state championship from $150 to $40 per student. Without it, most of my kids couldn't have attended.
Morel claims the FCDI forces students into only three events. That’s misleading. The three-event requirement applies to only one tournament: the National Civics and Debate Championship. Students choose freely at every other tournament.
Morel also argues FCDI's custom resolutions isolate students from national circuits. In reality, FCDI funding is precisely what allows our team to compete at Florida Blue Key and other open tournaments. Participation in one does not preclude the other; it finances it.
Three years ago, my daughter placed at the NCDC and was invited to "A Day at the Capitol" in Tallahassee with all expenses covered. Students debated live legislation in the House chamber, met the Speaker of the House and sat with a Florida Supreme Court Justice. At the end of the day, students learned they had earned an all-expenses-paid week in Washington, D.C.
My daughter arrived as a shy seventh grader who knew no one. She came back transformed — passionate about the world, committed to debate — and never looked back. I have sent a student on those trips every year since. The impact is always the same.
The FFL is an organization I respect and belong to. But if it wants to grow, it should study the FCDI’s effectiveness at reaching students the traditional circuit never could.
And to Morel: The civics you're so quick to dismiss might serve you well here. Volunteer to judge at an FCDI tournament. See those rooms for yourself before writing about them.
The students in those rooms deserve better than to have their experiences minimized by someone who has never witnessed them.
Randy Dexter is a speech and debate coach and a social studies teacher.
