The North Dakota High School Activities Association was unwise in its recent decision to ban high school debate over intelligent design in the curriculum.
In my experience, high school administrators are more familiar and knowledgeable about athletic activities than they are about debate and speech. I fault NDHSAA's staff for not using this opportunity to educate school administrators about the objectives of high school debate, as Robert Littlefield described in his editorial on Jan. 1.
High school debaters in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota will be the ones who suffer from this decision, and it will further North Dakota's reputation among the national high school and college debate communities and beyond as being parochial and behind the times.
Ann Burnett, Ph.D.
(former high school and college debater; former director of speech and debate at the University of Nebraska)
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