Though the debate classes at Lexington High School currently count for social studies credits in the Program of Studies, there has been recent student discourse about whether they should instead count for art credits.
Known for developing students’ skills in public speaking and argumentation, Debate is a popular elective taken by many LHS students each year. Upon taking this elective, students have the opportunity to compete in statewide and national tournaments to showcase their critical thinking and persuasion skills. Despite the social and civic aspects of this course, many students who take Debate recognize its creative side and urge for a switch in the LHS curriculum.
“Debate is not just political arguments, like what people would expect it to be. A lot of times, people will read poems, or interpretive speeches. I’ve even seen dances for debates, especially in Policy,” said Marissa Hao, a junior at LHS and a varsity policy debater. “Debate is probably the most creative thing I do.”
Administering Debate as an art course seems likely to benefit students’ scheduling as well. At LHS, art credits are a necessary graduation requirement, and Debate’s year-long four-credit requirement often gets in the way of students’ ability to take obligatory art courses. Additionally, the class runs the risk of interfering with students’ workload balance.
“I really struggle to get my art credits in and I didn’t have studies in any year of high school because I do debate. I feel like that’s just such a burden,” Hao said.
Some students believe that switching Debate to count for art credits would help them even out their credit distributions.
“[The curriculum switch] will help out with the credit load, so people do not overload on history credits,” Neel Hosmani, a sophomore and varsity debater, noted.
Despite the push for counting Debate as an art credit, a potential downside to the change is that students who choose not to take any additional art classes may miss out on studying traditional art forms, such as drawing, painting, or the making of music. Though there are some creative aspects to debate, much of it is also technical and restricts students from spending too much time on artistic pursuits.
“[The creativity of debate] depends on the argument, because for typical policy debates, creativity doesn’t really matter. It’s more about political relevance and who has the most impact,” Hao said.
Overall, the issue of whether Debate qualifies as an art credit will continue to be thoroughly discussed among students and staff at LHS. Exploring all possible outcomes of this decision is essential, as is the importance of keeping in mind the high subjectivity of what can be classified as “art.”
