Public Forum debate presents students with a new topic every 1 or 2 months, on topics as diverse as taxation, education, nuclear weapons policy, and organic farming. Public Forum is typically practiced by middle- and high-school students, although there’s some limited participation at the elementary and collegiate levels.

Students compete in teams of two against other teams in their club, district, state, country or beyond. The activity is the most rigorous humanities-focused academic pursuit, combining research, writing, academic reading, public speaking, persuasion, and a deep level of logic and critical thinking. While debate is intense, it can also be intensely rewarding and, scientifically speaking, often results in incredible academic changes in students.

Debate is especially helpful for disadvantaged students—in other words, if your school isn’t that great, debate can make up for a lot of the difference in academic outcome compared to the schools.

This course is a 10-chapter primer on Public Forum debate, the most popular style in the United States. Each chapter has a short intro lecture, followed by reading to familiarize yourself with the skill, then a multiple-choice quiz and several worksheets to help solidify your skills.

The ten chapters address ten of the most crucial skills to winning rounds in public forum debate competitions: the PF style, understanding resolutions, finding and working with evidence, making cases, weighing (or comparing arguments), flow (or note-taking), followed by a dedicated section to each speech.

If you have an interest in Public Forum—and especially if you have a school or district where you can compete—this course will be an invaluable place to start.