Shallow

Author: Y. Jiang

Her debating is so…” My mother told me that my debate coach trailed off, furrowing his brows as his gaze roved upwards, attempting to find a suitable word to describe my debating. “Shallow?” My mother suggested. “Yes, shallow.” 

Objectively, this word suggested that I didn’t read enough news articles or lacked political awareness, impacting my knowledge about the world. Yet some complexities unravel as you dive into the word. It suggests a lack of thought or even proper conscience.

I’ve been doing competitive debate for around three years now and honestly say it’s become quite a large part of my life. After all, I don’t know what else I’d be doing outside of regular academic lessons if not debate. Debating is unusual. Stereotypes around debate are often quite outlandish in the sense that most people associate debate with the cross-firing of arguments between teams in jargon and rich British accents, but I think it goes much deeper than that. Ever since the beginning of my debate journey, our coaches have emphasized the importance of knowing about the world. Whether through the news or reading literature, we were told that we wouldn’t be able to obtain success without enriching our young minds with substances of the greater world. I admit, I’m lazy. Never had I ever made an effort to indulge myself in the resources I have access to on the internet, and never have I held importance to knowledge and reading beyond the topics of my most proximate life. 

However, after this comment made by my debate coach, I started to reflect. 

Being shallow as a debater meant I was unable to create cohesive speeches because I had no evidence to back up my arguments. It meant that for topical motions, also known as topics, I was speaking artificially. I sounded unconvincing, almost as if I had gotten my collectivized thoughts from ChatGPT. It meant that more often than not, I was beaten to a pulp by the oratory skills and rhetoric of other knowledgeable debaters. 

It meant that I could not achieve success in debate because unlike subjects like Math or English where you’re given formulas, past papers, and rubrics to follow which guide you to success, a debate is a game of arbitrariness and luck, mastering it is an inherent talent. 

If I couldn’t ensure the vote of judges, it meant I had to ensure that I sounded convincing enough most of the time by using rhetoric and analytical evidence which I didn’t possess. 

I also noticed how so many aspects of the debate are largely applicable to the broader scope of the world and what’s most important to us. For example, it’s emphasized that doing debate or public speaking enhances your oratory abilities. This is praised because it structurally helps you in moments of speaking for example in interviews. It’s also emphasized that debating helps enhance your ability to critically evaluate situations and to think clearly. Yet the more significant aspect that I took away from applications of debate is the fact that reading about certain debate topics makes me generally more informed as an individual about the world around me. 

Perhaps this is something that all adolescents lack; an absence of knowledge about the world around them or the absence of curiosity that will motivate them to become curious about the world. Maybe this is something I fault myself for, I consider myself unintelligent, lazy, and bad at debate which I regarded as the only thing I’d ever truly excel at. 

But at the end of this reflection, I reminded myself about the general rule of thumb when it comes to living life and moving forward. Things will always get better. So what more could I do than try? 

Objectively, not knowing enough about historical context and other global issues alike doesn’t make me a “bad debater.” After all, there are too many other skills involved in debating which is why speeches are often scored out of a few different categories and out of 100 rather than just out of “historical knowledge.” Having more knowledge can make my case sound more convincing, and it can make me sound more intellectually enriching, but it doesn’t necessarily make me have any less value when it comes to being able to effectively deliver a rhetorical/argumentative speech. 

Then what could I do? 

It’s important to utilize your most proximate communities in times of crisis, especially since these communities are presumably the most accessible to you. In this instance, I know for a fact that I have a close network of friends from debate training who are willing to spar with me and practice my delivery. I have a network of coaches who are highly experienced in competitive debating who I could seek advice on sources to read up on, and most importantly, I have a community of willing debate seniors who have years upon years of experience and are more connected to my current experiences in debate. 

Apart from this, the best advice would just be to read more. Force yourself to develop a sense of curiosity for knowing about world issues and to take the initiative to go on news sites daily and read for fifteen minutes. 

Would this take time? Of course, it would.

Would it be difficult? Of course, it would. 

But would the nuances of intellect make you feel substantially better about yourself in more aspects than one? Yes. Unfortunately, yes it would. 

So the next time you’re bored and on your phone scrolling through countless brain rot videos on TikTok, maybe you’d take the initiative to think about the world. Maybe you’d go on the BBC website and look through the current events. Or maybe you’d watch a documentary on the Cultural Revolution of China. 

Experiences like these are important because they make me realize that I want to be anything but shallow. Knowing more about the world could be insightful, but not knowing much doesn’t necessarily mean you are any less capable or intelligent.