Round Table Debate Preparation

Directions: Fill out the following elements for your group to use as preparation for your roundtable debate.
EVERYONE in the group is responsible for contributing to the document.
Please have ONE person in the group make a copy and then SHARE the document with the group AND WITH
ME :)
On the day of the debate you WILL be allowed to use your preparation notes

Proposition: Suffering is beneficial because it builds resilience.

Affirmative Plan
1. Presentation of VALUE
Speaker: Isabella
(approx. 2-3 minutes each side)

2. Presentation of CLAIMS and EVIDENCE

Speaker: Ashritha
Speaker: Casey
Speaker: Ohm
(approx 3-4 minutes)

3. Open CROSSFIRE Between Debaters

(approx 3-4 minutes)

4. AUDIENCE QUESTIONS
(approx 3 minutes)

5. FINAL REBUTTAL and VOTING ISSUES

Speaker: Emily
(approx. 2 minute each side)

Negative Plan
1. Presentation of VALUE
Speaker: Isabella
(approx. 2-3 minutes each side)

2. Presentation of CLAIMS and EVIDENCE

Speaker:Ohm
Speaker: Casey
 Speaker: Ashritha
(approx 3-4 minutes)

3. Open CROSSFIRE Between Debaters

(approx 3-4 minutes)

4. AUDIENCE QUESTIONS
(approx 3 minutes)

5. FINAL REBUTTAL and VOTING ISSUES

Speaker: Emily
(approx. 2 minute each side)

Round Table Debate

Constructive Speech Outlines
AFFIRMATIVE
Presentation of VALUE
ATTENTION GRABBER / OPENING QUOTE (and explanation):

“Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by
conflict.” By William Ellerly Channing. Human beings need to suffer in order to learn
and grow. Humans who don’t suffer ultimately never become stronger and don’t gain
strength from what they have been through. Humans gain strength by what they
have gone through and by their experiences and that is why suffering is beneficial.

I AFFIRM the following resolution (statement):

I affirm that suffering is beneficial because it builds resilience.

The VALUE for this debate is: Strength

It is defined as: the quality or state of being physically strong.

This value is the best for this debate because: Explain how your value supports your
side of the proposition. The value strength supports our side because by suffering
humans are able to become stronger and learn from their own and other people’s
mistakes. Suffering allows people to be more resilient, tough, and strong. Strength is
a very important quality to have and one way to get strength is by suffering and
becoming stronger because of what you have gone through.

This value presents the most HARM because: Weakness

By not suffering you become weak. You go through life without experiencing pain
and without pain you cannot grow and change which ultimately makes you weak. No
one wants to be weak and weakness is not a good quality to have, therefore
suffering is beneficial because it prevents weakness and makes you more resilient
and strong.

I will now provide the following DEFINITIONS for important terms in the
resolution(statement) :
According to the dictionary
Beneficial: favorable or advantageous; resulting in good.
Resilient: (of a person or animal) able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult
conditions.

CLAIMS, EVIDENCE, and EXPLANATIONS

Our First CLAIM is:

Suffering builds resilience because you can learn from the experience and become a
better person.

EVIDENCE to support this claim:

According to page 118 of Night, in Elies acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize, he
says, “ And this is why I swore never to be silent…” (pg 118)
EXPLANATION of how the evidence relates to your side:

This evidence built Elie into a better person overall, he gained a voice to speak up
about others who are suffering. He would not have had the stance to bring light to
these people if he had not suffered himself. After the holocaust, he came out a
stronger man, tired of the injustice around the world, resilient to the power of those
who cause suffering.

Our SECOND CLAIM is:

If you experience a large amount of suffering you can easily come out of it stronger
as a person.

EVIDENCE to support this claim:

According to a study done by Steve Taylor on November 4th 2011, he states “They
gained new inner strength and discovered skills and abilities they never knew they
possessed. They became more confident and appreciative of life, particularly of the
"small things" that they used to take for granted.”

EXPLANATION of how the evidence relates to your side: Your explanation MUST
INTENTIONALLY tie your evidence back to how it supports your VALUE and your side
of the resolution.

This quote describes how these people experienced something traumatic, yet found
something positive that came out of it. Not only did they gain inner strength but as a
result of this suffering they became stronger as people. They did suffer in the first
place but they also gained things that are so valuable to have, and wouldn’t have if
they didn’t suffer. Although they had to go through something that caused an
immense amount of suffering, they clearly got through it and they developed a large
amount of perseverance to keep fighting. Suffering has a lot of benefits including
making people stronger.

Our FINAL CLAIM is: Suffering builds resilience because it provides a source of
motivation to achieve goals in life.
EVIDENCE to support this claim: Martin Luther King Jr. 's speech at New York
University on February 10th, 1961 “Human progress is neither automatic nor
inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and
struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

EXPLANATION of how the evidence relates to your side: This quote shows that
suffering is tiresome and can seem endless or hopeless. But progress requires
suffering because that shows dedication and passion. Martin Luter King Jr. and his
people have suffered under the dominance of the whites. The injustice gave them
motivation to fight for their rights and they ended up sacrificing and struggling in the
process of gaining the rights they deserve. Success is defined by struggle and the
more you struggle, the more meaningful the success. In other words, it builds
strength, and in this case the strength is motivation for success.

FINAL REBUTTAL AND VOTING ISSUES

Although your final rebuttal cannot be FULLY planned in advance, some elements of
it can be.
Review your arguments/defend challenges: I affirm that suffering is beneficial because
it builds resilience. Suffering builds resilience because you can learn from the experience
and become a better person. If you experience a large amount of suffering you can
easily come out of it stronger as a person.Suffering builds resilience because it provides
a source of motivation to achieve goals in life.
Discuss flaws in the other side (flaws in evidence, value, explanation, defense, etc):
While you guys give specific examples this is not always true. You only mentioned the
story of 2 people. They also never got help. Millions of people died, did you ask about
their story, or about the victims who did get help?Not all suffering is from genocide.
This is a debate about general suffering, not just suffering from genocide.Their is
many different cases of suffering. While you may not fully heal, you use what you
learned from that to help others. You may suffer with mental illnesses after, but you
can always get help. While it may not happen to you, you can still positively impact
other people and make it easier for other people.
Emphasize your value: Suffering is needed in order to learn and grow. When you suffer,
you learn from right and wrong. Suffering also makes you stronger as a person. The best
way to gain strength is through suffering, because of the resilience and pain someone
has gone through. Through the book “Night”, Elie went through suffering and in the end
became a stronger person, and survived. Say you were getting bullied. While it may be
horrible you will eventually build up resilience and become stronger and speak up. This
will take time but you will have the strength to tell your story. No matter how much
suffering you go through you should always want to keep living and make a positive
impact because there is always something good that will come out of your struggles.
Give us a strong, final statement about why we should vote for YOUR SIDE: Overall,
suffering makes you a stronger person.

Round Table Debate

Constructive Speech
NEGATIVE
Presentation of VALUE
ATTENTION GRABBER / OPENING QUOTE (and explanation):
Some say suffering is beneficial because it teaches you lessons and gives you
strength. But who wants to suffer. There are many ways to become more resilient
without suffering and just because you suffer it doesn’t mean you will become more
resilient because of it.

I NEGATE the following resolution:

I negate that suffering is beneficial because it builds resilience.

The VALUE for this debate is: Pain

It is defined as: physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury.

This value is the best for this debate because: Explain how your value supports your
side of the proposition. Pain supports are claim that suffering is not beneficial
because when you suffer it is very hard and painful. No one wants to suffer and go
through pain. Many people who suffer end up coming out worse and sometimes there
is no going back from that so they don’t even become more resilient in the end.

This value prevents the most HARM because: Strength presents the most harm
because many say that you gain more strength from suffering but that is not always
true. Some people who suffer lose family members or a part of themselves and most
times they can’t come back from that which ultimately doesn’t make them stronger.
Which shows that strength is not always something gained from suffering.

I will now provide the following DEFINITIONS for important terms in the resolution:
According to the dictionary
Beneficial: favorable or advantageous; resulting in good.
Resilient: (of a person or animal) able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult
conditions.

CLAIMS, EVIDENCE, and EXPLANATIONS

Our First CLAIM is: Suffering does not build resilience because it can be unjust.

EVIDENCE to support this claim:

“We received no food. We lived on snow; it took the place of bread. The days
resembled the nights, and the nights left in out should the dregs of their
darkness...We were nothing but frozen bodies. Our eyes closed, we merely waited for
the next stop, to unload our dead.” - page 100 in Night by Elie Wiessel

EXPLANATION of how the evidence relates to your side: This quote from Night
describes a scene where the prisoners were put in cattle carts malnourished,
exhxausted, cold and basically living in the worst conditions for days. Despite Elie’s
(and his father’s) innocense, they were subject to torture in the concentration camps.
This type of suffering was not beneficial because the camps purposely treated the
prisoners inhumanely and it made them into brutal savages and almost emotionless.

Our SECOND CLAIM is:

Suffering can negatively impact a person so much that they become a worse person.

EVIDENCE to support this claim: Remember to clearly CITE your sources out loud
before you present the evidence (Ex “According to pg. __ in Night, Elie… OR
“According to a study done by (publisher/author/source) on (date)...

According to page 91 of Night Elie says, “But then I remembered something else: his
son had seen him losing ground… letting the distance between them become
greater.” “Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what
Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done.” Later on page 112 of Night it says, “I did not weep, and
it pained me that I could not weep… I could have searched the recesses of my feeble
conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!”

EXPLANATION of how the evidence relates to your side: Your explanation MUST
INTENTIONALLY tie your evidence back to how it supports your VALUE and your side
of the resolution.
The beginning quotes describe Rabbi Eliahu searching for his son. Elie realizes that
he had seen his son and understood that his son had left his father. Elie then wishes
that he would never do something as rash and horrible like Rabbi Eliahu’s son did.
The next quotes describe how Elie going through all this suffering changed him as a
person entirely. He prayed he would never be like Rabbi Eliahu’s son and then after
the passing of his father he felt relieved.
Our FINAL CLAIM is:
Suffering causes more harm than good.

EVIDENCE to support this claim:

According to Elie on pg 113 in Night, “I shall not describe my life during that period. It
no longer mattered.”

According to Elie on pg 112 in Night, “...I might have found something like: Free at
last!”

EXPLANATION of how the evidence relates to your side:

In the first quote, we see that Elies suffering from all the hardships of the Holocaust
have caused him to become a shell of his former self, no longer caring about his life.
The second quote on the other hand shows how much harm has come to Elies sense
of relationship with his father, going from a caring Son, to being glad for his fathers
death.

FINAL REBUTTAL AND VOTING ISSUES

Although your final rebuttal cannot be FULLY planned in advance, some elements of
it can be.
Review your arguments/defend challenges: I negate that suffering is beneficial
because it builds resilience. Suffering does not build resilience because it can be unjust.
Suffering can negatively impact a person so much that they become a worse
person.Suffering causes more harm than good.
Discuss flaws in the other side (flaws in evidence, value, explanation, defense, etc):
TBD during debate, we will promptly and actively respond
Emphasize your value: Pain. With suffering comes pain. You cannot experience
happiness when you are feeling pain at the same time.
Give us a strong, final statement about why we should vote for YOUR SIDE: Overall,
suffering is not beneficial and only causes pain.

You may not fully heal, but overall you will come out a better person.