Games and truths: Learning to construct social problems in high school debate

Although social constructionists have taken the process by which people lea rn to present social problems for granted, these skills are acquired in the course of socialization. Through high school debate, adolescents acquire t echniques for making arguments, using evidence, and presenting claims to mu ltiple audiences. In the process, they learn that taking a public position does not necessarily require a deeply held commitment. This model resonates with the institutional structure of politics and law in the United States in which adversaries battle each other in a rule-governed "game" a contest ultimately evaluated by judges assumed to be impartial. To understand the p rocess by which adolescents gain the skills to construct social problems, I conducted an ethnographic study of debate teams at two high schools. The a bility to take both sides of an argument, express ideas with which one does not personally agree, and present powerful, if questionable, evidence, con strained by time, teaches teenagers how to engage in social problem discour se and provides a training ground for moral entrepreneurs.