J. Whately was a debating champion at school and a debating champion at university, and maintains — as his standing first-affirmative case, open to challenge at any podium, on any topic, at any time — that he is the best debater in the world. In the finest traditions of the activity, the claim has been vigorously asserted and never successfully rebutted. The adjudication, he notes, speaks for itself.
These days he mostly coaches. The Debating Program came out of coaching a real squad, where the students were never the problem. The adult at the front of the room is usually a busy teacher who has never debated and has no time to invent a curriculum — and that teacher needs to know what PEEL actually sounds like said aloud, how a rebuttal lands in four steps, and what the adjudicator is scoring when the scoresheet says Matter, Manner, Method. Eighteen weekly sessions later, a room of volunteers can prepare an unseen topic in a closed room and walk out with a case.
So he wrote it down — all of it, in order, timed to the minute, with every script, drill, worked example and photocopiable handout included. The result is a book you can hand to a teacher who has never debated, and know their squad will walk into competition day ready.
J. Whately is a pen name, borrowed with due respect from a great rhetorician. The arguments, however, are entirely original — and, in the author’s submission, entirely correct.
“A debate is won in the preparation room and confirmed at the podium. The Program is about both rooms.” — J. Whately