This credit may be attained though various courses, yet within these classroom façades, speeches are rarely performed in-class, thereby leaving overall orator abilities to be hardly improved upon. Analogously, the Shorewood High School Speech and Debate team, who is most notably without both a class and high school credit recognition, transcends the standards of any speech class through means of rigorous competition. Partakers of this club valiantly sacrifice hours of free time to compile and compose speeches for competitions, all to improve their own speaking skills specifically- persuasion and interpretation. Despite the lack of a tangible regulations and a classroom, the Shorewood High School Speech and Debate team entails a great deal of time commitment, the development of persuasion, and interpretation of speeches, making membership in this team well-beyond worthy of high school credit it deserves.  

It is true, that the absence of a classroom and regulated class times places huge time constraints on the learning process, but Shorewood's Speech and Debate team finds other means to which they will challenge their members. In fact, the most difficult aspect to this club that many have found to be is the high demand for time commitment from students. At the tournaments that the team actively participates in, students battle against teams that meet near six hours a week in school alone. Compared to Shorewood's voluntary weekly half-hour meeting, these schools possess an enormous advantage in preparation time. Hence, as to keep up with their rivals, Shorewoods debaters and orators must take time out of their day to compose, revise, practice, and improve upon their speeches and cases based solely on the critiques of their judges and their own opinion. This process may take hours to finish. For instance, Expository speeches require the construction of elaborate visual aids, while newspaper and magazine research is typically a necessity for Extemporaneous speeches. Still, all this hard work is not in vein, as hours of preparatory time culminate in the weekly tournaments that last from 7:30am to 10:00pm. Here, students not only perform their speeches though, but listen to other speeches in their rounds as well. By listening to other speeches of the same format, new ideas on how to improve their own speech and technique form within the competitors head. Thus, the improvement process begins. Students will observe and apply, not study. Regardless of the lack of concrete teacher instruction and well-defined assignments, the Shorewood Speech and Debate squad acts as an independent study in relation to the speech class. And, when a recent poll of the current senior class advocates that their average six speeches in class barely improved their speaking skills, this team needs to be recognized more than ever. The team may not have strict regulations about the quality of work or how many times they must perform; nevertheless the sheer number of hours of commitment alone of the loyal member well exceeds the work required for one measly half credit.

The power of persuasion has long been associated with the spoken word. From Pericles of Athens and democracy, to George W. Bush and the war on terrorism, the ability to articulate influentially has been proven time and time again as a necessity to succeed in the adult world. Although one may argue that through simple conversation and the ridiculously few speeches at Shorewood, persuasion is easily mastered. Regardless of, this amorphous training still is not enough. In the constant performances at the speech and debate meets, finer details such as the regulation of body and eye movement and proper voice dynamics come under the judge's scrutiny. Students are criticized over and over again on these minute details, and before the competitor could ever dream of winning any recognition at these tournaments the details must be under control. It may seem frivolous to think one shaky leg, or a slight monotone tinge to a voice would be the decisive factor in persuading your audience, but in a competitive atmosphere any sign of nervousness or weakness may end your chances at winning your argument. Word choice as well, remains to be a neglected element of the speech curriculum, and another decisive point of persuasive speech. One-syllable words and phrases such as "in conclusion" and "I think" may be acceptable in the high school courses, but in the speech and debate community they are far beyond trite. Creativity and critical thought to the exact wording of speeches must be employed before the student or any person ever performs. If John F. Kennedy in his landmark speech asked, "C'mon help your country out" instead of the much more poetic, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country", America would most assuredly have reacted differently. Through constant competition and mind-numbing repetition, Shorewood orators and debaters refine and build upon their skills of persuasion beyond all expectations of the high school program.

Day and night for roughly four months, the small band lives and breathes speeches and debates. These students put in more hours than any speech class would ever imagine of assigning. Hours of preparatory and performance time cannot be valued lower than six measly speeches that are performed only once within the safety bounds of a classroom. It simply cannot be. Beyond time obligations, students also learn how to effectively convince their audience, an easy task by name only. To learn this skill, members must understand the psychology of the argument, including anticipating opposing arguments and how to appeal to certain audiences. And the third component to this club, which places this club well beyond the limitations of the offered speech classes, is speech interpretation. Often a neglected element of speech, this aspect to communication is vital to keeping an audience. One may be able to craft their speech intelligently, carefully placing in jokes and other various attention getting devices, yet should the speaker deliver their address in a low, constant pitch with absolutely no variation in volume or speed the audience will still fall asleep. The Shorewood Speech and Debate Team commits to learn to be better speakers. For, if high school credit were their only objective than most veteran members would have left long ago. Members of this rag tag team ask little more than a small classroom to gather in once a week and a singular honors cord at graduation, nothing more. However, this team deserves better. For all their work they at least deserve one half credit, a small gesture to recognize their efforts.