The English-Speaking Union of the United States: Education. Scholarship. Understanding.

Programs

Middle School Debate

Debate medalists and their teachers

Let's change the tenor of critical discourse in our country. Engage your students in critical thinking about current events.

The English-Speaking Union is partnering with Claremont McKenna College's Middle School Public Debate Program to expand middle school debate leagues across the country. The first ESU-sponsored leagues have been launched in New York and New Jersey.

Claremont McKenna's Middle School Public Debate Program (MSPDP) is the world's largest program for classroom and contest debating for middle school students, designed to teach public speaking, critical thinking, listening, and debating. MSPDP works with teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community members to form sustainable debating leagues and classroom oral literacy initiatives.