My notion of high school debating turned out to be totally wrong, as I discovered when I visited Scarsdale High School. Their debate team, among the best in the nation, was preparing for last weekend's Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky. With seven students qualified to compete, they had more qualifiers in Lincoln Douglas, one form of debate, than any other school in the country.

My concept of what debating entails comes from institutions such as the Cambridge Union Society, not that I've studied them that...