Debate

You join things to find out what you think. A debating society gives you a motion, a side and seven minutes, and you love it. Wednesday afternoon is an argument with rules, and the rules make the argument better.

You are curious, quick and a little competitive. You enjoy a seminar room after hours, the clash of ideas and the moment when someone stands up and makes a point that changes the room. You like reading the other side, because the best way to win an argument is to understand it better than your opponent does. The society gives you a home for that energy, and a group of people who enjoy it as much as you.

You go to the freshers' fair and find the debating stand within ten minutes. The first session is a little terrifying: a room of confident second years, a timer, a motion you have never thought about. You speak anyway, and it goes better than you feared.

By week four you have a partner, a favourite style and a list of motions you want to argue. You start reading the news differently. You compete in your first internal round and lose narrowly, and it hooks you. By the end of term you are travelling to a competition in another city, sleeping on a floor and arguing about economics at midnight. You have never been so tired or so happy.

Sharp, funny, opinionated people who love a good argument and a good pub. The group chat is a link and a rebuttal, then a meme, then a rebuttal to the meme.

Your debating friends are some of the cleverest people you will meet at university. They will challenge you, push you and occasionally drive you mad. They will also be the ones who help you prepare for interviews, read your essays and stay up with you before an exam. You will argue about everything from philosophy to the best chips in town. Some of them will become lifelong friends, and you will still be debating with them at forty.

How to think on your feet. How to build an argument, structure it and deliver it under pressure. How to listen to a point you disagree with and respond to it fairly.

These skills turn up everywhere. Job interviews, presentations, negotiations, difficult conversations, team meetings where you need to change someone's mind. You will learn to speak clearly, to stay calm when challenged and to concede a point gracefully. You will also learn that the strongest argument is often the most honest one. Employers notice debaters, and so do friends and partners. You leave university able to make your case, and to understand everyone else's.

Go to every training session in the first term, even the ones that look dull. The basics of structure and rebuttal make every later debate easier.

Find a partner who is different from you: if you are fast, find someone careful. Volunteer to judge as well as compete, because you learn a lot by watching. Read widely, especially the views you disagree with. Then take the skills outside: join a campaign, run for a committee role, speak at a public event. Debate at its best is not about winning points. It is about thinking clearly, listening well and making the world a little more reasonable.