Travel plan idea blog

Any debaters here? Can debate make for a good travel experience / job?

I had debate on the mind today because I just finished judging the elimination rounds of the YTN-HUFS youth debate championship. YTN is a Korean news channel. HUFS is Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

About a month ago I went to this training thing and took a test to become a certified adjudicator in the World School Debate format. The trainers were from Malaysia. One was a teacher in Korea and the other was a grad student in Korea.

It occurred to me that one way to make a little extra money when you travel is to judge debates. As far as I can tell you get between $150 and $300 per day of judging, but today was my first day so I can't be sure. Also it may be different in other countries. Obviously it's not the kind of job you travel for but if you happen to be heading somewhere as an exchange student or whatever (and you're allowed to work with whatever student visa you get) finding out if there's an active debate scene might be a good idea.

Also, I'm sure students travel for debate but I never did so I wonder if anyone here knows how that works. Do debaters get to experience the places they visit or do schools keep too tight a leash on their debaters to let them see / do anything other than debate?

Also, I'm sure college students get some freedom when they debate. When I took my test, the debate we judged was a quarterfinal in the SE Asian championships. There was a team from India and one from Thailand. I don't know where they were debating but at least one of those teams was traveling...

Posted by James Trotta at July 19, 2010 12:07 AM