Debating for a Living, and the Irony of Not Being Able to Define What That Even Means

I was taught (and now teach) that every discussion must start with a common definition. Allow me to start us off.

If you ask me what I did for a living, I am instantly faced with a choice I have yet to find the right answer to.

I could tell you that I am a debater, and it instantly fills most people’s minds with images of podiums, well-ironed suits, and index cards full of research. This isn’t the full truth, and I have never worn a suit in my 12 years of attending debate tournaments.

I could be more specific and say that I am a teacher, but that would lead to more questions about what school subject debate even is, how one teaches it, and how it might be something sustainable as a career choice.

I could even tell you I argued for a living, but you’d mistake me for a lawyer.

The long answer to this question is to say that I spend my time analyzing different types of discourse, learning ways to communicate these situations through the form of arguments in structured time-bound speeches. I would tell you that debate is nothing more than a gamified version of critical thinking, and that I have dedicated my life to mastering this craft and passing it on to younger generations because it’s a fun way to learn about the world without knowing it’s happening as you play more. In fact, I run a podcast in my country dedicated to democratizing debate skills so that debaters all over the world have better access to education. I even turned it into my own company where I also host online debate tournaments, offer cheap coaching services, and provide learning materials to debaters from different locations. I have taught and debated in different parts of the globe, existing in some strange ecosystem where we understand each other’s lexicon.

This is a mouthful to say as an answer to an icebreaker question during a family gathering though, so I opt for the short version.

‘What do you do now?’

‘I’m a debate coach.’

‘So you tutor kids?’

‘Something like that.’

I say this and see them look relieved. I can’t tell if they’re happy they think they understand my job, or happy because they know their titles are more important.

I leave the conversation and search up better ways to label what I do.

There is some shame in being a debate coach, I suppose. Some of the shame comes from not being able to impart to people that, yes, I’m actually doing fine, and probably earn as much as they do (most times). The other part is from internalizing the irony of spending my days teaching people how to express themselves, all the while being unable to find the most cohesive way to tell anyone what it is that I do.

A “definition” in debate is a way of confining the conversation to facilitate the flow of the entire round. If the definition is too broad, you run the risk of giving yourself the burden of discussing too much. If you make the definition too narrow, you limit the scope of the conversation to the point of missing out on important parts of the discourse.

Topics in debate are given with the expectation that there is much to say on both sides; that the conversation is balanced. Definitions highlight aspects of a topic worth giving focus to, with other words in the topic being assumed as fact.

I spend a lot of my days teaching this lesson as one of the main skills debaters have to master before they can even think of proceeding to more advanced skills.

What does it say about me that I can’t even begin to explain the range of the things that I value as a marker of my identity?

I think it says nothing about me, really. And that’s the problem, isn’t it? I have given myself the burden of explaining who I am like it’s a debate worth having. I attempt to define myself with the expectation of having to defend it.

Maybe the first lesson I should be teaching instead is not how one should define things, but knowing what aspects of a debate are worth giving definition to in the first place. Maybe me being a debater isn’t up for debate. The real debate I’d rather talk about is everything else that comes with the territory, anyway.

If that’s cool, I’d like to begin the round from there.