Debate teaches you things that you can't learn any other way.

In the 5th century BC, a certain Diodotus convinced the Athenian assembly not to execute all the men of the city of Mytilene for attempting to leave the alliance with Athens against Sparta. He responded to his opponent Cleon, who intimidated the speaker and demanded the execution of the Mytileneans: "A good citizen should prove his case not by intimidating his opponent, but in an honest dispute as an equal with an equal."

2,500 years later, debate clubs have become popular among students in Russia, where young people learn to solve problems in fair debates according to set rules. All this is happening against the backdrop of the complete atrophy of the debate culture in the State Duma and public policy. Debates teach things that are impossible to comprehend in any other way: how to competently construct arguments in support of one’s position, respond to the arguments of opponents, and think about the form of presenting facts. In addition, the process of organized debate has at least three more advantages, regardless of who wins it.

First, the disputants learn something new. Even the smartest of us are susceptible to what's called confirmation bias: We unconsciously miss useful information that doesn't agree with our point of view. The other party brings his or her own biases and new information to the argument.

Secondly, debates teach civilized discussion. For example, not to respond to a stream of insults with insults. This reduces the intensity, but allows you to put your opponents in an unfavorable light.

Finally, in the confrontation between the teams of “power” and “opposition,” those who defend the status quo and those who demand change, res publica, “the public cause,” is born. In other words, something is born that determines where we are all heading as a society.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees this benefit. Last week, the NES team took part in debates on pension reform in Russia, organized by the British Embassy according to the rules of the British Parliament - this is how the vast majority of international debate competitions are conducted. The topic was not chosen by the British, but by all future participants in the competition. NES's opponents were a team from another well-known university. However, its management withdrew their team, considering both the topic inappropriate and the participation of the British in the organization provocative. It was replaced by a team from the International Institute of Economics and Finance. The new opponents prepared for the debate for only two days. NES won, but the bitter taste remained.

Debates should not be banned, but actively developed. For example, by introducing such practices in schools. There is no other way to foresee the future than to discuss it, Diodotus said in his speech to the Athenian assembly. Without raising our own Diodotuses, our public political battles – in the media and social networks – will continue to resemble a game of chess with a pigeon. No matter how well you play, the pigeon will knock over the pieces, shit on the board, and walk around it as if it had won.

Author: Vice-Rector of the New Economic School for Strategic Development

Why it's high time we all had a proper argument