Author Archives: Nathan Elias

Spreading

Text:

Context:

Informant KS is a 19 year-old USC freshman from San Jose, California. The informant participated in the Speech and Debate program during all four years of high school under the National Speech and Debate Association. The event which this technique is referring to is policy debate, where teams of two students each debate a policy proposal made by one team.

KS: “Spreading is a portmanteau of ‘speed reading.’ It’s a technique developed fairly recently, but it’s very widespread in high school and college policy debate tournaments. Basically, in the first two speeches of the debate, you typically just read off your pre-written evidence. What people found out is, you can read a lot more evidence in your 6 minute speech if you read the evidence at an insane pace, then send out the documents so that people can read the evidence along with you, which they can read a lot faster than they can hear. You read the evidence at rates of 300-400 words per minute. You would slow down for the part you have written yourself, and you would speed up when you have written someone else’s words. A very common habit is people doing incredibly sharp breaths when they’re speed reading. So it’s become a joke that people breathe that way when they’re spreading. The most common reaction for a normal person is ‘How the heck is anyone understanding what’s going on?’ Basically, in college level debate, the judges are all other previous debaters or coaches. So they have all also trained how to understand spreading, and so therefore, only the people within the debate can actually understand the debate. The interesting thing about spreading is that it locks debate to a certain demographic to watch. Historically, debate has been focused on rhetorical abilities and public speaking; however, spreading has indicated a shift away from learning how to speak in public towards learning how to think critically and respond to complicated arguments and many arguments in a short amount of time.”

Analysis:

The National Speech and Debate Association was founded in 1925. Since then, the organization developed its own folklore among its participants, such as their own slang terms and techniques. The term “spreading” and its respective practice is one which reflects the growing competitiveness of academics in the United States, as it subverts the classical values of debating — rhetorical skill and public speaking, according to Keshav — in order to win the most points during the debate. Along with the growing competitiveness of academics and the NSDA is the growing inaccessibility of speech and debate: some schools lack the funding and resources to develop their own speech and debate programs; with increasingly complex and specialized skills such as spreading, the barrier of entry grows higher and higher. Additionally, the proliferation of spreading reflects the growth of a common culture amongst the NSDA. The organization is old enough that former participants return as judges and coaches to pass down the technique of spreading as coaches or adequately understand spreading as judges. The folklore surrounding spreading “spreads” further, into common jokes, such as the tendency for debaters to take sharp breaths during their speeches.

Don’t Step on the “B”

Informant KS is a 19 year-old USC freshman from San Jose, California.

Text:

It is a custom for students of a certain private, Catholic high school to avoid stepping on the logo of the school — a circular emblem with a “B” in the center which is printed on the ground — or risk being beat up by seniors.

Context:

KS attended a private, Catholic high school which was founded over 150 years ago.

KS: “I actually found out about this tradition when I was very young, maybe ten years old. I attended summer camps at the school, and ‘Don’t step on the ‘B” is one of the first things you learn about if you ever come to campus. The basic idea behind it is there’s a logo in the center of campus that has a ‘B.’ It’s a circular logo. And the rumor was that if you stepped on the ‘B’ and there were seniors nearby, they had full license to beat you up, since you disrespected the logo of the school. I’m not exactly sure if people do beat other people up over stepping on the ‘B’ given that I’ve never actually seen it happen. I’ve never seen a student step on the ‘B’ before, I’ve only seen an unsuspecting parent do it before, and nobody really had a reaction in that circumstance. I would say this custom is part of one of the many traditions that we have at the school that gives it a bit of character. I guess it ties into a greater respect for the logo and the institution.”

Analysis:

As an institution dating back over 150 years, the private high school which KS attended has accumulated its own folklore in the form of customs such as avoiding the “B.” Since its founding, the folklore developed among students and the growing alumni network served to develop a common culture and camaraderie surrounding those with the experience of attending the high school, which resulted in KS learning about the custom from a young age. While serving as one shared custom that builds camaraderie, the act of avoiding the “B” also further develops a sense of respect and reverence for an old institution. Older definitions of folklore — such as those utilized by German folklorists Johann Gottfried von Herder and the Brothers Grimm — tend to argue that folklore is a practice shared by the common folk and independent of the elite class, yet this custom operates on both levels — as a shared practice among students, and as a means of maintaining the legitimacy of an old institution.

Knockout

Informant KS is a 19 year-old USC freshman from San Jose, California.

Text:

Knockout is a game in which there is a line of people and players try to knock other players out until there is only one player remaining, the winner. All players line up single file behind the free throw line, and the first two players in the line each receive a basketball. The first person in line will make a shot attempt to initiate the game, and it is the goal of the second person in line to knock the first person out by making a shot before the first person does. The first person must make a shot before the second player in order to remain safe. Upon doing so, the first person passes the ball to the person behind the second player in line, and thus the second player is now in danger of being knocked out. The player who makes a shot moves to the back of the line. The process continues until only two players remain, and in some variations, the line moves further to the three-point line where each player must make a shot. In some variations of the game, after the initial shot by the first player from the three-point line, each player must make two consecutive shots, rather than one, in order to be crowned the winner. A typical technique in knockout is for one player to hit the other player’s ball far away from the net in order to allow themself more time to score a basket. In some variations, if your ball is knocked away far enough, you are automatically eliminated.

Context:

KS: “I’ve played it in a variety of contexts. Generally, when there’s people and basketballs you’ll find people playing it. I’ve played it in middle school, in high school, and at various summer camps. When I played basketball in middle school, we sometimes did that at practice as a fun game to end the practice. It’s very versatile. It’s good at bringing people together. It’s definitely a common thing that people know about, and unlike the actual game of basketball which has very clearly defined rules, knockout can really be what you make of it.”

Analysis:

The game of knockout benefits from its simplicity in that it is a shared practice that unites teenagers and youth from different places. As a relatively simple game, knockout is a simple and effective way to help children stay in shape and have fun during structured and unstructured play time, as KS revealed. The nature of the game is hyper-competitive and fast-paced, as two players quickly attempt to secure their own safety or knock the other person out. For a country with a capitalist, individualist, and competitive culture such as the United States, this game presumably remains popular due to its alignment with cultural values such as individual achievement and ruthless competition. The element of knocking away one’s ball while playing adds on to the practice of ruthless competition, allowing children to rehearse concepts such as competition and individualism in a social setting which will likely remain with them as they transition into competitive academic and professional environments.