Newton South High School near Boston supports a close-knit debate team consisting of both boys and girls. This title highlights that debate team with special emphasis on five girls: Gaby, Anika, and Hannah, and co-captains Bella and Hattie. Throughout the program, we follow the Newton team to various meets with captions listing rules and providing definitions for such debate terms as resolution (topic), drop (lose a round), turn (an argument that proves a point), and spreading (speaking fast), among others.
Viewers watch debate members of both genders practicing both at school and home and split screens show snippets of debate meets at various locations including Massachusetts, Kentucky, and California with topics ranging from lifting the embargo on Cuba, ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and capital gains tax. Topics are debated with clarity and wisdom with debaters learning close to their appearance whether they will be debating pro or con on the chosen subject.
Because of entry fees and travel costs when competing out of town, debate can be an expensive extra-curricular activity that takes up a lot of free time for research and preparation. That judging is subjective means that girls often have extra hurdles to cross, including receiving criticism for speaking in high pitch tones or coming across as too forceful, aggressive, or shrill.
The spotlighted teens are high achievers, as evidenced by early acceptance letters from Brown, Harvard, and other ivy league schools. The program needs tighter editing as some of the footage such as the kids watching the 2016 U.S. election results and subsequent State of the Union address are not relevant. But overall, this is an entertaining and informative look at high school debate teams and competitions and could serve as an introduction to help both boys and girls decide if debate is something to pursue in high school.
During the credits, the film features photos and names of well-known women, including Oprah Winfrey, Condoleezza Rice, Toni Morrison, Celeste Ng, Jane Pauley, and Nancy Pelosi, who were on their high school debate teams. Recommended to raise awareness of high school debate and prompt discussions of gender equality.