Incubate Comes to the Classroom
Our future—and the transformative power of debate—lies in classrooms across America.
Incubate Debate has always been about more than our Saturday tournaments. Our future—and the transformative power of debate—lies in classrooms across America. Today, I’m excited to announce Incubate in the Classroom, a no-cost toolkit to help teachers host engaging, in-class debates for students.
Debate is unique and powerful—it accomplishes something tests and essays simply can’t. It challenges students to think quickly, make strong arguments, and thoughtfully engage with opposing viewpoints in real-time.
Last week, we saw our toolkit in action. In Hendry County, a rural school district in Southwest Florida that we’ve partnered with, 1,800 middle and high school students participated in in-class debates: U.S. History students debated the causes of the American Revolution, English students debated whether it’s better to be feared or loved after reading Machiavelli’s The Prince, and World History students debated whether NATO should admit Ukraine as a member. (See video highlights below!)
None of these students had ever formally debated before—and that’s precisely why this work is so important. Typically, students only have the chance to debate if their school has an active debate team—but 97% of high schools don’t, and realistically, most never will.
We love hosting teams and students at our no-cost tournaments—including competitors from 10 states at our National Championship later this month. But our mission is bigger that just tournaments. To bring the power of debate to young Americans, we must bring debate directly to students, meeting them exactly where they are: their classrooms.
Our online toolkit is only stage one in this effort. Soon, we’ll announce dates for a series of live, no-cost webinars, where we’ll offer hands-on support to teachers from all educational settings so they’ll have the skills and confidence to incubate debate in their classrooms.
Here’s what teachers and students are saying about the Incubate Debate partnership with the Hendry County School District:
Aaron Gonzalez, a freshman World History student:
"It was amazing. I never thought I would do something like this, especially since it wasn’t even a topic I knew much about. But I put in the time, I put in the effort, and I really loved the experience.”
Aaron knocked it out of the park. Take a look for yourself—he’s inspiring. A short clip of his debate has already hit 100,000 views online.
Seth Jewett, Hendry County teacher:
"I love the Roundtable format because I am the uncle that throws you in the pool. Hey, do you know how to swim? No? Nice! Good luck! Because that's how people learn."
Michael Swindle, Superintendent of the Hendry County School District:
“…Incubate Debate is a great platform for students to engage in the curriculum..in a platform that allowed them to speak, use their knowledge, use the skills that they learn in everyday life to be able to intelligently talk about topics in a way that brought their emotions and the knowledge to the forefront."
Daniel Foganholi, Florida Board of Education Member.
"Absolutely phenomenal…Students made strong points, listened carefully, and asked sharp questions. It was nothing short of greatness."
I have one favor to ask: please forward this email to a teacher or principal you know and encourage them to explore our toolkit. I’d be grateful, and I think they and their students would be, too.