Are you familiar with high school forensics?

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GandalfTheGrey46@reddit

Yeah it’s pretty common. Great preparation for the business world.

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sfdsquid@reddit

For whatever reason they call it Debate Club where I am in the US.

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Current_Poster@reddit

I remember it, but didn't take part in it.

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wieldymouse@reddit

We may have had something similar for English and I just don't remember it, but it would not have been called forensics. What I do remember is participating in something similar for foreign language.

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somearcanereference@reddit

NFL double ruby awardee checking in!

(Uh... That means I did a whole lot of speech and debate in high school long ago, before NFL was renamed Speech and Debate, and that I have a sticker to show for it.)

I had a blast. I got to write and talk about the stuff I wanted to write and talk about, and everyone had to pay attention to me while I was talking. I collected a lot of shiny plastic trophies that are now buried somewhere in my storage unit.

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CronosWorks@reddit

That’s funny because I feel like HOSA had an actual “forensics” competition.

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SnapHackelPop@reddit

Ahhhh my old stomping grounds. Holy shit, I haven't heard or thought of the word farrago in a lonnnng time lol. I did it, easy for a theatre dork. Our coach was king of group interp so we'd place all the time. Another school's coach was nuts. They *had* to be in a suit, girls and boys. I heard if you didn't show up to the bus Saturday morning in a suit, you didn't go. And they didn't hang with other schools at the meets, fraternize. Their group interp pieces were always so damn serious. Our goal was to get one of them to laugh or at least smirk. My junior year we did a Dave Barry "men vs. women" piece that in hindsight was very juvenile but funny. A joke or two that wouldn't fly today, and fair enough. Senior year we did some George Carlin, euphemisms. To this day if I see "gourmet" on packaging I'll laugh.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

Lmao the suit squad was one of the Madison teams right? I remember the suit squad

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SnapHackelPop@reddit

Do they still have competitive state and non competitive state? For whatever reason we'd do non competitive, probably so we could go to UW. Competitive was at Ripon. I think they'd (Appleton East) go to Ripon

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figgypudding531@reddit

Ah, I also remember Appleton East forensics and their suits

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

Also tbh not surprised that there were multiple suit squads. I was in the southeast conference but we'd run into a suit squad at some of the invitationals and I'm like 90% sure it was either Madison Memorial or Madison West. Don't recall ever competing against any fox cities teams

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

We did noncompetitive in Madison; i didn't even realize there was another option haha. And yeah we basically all just viewed it as a free day to terrorize State Street.

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Sooner70@reddit

Ironically, the local high school has a forensics program. As in, stuff that kids who wanna be cops when they grow up would take to learn about DNA, blood spatter, etc.

Forensics as some sort of public speaking thing? Until five minutes ago I didn't know that was a thing.

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YOUTUBEFREEKYOYO@reddit

There's wasn't one in my school. We did have plenty of shop classes, including ones on maintaining farm equipment.

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literacyisamistake@reddit

National Forensics League is now called National Speech & Debate. Not as popular as it used to be but it’s definitely still out there.

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

It was called speech and debate 70 years ago and still is- just read about a high school environmental debate nearby. Now there is forensic everything from accounting or archeology through zoology. I see that you must be from New Mexico.

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nosidrah@reddit

Sixty years ago it was called forensics at my school.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

"Forensics" as one of Aristotle's three forms of public speech far predates the word's contemporary usage as a shortening of "forensic science." Both allude to judgment/judicion: forensic speech explains or justifies a decision or concept in the public realm, and forensic science uses scientific techniques to assist in the judicial system.

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literacyisamistake@reddit

When I did National Forensics League in the 80s and 90s, I was in Colorado. I don’t know how they called it in New Mexico.

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An8thOfFeanor@reddit

Calling it forensics makes it sound like some after-school CSI club

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masoleumofhope@reddit

Right?! I was immediately jealous. Would've loved to take a forensics class in HS

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jigokubi@reddit

All I can picture is a bunch of teenagers going over a murder scene.

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Traditional-Goose-60@reddit

Had it in Mississippi 30 years ago....i was in it. Extemporanrois speaking, memorized prose, and the one where you give the news based on topics you just received. Those were the 3 events I did.

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dobster1029@reddit

I did this! People were so confused when I said I did forensics. They told me I was using the wrong word, but it was literally the club. I did *Casey At the Bat" as a dramatic reading. I still have it memorized.

"The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day...."

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OnionBagels@reddit

I definitely see the confusion because my high school had a forensics class.

Like a legitimate college level course that was offered as an elective. It was actually a lot of fun.

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Fluid_Anywhere_7015@reddit

Lincoln-Douglas style debate was a Forensics category in the 80’s. It was a separate and distinct form of debate different from Policy debating.

I did both styles of debate, and several IE programs in Forensics including Extemporaneous Speaking, Informative, and Persuasive. I did a few Dramatic Interp readings, but debating and Extemp were my main events.

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smileysarah267@reddit

This was lumped in as “speech & debate” for us

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Appollo64@reddit

Same, on my high school team, you had to do at least one speech/forensics event and one debate event.

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EatLard@reddit

Same. We all rode the same bus to the nerd competitions.

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TheVentiLebowski@reddit

the nerd competitions.

Like the grammar rodeo?

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CaptainPunisher@reddit

I'm a fucking mathlete of the highest caliber.

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byebybuy@reddit

The limit does not exist!

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TheVentiLebowski@reddit

Try to be a little more discrete

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No-Effort5109@reddit

Yes- I was in National Forensics League in high school in Florida. I did extemp. Fantastic preparation for both public speaking and having an awareness of current events, politics, etc.

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NeverFailBetaMale@reddit

I am very familiar with forensics and both my kids went to state this year. But also I'm in Wisconsin lol.

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ZookeepergameOk1833@reddit

Huge in Texas. They stopped using forensics more than 10 years ago because if the confusion. NFL!

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Traveling-Techie@reddit

I competed in forensics in high school in the ‘60s.

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fowmart@reddit

I did this, but Mock Trial was where it was at!

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

No but as a segue to a story I don't get to tell very often.

I started college in 2001 just as CSI had just finished it's first season, became a huge hit, and completely redefined the police procedural.

Freshman year I took a 1 credit elective called Crime Scene Investigation taught for the first time by a local sheriff. It felt like the whole campus was taking the class held in what was the biggest lecture hall I was in during my 4 years at UB. On the very first day the sheriff asked for a show of hands of who is taking the course because of the television show and virtually every hand went up including mine. He then told us that CSI is fiction, his job is nothing like the TV show, and the class would be nothing like the TV show.

Half the students had dropped by the second class. More than half the remaining students had dropped by the third class and we were moved into a smaller room. I have no idea what happened for the fourth class because I had dropped it at that point.

I even felt bad for the sheriff too. He seemed perfectly nice.

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

Good segue- good story

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Deolater@reddit

NFL had debate too, right? I guess it never occurred to me that debate wasn't properly part of forensics.

Anyway I was homeschooled, but took part in a parallel homeschool (and private school, I think) league. I did TP debate, extemp, and impromptu. Lots of fun, and while it didn't cure my fear of public speaking, it sure helped.

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

The NFL had a very physical way of debating???

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HoldOnHelden@reddit

Man, that sounds so cool.

I went to a tiny high school run by Opus Dei. We didn’t really have electives.

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BooksBootsBikesBeer@reddit

I think my school had a debate team?

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huazzy@reddit

Flashbacks to me passionately debating about "Youth in Asia" before the moderator had to interrupt me and ask if I know what the term means. That day I learned about Euthanasia

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

Redditors could reinterpret the world- wish I knew how to get the White House to use this app - take that back

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BooksBootsBikesBeer@reddit

I bet you've never forgotten what it means since then!

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huazzy@reddit

The whole concept was mind blowing to me at the time.

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Comedeorologist@reddit

Yeah. Sort of like Knowledge Bowl or Quiz Bowl. IB or AP.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

We had quiz bowl too; Forensics was very different

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Comedeorologist@reddit

Agreed.

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madmoore95@reddit

Homie we barely even have regular sports programs in WV

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Initial_Fill_2655@reddit

When I was in high school girls were not allowed to be in official competitions against other schools.

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annang@reddit

Most places have this, but refer to it by different names. If you refer to it as Public Speaking or Debate, a lot more people will know what you’re talking about.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

The thing is that it was categorically not debate. There was one category of ~15 that somewhat resembled what happened at debate clubs, but debate was its own thing. High school forensics (as i had it) seemed to be much more extensive than how most people have described their speech clubs when I've asked.

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annang@reddit

I’m saying that a lot of places, the two are combined, so if you want people to know what you’re referring to, those are terms more people are familiar with.

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poisonedkiwi@reddit

We didn't have a forensics team, but we did have a debate team. But I also went to a smaller school with less than 100 students in my graduating class, so we didn't have much to choose from in the first place.

Of course I've heard of forensic teams though, there are people out there who've never heard of it?! That's crazy to me. I thought it was a pretty common club.

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DrGlennWellnessMD@reddit

I've only ever heard the term "forensics" to refer to science or other methods applied to the investigation/solving of crime. Like, forensic accounting looking into white collar crime, that sort of thing.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

It's generally a big deal at WI high schools but seems much less common elsewhere, at least in this exact form. Like our team had ~50 members and multiple entries in every category, and that was normal for the area. The tournaments would all have hundreds and hundreds of entries.

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lolabythebay@reddit

My school was a forensics powerhouse, but almost entirely on the dramatic/interpretive side. I knew all those theater kids because a lot of them were also in show choir, and they recruited me, a known science and public policy nerd, for the more academic events.

I did like two meets in some event I can't remember where I had to bring research on a topic and be prepared to compose and give a speech in response to a specific question. Looking at the MIFA website, it might have been Extemporaneous?

I didn't like it so I stopped.

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lezzerlee@reddit

I was in Forensics 2001-2004 in Colorado. Forensics speech and debate included debate formats like “congressional debate,” and “extemporaneous debate” as well as acting categories. It was separate from Model U.N. and general theatre.

We had to explain it wasn’t crime science back then too.

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_pamelab@reddit

This was just part of debate team at my school in the 90s.

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Khpatton@reddit

Interesting. My wife did something like that (I think they just called it speech team or something?) growing up in Chicago. There was nothing like it at my high school in metro Atlanta.

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Temu-Tyson@reddit

Public forum and policy debater here!!!! So much fun

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LadySilvie@reddit

I was in it. My teacher and boyfriend peer pressured me into it since there weren't enough participants and I was a good speaker haha.

The class was Speech and Debate but the competition was Forensics.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

And fingers crossed that these were two different people? :)

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LadySilvie@reddit

Lol. Yes. Different people!

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Frenchitwist@reddit

Never heard of it being called Forensics. And I’m teens of debate, we had a very ramshackle team at my school. As a person who likes to argue for sort, I thought about joining. Then I went to a meeting and realized I couldn’t raise my voice to my opponents, so I fucked out of there in disappointment

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Shot-Artichoke-4106@reddit

So, like Toastmasters, but for high school? I have heard of debate clubs in high school, but never this.

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reaper2161@reddit

We had our “Lit Comp” or literary competition that did rhetorical essays, impromptu debate, and monologue contests in North Georgia

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Oldy_VonMoldy@reddit

First I’ve heard of it. Marylander here

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Bulky-Equivalent-438@reddit

SC here, never ever heard of this

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relikter@reddit

Upstate SC (class of '98) and my school had a competitive Forensics team.

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Bulky-Equivalent-438@reddit

I was born in 98. Maybe it’s phasing out?

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MyFellowMerkins@reddit

Upstate as well. Tried to start one my senior year, but it never got off the ground. '96

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RepresentativeAir149@reddit

No, I am not

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FlyByPC@reddit

Are you familiar with high school forensics?

Not really. Wasn't into weed or alcohol or anything, back then. /s

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ljb2x@reddit

Class of '08 and we had a speech and debate class, but no traveling/competing team and I've never heard of speaking competitions and definitely would not associate forensics to speaking.

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LoooongFurb@reddit

Yep - we had a speech team and a debate team at my school and we participated in forensics competitions.

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DGlen@reddit

We call it something else now. My kid was in it last year. I can't remember what the name was maybe just "speech." I never did it myself when I was younger but a lot of kids in our school did.

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mwcdem@reddit

Yes, my high school had (and still has) a forensics team!

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Mandiferous@reddit

Gree up in MN and was on the speech team from 7th-12th grade! I loved it! Even won a few times!

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spencer_hood@reddit

We had forensic science as an elective. Graduated in '11

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Ecstatic-Pride7131@reddit

I was just thinking about this the other day and wondering the same thing! (I also went to school in Wisconsin and participated in the forensics competition)

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booksandcheesedip@reddit

Our school called this IE (individual events) but it’s pretty much what you are describing.

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goblue2354@reddit

My wife coaches middle school forensics and judges at tournaments and both of my daughters compete in it

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ThimbleBluff@reddit

It’s been called “Forensics” in Wisconsin for at least 50 years. (Source: former president of a WI high school forensics team.)

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jub-jub-bird@reddit

Speech and debate clubs and competitions are very common. Calling it forensics has just fallen out of favor and more and more so as people now associate the term with forensic science and crime scene analysis rather than the original meaning of public speaking and debate (Where "forensic science" comes from: The science of gathering evidence to be used as the factual basis of the actual "forensics" of courtroom debate)

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Kaurifish@reddit

Back when I was younger, a guy who bragged about being in forensics was a guy to get away from as quickly as possible before he bored you to death.

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Electrical_Stage_610@reddit

Yes, but I competed in the 90s - I think my best categories were Dramatic Interp and poetry.

My high school had a very sharp divide, though, between the drama related categories and the debate categories. The students very rarely mixed.

God, those away tournaments were fun times, haha

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Practical_Celery_878@reddit

Had forensics in HS, graduated in 1980, small Kansas high school.

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effie-sue@reddit

I don’t recall this being an option in my district (Class of ‘93), nor do I remember college classmates mentioning it. We definitely had debate.

It sounds interesting, though!

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stratusmonkey@reddit

It's just called Speech in Illinois. Speech, Debate and Dramatics are separate, state-sanctioned interscholastic competitions.

If you did Speech, you would have heard it called forensics in some corners. But if you didn't, you wouldn't.

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Suppafly@reddit

they either assume it was forensic science like CSI

My kids' school has a class for that, but I don't think they do any competitions.

What you're describing though, I think, just falls under the overall 'speech' or 'debate' umbrella, although the kids that actually participate might know that's technically called forensics.

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GladChef1206@reddit

I was in the NFL in high school. Got my sapphire pin before I left. I competed in Cross-ex, LD, and occasionally congress but damn is congress boring. I should say this was back in '98. Best I ever did was 6th in State, we missed Nationals by 8 points.

Good times were had by all!

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AggressiveWin42@reddit

Alaskan millennial and I competed in it in elementary and middle school but it wasn’t something offered at the high school level while I was in school. I went back and coached elementary school kids in it though for a couple years which was a blast.

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McFlyyouBojo@reddit

I remember it. Didnt do it as I was too bummed that they didnt set up crime scene scenarios

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Western-Finding-368@reddit

Next door in Minnesota we just called it “Speech.” I was on the speech team. Made it to state one year!

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Ludwigthemadking@reddit

I did Lincoln Douglas Debate, Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Humorous Duet, and Humorous Monologue. Speech and Debate (Forensics) was so much fun!

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Bremerlo@reddit

We called is speech and debate and yes, I participated!! I even went to state 😂

I did independent public speaking. I had to memorize and perform someone else’s speech. I think I had 3-5 minutes. It also helped me conquer my public speaking fear and I actually volunteer to give PowerPoint presentations at work just to try and feel the high again lmfao

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_fenwoods@reddit

I would have LOVED this as a teenager, but my school didn’t have it.

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animepuppyluvr@reddit

I actually did have a csi type forensics class in high school where we looked at angles of "blood" splatters and DNA matching and such lol

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davidm2232@reddit

I've never heard of it.

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donner_dinner_party@reddit

My kids graduated in Maryland and Massachusetts and they don’t have this. I graduated in California and we didn’t have it.

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LizinDC@reddit

When I was in high school in California a million years ago (well 50)we had a very active speech and debate club. It was huge all over California at the time

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UntidyVenus@reddit

My school had horse judging, I was a horse judge lol

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

Oddly enough, Forensics had a fair bit of crossover with 4-H at my school because it was done in the winter when there wasn't as much farm stuff happening

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Temporary-Win4307@reddit

Gen X Wisconsin. I did forensics in middle school. Ours was mostly dramatic and comedic performances. Skits and soliloquies.

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ScarletPumpkinTickle@reddit

I grew up in Ohio and I never heard of this. We had a quiz team (which I was on) and I knew other schools had debate teams in the area but never heard of forensics in this context

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queenchubkins@reddit

I competed in Forensics in Michigan. I competed in Poetry.

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newhappyrainbow@reddit

I took 3rd in State for Drama the year I competed. That was over 35 years ago!

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witx@reddit

I also went to school in WI. Way back in the 70s/80s. I was heavily involved in forensics grades 7-12. It was so fun!

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Decent-Plum-26@reddit

A ton of the coaches near us were sexual groomers of children. Extremely sad. I wish I’d never participated.

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EclipseoftheHart@reddit

We called it “Speech” at my school, but I would know what is meant by “forensics” as a former speech kid.

Had I not done speech I would have assumed it was forensic science based.

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Ravenna178@reddit

Never heard of it

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SamCanyon@reddit

Yes! I was on the team.

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Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

One of my friends went to a suburban school with lots of options. She did this and she was a great public speaker. My nephews do something similar today but I don't know if they call it forensics.

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Dangerous_Arachnid99@reddit

We had a forensics team in my school way, way back in time. Being far from the top of my class, all I knew about it was that we had some trophies displayed in our library and it had to do with talking (I assumed debate since I didn't know about the kind the OP mentioned. Thanks for the enlightenment, by the way.) I never heard about any meetings or competitions or any of my fellow classmates mentioning being a part of it. It may have been discontinued by the time I started school there, I suppose.

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sootfire@reddit

I did forensics but I generally assume people won't know what it means. I don't see it as regional so much as a semi-niche activity.

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eurydice_aboveground@reddit

Oh yeah my school had a class as well as a club.

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tbodillia@reddit

Nope, not familiar with that definition of forensics.

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OakandInkGames@reddit

Yes, I competed in high school. To avoid the inevitable confusion with crime, I started referring to it as "competitive drama."

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mama_works_hard@reddit

I'm familiar and always got the same response.

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FormerAd952@reddit

I didn't know if them until my daughter started in them in college.

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grinchfeet22@reddit

I kicked butt in Forensics. Also in Wisconsin. And they’d have a dj in the gym for all the kids in between rounds. Best part.

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DoublePostedBroski@reddit

Never heard of this.

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ScorpioPhantasma@reddit

Yes, I didn't do it, but my school had it. Great Lakes reguon, turn of the Millennium.

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AlrightyAlready@reddit

We had that in my junior high school in Missouri.

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IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit

I think it's called Speech and Debate now (it is at my kids' school.) But I'm GenX, and so is my husband. He competed in forensics, and it was offered at my school.

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KingSlareXIV@reddit

In Iowa back in the day it was primarily team debate, Lincoln-Douglas, model UN, and...some mock parliament thing the name of which I forget.. I did some of all of those thru highschool, and did some highschool debate judging while in college too.

I don't remember any speech-specific categories at the competitions off hand tho.

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lemonprincess23@reddit

It’s actually funny you mention the CSI thing because I did actually take a class in high school that literally was about crime scene investigations. Extremely interesting actually, learned a lot

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Efficient-Panic3506@reddit

yeah we had something like that but it was usually called “speech” or “speech & debate” where i’m from. not everyone did debate though, a lot of ppl just did interp or prepared speeches like you’re describing. definitely more of a niche activity compared to sports but the kids who did it were really into it

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WarrenMulaney@reddit

Of course.

California. Graduated in the 80s.

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manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit

I knew forensics was a type of public speaking activity, but I didn't know all the specific categories.

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Sufficient_Cod1948@reddit

I'm familiar with all of those things, but not with them being called Forensics.

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goblin_hipster@reddit

Yes, but, I'm also from Wisconsin and graduated in 2011 lol. My high school was pretty well-known for forensics IIRC.

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its_saraax@reddit

"Going to compete against our fellow nerds" is the most accurate description of forensics tournaments ever written and I say this as a former fellow nerd.

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quietly_annoying@reddit

I was on my University's Forensics and Debate team, but I didn't use the term before the University level. I went to high school in Minnesota where it was just called "speech team."

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RemotePossibility399@reddit

My high school has both a debate and a forensics team. No one explained to me what forensics was other than describing it as "competitive speech making," and once I figured it out, I was really sad that I didn't take part.

CSB: I was a judge at a high school forensics tournament when I was a senior in college (a fraternity brother's sister was looking for judges for her high school), and I was even more regretful. The kids were great and knowledgeable and all the things "these kids today" aren't supposed to be. Just a marvelous experience, and I wished I'd taken part in it.

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oswin13@reddit

I feel like calling it foresnsics was a Wisconsin thing, along with solo- ensemble . No one know what that is either!

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river-running@reddit

We had it when I was in high school (class of 2007).

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flannely@reddit

I took forensic science in hs because I didn’t want to take chemistry. I avoided chemistry all through college as well lol.

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ashleyjane88@reddit

If my school had something like that I probably would have participated. I remember in bio we did forensic Fridays and I was so excited but I was in a class that couldn't be handled. We couldn't even have chairs or desks because fights would randomly break out and be thrown.

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Sarollas@reddit

I was involved with the debate side of it at both the high school and college level.

I still judge occasionally for bid tournaments.

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Zama202@reddit

My workplace is the site of three large annual forensics tournaments annually. I often have to explain to people what it is.

Had never heard this use of the word before I took my current job. I would think that rhetoricians would adopt more widely understood terminology.

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PrimaryHighlight5617@reddit

I was not expecting speech and debate to be called forensics. I was thinking like, forensic science labs where people are taking each other's blood and testing it or something.

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Perdendosi@reddit

Iowa has its own speech association/competition, separated into large group (one act play, choral reading, readers theater, TV newscasting, mime, ensemble acting and more) and individual events (poetry and prose interpretation, extemporaneous speaking, expository address, acting, and more).

Format is a little different-- students compete at a district competition and if they get a I (superior) rating move into "state" (but really a super regional) competition, where they're rated by 3 judges. Then a limited number of those participants can be nominated by the panel to perform at an "all state" festival. There's no competition there-- it's just a performance with experts critiquing. Except that, in large group, one team takes home the banner for "best in state" in each event.

I always thought all other states had forensics, but the Iowa system seemed more comprehensive and more fun. Maybe it's not as widespread.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

Ah very interesting. Sounds overall similar but less emphasis on the competition (probably for the best but I do think the competition part probably helped our retention). In WI each of the three regular rounds had one adult judge and you'd be scored out of 25 points from 5 categories with generally very helpful critiques. Top scorers would move into the final round where there would be 3 judges in the room. Final category rankings were awarded by individual/group, but I believe they also ranked schools by total and per-entry points. We'd have about 6 or 7 of these at various schools throughout the conference and then the top scorers would go on to the state tournament in Madison. That one had noncompetitive individual/group medals (eg 25=gold, 24=silver, 22-23=bronze) but the schools got rankings.

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Mad-Hettie@reddit

I remember it being called Forensics when I was in school, but my daughter's school had speech and debate.

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TokyoDrifblim@reddit

We had speech and debate, and I was on the team. All the things you listed were included in the tournaments we went to. I don't think I ever heard it called forensics

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jamiesugah@reddit

Speech league!! Yes, I did speech league all four years of high school (central PA) in the Poetry category. The best I ever did was 3rd at States.

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woodsred@reddit (OP)

"Speech league" probably would have been a better name for ours. But at least a third of the entries were poetry and "farrago" so i think they wanted a more general label

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jamiesugah@reddit

We officially competed in the National Forensics League, it's just none of us on the team ever called it forensics.

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False-Cookie3379@reddit

Class of 03 in Oklahoma, I was in the National Forensics League. My son in high school is in the National Speech and Debate something. It’s the same thing but they changed the name, I’m not sure why? I did go to nationals my junior year. I didn’t make any life long friends, but I did have a lot of fun and found my “people” in high school

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Gorgonzola2756@reddit

Oh yeah. I won a couple high school forensic tournies back in my day in the DI category (dramatic interpretation) (my day = early aughts, metro Detroit area)

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MetroBS@reddit

I took a forensics class in high school but we didn’t have competitions or anything

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GeneralELucky@reddit

When I moved to NJ - and become a teacher - I needed to ask around, "What do you guys call 'forensics' out here, like debate, extemporaneous speech, etc."

It seems to have regional name differences - Forensics, Speech & Debate (national competition), Speech & Drama.

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wwhsd@reddit

I grew up in the midwest and did forensics. My nephew that still lives in that area and went to high school recently also did it.

In Southern California it wasn’t something that was offered at my kids’ school. When I asked if they had a forensics class or team they thought I was talking about some CSI shit.

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scruffye@reddit

I know I've heard of what you're describing but I don't think we had that at my school, and if I heard someone bring it up in conversation it would take me a second or two for my mind to sort out what they meant.

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holymacaroley@reddit

I think we had debate team and that's it. Now, I don't know. My kid is going into high school at a small school and I don't believe they have this. The larger schools may.

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MoolyMoose_@reddit

I competed on the forensics team in high-school (class of 09). I lived in Northern Virginia at the time.

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dumbbitchdisease@reddit

Yep, in Kansas we did debate in fall and forensics in spring. I sucked at forensics though I was always better at debate.

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Ceorl_Lounge@reddit

Forensics = Debate AND Speech where I grew up. I did policy debate for a couple years and extemp a few times when we had a week off from policy. I learned more from debate, but the girls at Speech tournaments were cuter. To this day (I'm in my 50's) I'm terrified of public speaking, but debate gave me the ability to keep talking after my brain shuts off. Absolute Exposure Therapy for the shy.

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Mr_BillyB@reddit

Yes, but it's going to be called different things in different places. I did debate in high school — not much, but enough to be able to join the National Forensics League. That's now called the National Speech & Debate Association.

In Georgia, the competition is sanctioned by the same high school association that governs high school athletics. Debate is no longer part of Literary, I don't believe, but the competition includes the speaking events you mention, as well as singing and writing events.

People are going to be far more likely to associate "forensics" with forensic science. It's featured in many tv shows, and it's increasingly taught in high school. I'm teaching it now!

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The_Queen_Zsofia@reddit

We had that in high school and were top in the state for a few years! It’s funny, but the teams beat out the jocks for popularity! I did it for a while (extemp and short fiction). I was hoping it would help my fear of public speaking, but alas, it did not. Was fun though!

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PowerfulFunny5@reddit

I first heard of Forensics in college because the school I went to had a good forensics team and it was in the school news.

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stumpybucket@reddit

The small town high school my older brother graduated from had a forensics team, and he was very active on it. We moved while I was in middle school and the new HS had a big theater program. I did competition plays there. I don’t think that school had a forensics team but they did have a debate club.

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SKULLDIVERGURL@reddit

I did forensics. It was really good for us nerdy kids. I got my Letter that way.

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hypo-osmotic@reddit

I was on a speech team in high school so I'm familiar with the term and it sounds like the structure was more or less the same, although our own conference didn't call it that. It was just "speech"

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Rusty-Bridge@reddit

This is what theater was in Middle School. The vast majority of kids who did that in middle school went on to real theater in high school, but a few went the speech and debate route. Although most of the kids who went speech and debate in HS seemed to be kids who were not in theater in middle school.

This was in Houston.

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iSYTOfficialX7@reddit

Yep, my high school it.

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New-Grapefruit1737@reddit

i participated in forensics (speaking) as you described, in PA in the early 90s. never heard forensics used in the scientific sense until years later. my kid’s HS in colorado doesn’t seem to have it.

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Quiet_Cat5270@reddit

Did it for four years in Forensics in Kansas and still help out the team at the school I teach at. Some of my absolute favorite memories are chomping down caffeine pills with mountain dew at 4 AM on a yellow bus. One of those mornings may or may not have ended with me intentionally putting my IDA partner through a desk at the richest school in my area.

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Baymavision@reddit

Didn't have anything like that, or debate, in northern Maine.

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Merkkin@reddit

Yep, was involved for a few years.

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crunchyfoliage@reddit

I was very involved in theater, my high school had a forensics team, and I still didn't know what it was until people talked about it in college. It always felt like some big secret to me lol

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Aggressive_tako@reddit

OMG! I thought it was really cool that my kids school had a forensics club and that one of the teachers must be passionate. Then they hosted a forensics meet. Again, I thought it was just an interesting club that other schools in the area also had, but didn't give it much thought. This makes so much more sense.

We moved to Wisconsin a couple years before my oldest was born. We didn't have this in Florida.

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