I always viewed this kind of debates as potentially harmful though. If you award brownie points for &quot;debate quality&quot;, as opposed to &quot;getting it right&quot;, you may end up promoting <i>eristic</i> over rationality.<p>But maybe British universities get it right. I don&#x27;t know, I haven&#x27;t had the experience. We had debates in my secondary school, and I remember that the best way to win those was to be the cleverest bullshitter in the room.