RURAL DEBATE INCORPORATED

In general, rural regions in America have very high levels of child poverty, much lower educational funding, and limited opportunities to participate in afterschool activities because of high cost and the widespread geography. These factors compound to make it more difficult to succeed academically in rural settings, resulting in lower educational attainment amongst rural residents and, therefore, lower economic earnings. We want to focus on providing rural schools with extracurricular activities, and debate in particular because debate has been shown to uniquely improve both academic achievements and interpersonal skills. Compared to their non-debater peers, debaters have a 40% higher high school graduation rate, as well as higher standardized testing scores and college readiness.