As coach of an English language debate club open to students from all local universities, I have the pleasure of spending my Friday evenings with some of the brightest young people in Yerevan. In three years, the club, organized by AUA's Department of English Programs, has grown, largely by word of mouth, to include some fifty members from eight different universities. Recently, I asked some of them to reflect on why they had joined the debate club.

Initially, many come for a chance to practice their English. As Andranik Ayvazyan explained, "The most perfect thing is that everything is held in English, which encourages students who are afraid of big audiences to express their minds freely without being ashamed because of their English."

But there are other draws as well. "Members of the debate club are very smart, talented, well-educated, and polite. And it is just very interesting to associate with such people," wrote Olya Yordanyan. "Besides, there is a good atmosphere in this club and people can exchange ideas and thoughts."

"This is the place where different young minds come together and it's always interesting to learn differing ideas on one and the same issue," echoed Arevik Anapiosyan. And Rita Tsaturyan wrote, "It is interesting for me to communicate with people of different tastes, opinions, and thinking."

The students' views on the value of debate are particularly refreshing within the current political climate. "If you want to debate well it is very important to listen to each other, to respect each other's opinions," Olya wrote. "Debate develops your speaking, analytical thinking and critical skills. It teaches you to organize your thoughts and makes you think faster, as well as teaches you to work in groups."

"With the help of debates, I develop the ability of thinking in two ways on the same problem, " Arevik explained. "Secondly, in the club I can freely express my thoughts and give arguments to support them. This trains one's mind in the best way."

Although the debate club has future doctors, writers, and bankers among its members, the largest contingent are students of international relations who view debating as a necessary professional skill. "It is important for me, as a future internationalist, to gain debating experience," wrote Lusine Badalyan. "During the debates it is crucial to have leadership and teamwork skills, public speaking and listening ability, and strong confidence. Learning to control your emotions and to display reasoning techniques also plays a significant role in order to be a good debater and negotiator."

The students also reflected on why debate was particularly important in Armenia. As Arevik explained, " For many years Armenia was just a part of another country (Turkey, Persia, USSR), and didn't have any opportunity to solve its problems itself. Now that we have the opportunity we don't have the experience. I think debates help the young generation, the 'leaders of Future Armenia' exercise their minds and obtain skills for negotiations."

Samvel Teymurazyan drew a connection between debate and democracy. "As Armenia has a very young and unstable democracy, debates are very important in the country, because at the basis of every democratic process there is a debate in which we have to consider an action or situation carefully before we decide what to do, and when there is an opportunity to debate, people not only get to express their opinions but try to prove them right to others. If we have something open for debate, it is not certain or not yet decided, because people have different opinions about it." He concluded, "Practicing debates in almost every aspect of life, in the government, in the parliament and so on, is very important for any democracy, because it just makes the democracy stronger."

The debate club completed its 2 nd annual Parliamentary Debate Tournament on November 18 th . Increasingly confident in their debating skills, club members are now looking into opportunities to participate in regional and international competitions. As Samvel explained, "Participation in an international debate would be a unique chance for Armenian students to have their say in many important issues in the world. We'd be able to express our views and opinions to a wider audience and see an opposite reaction. I believe that improving debating skills and learning the experience foreign students have would definitely make us tougher debaters, which would of course have fine consequences."

Andranik agreed that Armenian students should compete internationally: "Really debates are very important for Armenian students, they learn to debate here in Armenia, but to know their real abilities, their pluses and minuses, they must be compared with young debaters from other countries. They must compete with them," he concluded optimistically, "to prove to everyone that they have done great work and Armenians are the best debaters in the world."

Melissa Brown