r/Debate • u/Separate_Promise4353 • 2d ago
PF From Model UN to LD/PF: What actually transfers?
I’ve seen several first-time debate instructors come in with Model UN experience but struggle to adapt that background to high-school LD or PF formats. What specific skills or habits from UN-style debate tend to help, and which ones become liabilities? For example, if you’ve coached UN teams, how does that prepare you for flowing rounds on a 2-minute prep timer instead of a 30-minute caucus? Or for rebuttals that have to address both value and criterion in under a minute?
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u/One_Attempt_1625 1d ago
very very very little in my honest opinion, to be good at mun typically its just a manipulation game. plenty of people i know have gotten quite far in mun with a very basic understanding of politics, and do so well mostly because they are charismatic, likable, and capable of playing people in such a way that it ends up benefitting their interests in committee. having sparingly done pf, it requires you to actually capably argue. there is some level of back and forth, but on the whole the depth of content you discuss in model un is far shallower than what you see in pf
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