The Value Criterion Academy

The Value Criterion Academy exists to innovate debate – because our training is all online.
Consistent with our mission, VC Academy guarantees the best instruction at the best price.

To be a champion, learn from champions.

What's wrong with traditional debate camps?

We believe it’s simple – Cost, Convenience, and Quality. Foremost, you're asked to pay too much for what you're getting. That's because you'll have lots of expenses not directly related to your debate education, like housing, meals, and airfare, some of which aren't even included in your tuition.

In terms of learning, you may want to be taught by the very best instructors at the camp but can’t be guaranteed you’ll be assigned them. For the topics you are most interested in learning about, say philosophy debate, you'll likely only get piecemeal answers over the course of camp, rather than a distilled and efficient course of study. And finally, you'll likely find that your instructors haven't prepared any actual learning materials, resorting to telling you to just to go write cases that you'll never get any feedback on.

As former debaters and coaches, we've designed this Academy to address these problems and provide nothing less than a high-quality, fast-paced learning experience. If what you care most about is getting better at debate, that is what we care most about too. We think we've figured out how to spread our premier instructors' debate knowledge to the most people. Check out our programs now!

Our Programs

How it works

You'll begin with one of your regular classes with a premier instructor, who will answer your and your peers' questions about an essential topic and tell you what you need to know, all from the comfort of your own home. These'll be group classes so that we can guarantee you will learn from the very best instructor to be teaching the topic. Each class is then followed with homework assignments, designed especially for your course to guide you through the material. You'll receive individualized feedback on each piece of your work. Instructors will be reachable before, during, and after class should you have a question about the material or about your feedback. Finally, if you opt for a drill package, you'll schedule one-on-one sessions throughout the program to practice your new skills with targeted drills. The class is fast-paced but tells you exactly what you need to know – in just a short amount of time, you'll have mastered a new debate skill!

VC Academy Scholarship

Consistent with our mission, we want to make our programs accessible to all students, regardless of financial background. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you are interested in our scholarship program!

Program currently open to students

Strategy Seminar: Philosophy Debate in LD

April 3-7. Class meets daily from 7:00-8:00pm EST.

Strategic command of philosophical framework debate:
Primer on useful philosophies and how to use them to win.

Topics Covered
Function of Philosophical Frameworks in LD
Primer "The Classics": Utilitarianism and Deontology
Framework Refutation Tactics
Framework Weighing and Contention-level Interaction
Primer "Beyond the Basics": Rawls, Scanlon, Gauthier, and others
Case-writing under More Advanced Frameworks

Tuition
$245, includes class webinars, materials and assignments, written assignments feedback, and our popular Philosophy Master Toolbox (50% discount). Or $395 with additional 3 x 40-minute one-on-one drill sessions (flexibly scheduled). Seats limited.

Strategy Seminar: Applied Refutation

April 3-7. Class meets daily from 8:15-9:15pm EST.

Fundamental tools to understand and systematically attack any opposing argument, especially policy-style arguments in LD.

Topics Covered
A Framework for Argument Structures
Link and Impact Attacks
Effective Evidence Comparison
Uniqueness and Advanced Directional Control
Weighing Arguments Core
Persuasion and Style Tactics

Tuition
$195, includes week of class webinars, materials and assignments, and written assignments feedback. Or $345 with additional 3 x 40-minute one-on-one drill sessions (flexibly scheduled).
Seats limited.

Program Enrollment

Questions?
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us!

Please also review our cancellation policy.
Have an idea for a seminar you'd like to see? Let us know!

Our staff are the very best at Lincoln-Douglas debate, and more importantly, the very best at teaching you how to win at it. Because of our online training system, we can afford to bring in the instructors that would be among the top at any camp and guarantee you will work with them.