One of the most important educational objectives of high school is to teach critical-thinking skills, and no class does this better than strategic debate. Professor Mike Allen, lead author in a definitive study on debate and critical thinking, lauded debate's promotion of critical-thinking skills. Additionally, researcher Joe Bellon discusses the well-documented correlation between academic achievement and debate participation. In this article, the author describes what happens in the debate classroom and tournament competitions to create such an intense learning laboratory for students and discusses the importance of high school debate.