Demonstrating Exceptionalism

This paper investigates the impact of school resources and school peer effects on the likelihood of debaters reaching the final rounds of the Washington State debate tournament. Debate is an example of an elite extracurricular activity in which there is the opportunity to demonstrate exceptionalism. Evidence of exceptionalism provides an advantage in admissions to elite colleges and universities, attendance at which significantly increases the likelihood of entering or remaining at the top of the U.S. income distribution. Although some research has investigated the impact of extracurriculars on adult outcomes, almost no research has examined the impact of school resources on the ability of students to excel in extracurricular activities. To test the hypothesis that school resources and school peer effects provide a statistically significant impact on the probability of making it to elimination rounds of a state debate tournament, students’ 2024 competition records and Washington State tournament results from the Tabroom database were combined with their schools’ per-pupil expenditures and percentage of students meeting English Language Arts standards. Logistic regression, commonly used to understand the impact of independent variables on the probability of a binary event, was used to analyze this data. The analysis suggests that school resources and school peer effects do not have a statistically significant positive impact on the likelihood of debaters making it to state tournament final rounds. The research outcome is surprising given the evidence that affluent families have been increasing spending on extracurriculars. Additional analysis with more comprehensive data may offer clarification.