Re: High School Strength

mrsmiley4 · Fri, 10 Dec 1999 21:35:19 -0800

First of all, let me say that I was recommended
to this site by one Adam Newman, who is a sophomore
at UIUC, so you can blame him at least in part for
what follows.

In any case, I am the team
captain of one of the Illinois high school teams of which
Mr Riley speaks, and I feel like I should contribute
my two cents to this topic-- everybody else is, and
it's probably a good idea for the party in question to
say something about it.

First, in regards to
the relative competitiveness of high school quiz
bowl: Based on what I've seen in competition, a lot of
teams are, in fact, like the "typical" high school team
referred to in the message that started this whole
argument. However, to apply this to all high school teams,
as Mr. Riley said, doesn't work very well. I know
that HS teams seem pretty awful compared to the
college circuit, but we do know more than you think we
do-- most of the competitive teams I've seen
consistently get questions non-Picasso art and non-Beethoven
music (and for that matter, who said that the
literature had to be in English? I personally have been
getting way more Russian lit questions lately than is
healthy). Granted, the part about trash is probably true,
but I think credit is deserved where it is
due.

As for Illinois teams competing on a national
level... well, it could get interesting, anyway. Thanks to
that Illinois regulation which is currently in the
process of being tightened, in addition to
budget/patience constraints on the part of the team, my team has
never played a nationally prominent team outside of
Illinois. Undoubtedly, we would be crushed by a team from
South Carolina or Maryland, but I tend to think that
the other teams at the top of state standings would
fare very well against national competition (For
example, in a recent national computer tournament, the
state's top team placed among the top 5, showing that it
can play with the powerhouses). As it stands now, the
only chance we get to play teams outside of Illinois
is at college tournaments such as the Wildcat
Invitational, and since Illinois is probably the strongest quiz
bowl state in the Midwest, we end up playing the same
teams we usually play, plus a token team from Indiana
or Wisconsin, or maybe as far away as Nebraska if
we're lucky. I tend to agree that such an inter-state
competition would be beneficial; however, if our state
association continues on its present path, it won't happen
anytime soon, which is a pity.

Do I claim to know
what I'm talking about? No. All I can say is that
based on my personal experience in Illinois quiz bowl,
there are teams from Illinois that are probably on par
with any other program in the country. I'm not sure I
can claim mine as one of them, but at least we might
be able to put points on the board.

-Brad
Houston
P.S. I should also note that the "Say you have $50"
question is absolutely a real question from the geniuses
that write questions in Illinois. It's questions like
that which make me appreciate college tournaments.