Answers to those questions and more are discussed each weekday evening at the Saratoga High School campus when the school's speech and debate team meets to practice and prepare for tournaments.

This is a busy time of the year for the school's debaters. In the next month and a half, teams will travel out-of-state to invitational tournaments in Austin, Texas, and Chicago. Then there are the local tournaments at UC-Berkeley and Stanford University where old rivalries are stoked and new ones created.

This year, more than 50 students have registered for the speech and debate club. Padma Chari, president of the club, attributes the growing number to a rising interest in the outside world.

"I have never seen so many interested students before," she said. Chari said that debating prepares the students to face life's challenges. Also, no one denies that being on the school team looks very good on a college application.

Nikhil Kaul, a sophomore, is new to the world of debating. He is keen to improve his speaking skills. "If I can speak well, I will be able to influence a lot of people," he said.

As a way of preparing himself for the rigors of a high school team, Nikhil took part in a weeklong camp at Stanford University this summer. "I gained a new perspective. I learned different ways of speaking," he said.

Arvind Chari said that he was a little nervous when he started some years ago. "But I began to enjoy it very soon," Arvind said. "Now, I can speak confidently and convey facts quickly." He said that debate and speech competitions are not so much about rivalries between schools. "It is more about individuals. You build up your own rivalries when you go to a lot of tournaments," Arvind said.

The speech and debate club calls for a generous commitment from parents, too. Any student who signs up will have to bring a parent along to judge competitions.

That's how Chari, Arvind's mother, got involved several years ago. This year, she became the club's president. "The kids look so good dressed in their suits when they go to a debate or speech tournament," she said. "They sit and have lunch together with students from other schools. It is wonderful because they learn to accept other people's ideas." Chari said that once high school debaters move on to college, they can always make an extra buck by judging high school debate competitions.

She has been so taken with the organization this year that she spends nearly 15 to 20 hours every week trying to streamline operations. "There is a lot of emailing involved. Once we have everything in place, I won't have to spend so much time," she said. "We worked hard to put together a speech and debate handbook this year."

Andrew Sucin, a senior and captain of one of the teams, said that debating is a little like an argument with friends. "But with a debate, there is someone around to tell you who won," he said.

According to Andrew, it is very important to keep a cool head during a competition. "I love picking holes in arguments. I love to interpret a topic given to me and get creative," Andrew said.

Michael Huang, a freshman who has just moved to Saratoga High from Redwood Middle School, wants to follow in Andrew's footsteps.

"I want to overcome my fear of public speaking," he said.

In Saratoga's speech and debate club he will have plenty of chances to do just that.