That's what my policy debate team was like, and which I think is representative of much of the teams around the US. It's definitely a strange dynamic. Kids aren't really given any sort of intro to all these thinkers and they are then thrown into the muck as listed in that quote. I think a big part of it is college debate spreading its influence down into high school.

Can't say it's the healthiest thing, you hear a lot of stories about kids who get their brain fried and later take up hard drugs.

In the other hand there's the non-k teams who all end up as politicians.