The style of high school debate should emphasize information processing above all other skills. Debate, as an intellectual educational activity with a basis in scholarship, is not an end in itself but a means to the acquisition and refinement of useful skills that deal with reflective thinking and critical decision making, on both personal and public bases. Information processing, as a skill of debate, refers to a manner of arguing that emphasizes the use of research on a question and to argumentation that stresses analysis and supporting data. It is also decision making based on the primacy of information, along with its interpretation and communication, and on reasoned discourse leading to reflective judgments and critical decision making. As a skill in debate, information processing involves conducting research, drawing upon analysis, and advocating a position based on both of these activities. The paper concludes with a discussion of six ways in which the debate community, especially judges and coaches, can ensure that debate can fulfill its primary function of providing maximum benefit to students. (SRT)