Debating News | Round 1
YEAR 7 ISDA DEBATING REPORT
At first, our team was struggling. We were racking our heads for any reason on the topic “That we should require students in Years 7 to 9 to study coding”, we were the negative side of the house. We were struggling with what stance we should take on the topic. Then suddenly it was like someone turned the tap on and the reasons flooded out. By then we were already halfway done with our time. Could we make it in time?
Everyone was writing as fast as possible. Chatter filled the room as everyone was discussing reasons with each other. From the start of the 45 minutes, it was like someone had taken a slab out of it and eaten it. We all tried to encourage each other, whether it was by compliment or insult. All that time, the clock was ticking away, could we make it in time?
The scribbling of the pen slowly slowed down, we all realised with gratitude that we had passed our first test, but what about the next? As the parents came in, we all gave each other a final nod and then put our tough faces on. It was time for the final challenge.
The debate started with the opposition proposing the fact that coding was extremely beneficial for students and was necessary for the requirements of jobs. Our team swiftly responded by weighing out the harm that this argument did by saying how there were still jobs that didn’t require coding. The opposition came back to say how most jobs needed coding and even if some didn’t it will still be beneficial. Our second negative speaker set the path to our victory by bringing lots of different points that were designated to rather bring down the harm or destroy their arguments. The third affirmative closed their team’s case by rebutting most of our points. Finally, the third negative gave his last speech and was swift to point out all the major flaws in the opposition’s case. However, the best argument proposed was the fact that the topic stated that we should require students to learn to code, but the affirmative was unable to meet their burden of proving why it necessarily had to be mandatory. We didn’t exactly know if we were going to win, but we gave it our all. Even if we didn’t win, we were still proud of what we had achieved tonight.
We all waited; the atmosphere was filled with tension as we all hoped for the best possible outcome. Our coach discussed with us some points on which we could have improved, and we gratefully took it in. However, our minds were on something else. After what felt like an eternity, finally, the adjudicator turned his camera on. We immediately turned our attention to the screen.
Our hearts bumped; like all adjudications it had to start out with the congratulations and pieces of general feedback. Finally, the results were announced, we had WON! We went through all the feedback, and we gladly noted down all the helpful feedback that the adjudicator had given. In what was a close and nerve-wracking debating, we had been able to come out victorious. The opposition thanked us for what was a close and very enjoyable debate, and we thanked them for what was also a close and enjoyable debate.
Our team also feels that we need to extend our thanks out to all the parents who gave up their time to encourage and urge us on to victory. We would also like to thank the coaches, the MIC of Debating and all the staff that had made this wonderful debate possible. This debate taught us to never give up and if you try hard, everything will become possible. You can make the impossible the possible.
Qin (7 Yo)
FED 7A DEBATING REPORT
On Friday 18th February, the debut of the Year 7 FED A debating team had a great success as we faced off against Riverview, with Trinity being the negative team. The team consisted of J. Wong (7Du), D. Lin (7Fo) and O. Hannan (7Fo) and we debated online. The topic, “That schools should value schoolwork and co-curricular activities equally” was based on the theme of education.
Trinity’s arguments mainly regarded the importance of schoolwork to the future careers of students, if the time spent on co-curricular activities could be more effectively used to improve schoolwork, as well as problems presented by the supervision of co-curricular activities. The opposition brought up how students could express their talents through co-curricular activities, encourage students to persevere and help students develop job-oriented skills.
Overall, we came out with a good win, but there is still much to improve on. Our coach and adjudicator mentioned that we lacked elaboration for rebuttals and perhaps next time, there should be more communication between the speakers to avoid contradictions that occurred in this debate. Going forward, and facing more challenging opponents, I’m confident that this team has what it takes to do well in the competition if we work hard and follow advice from adjudicators and coaches.
Lin (7Fo)
FED 8A DEBATING REPORT
On the 18th of February, the Year 8 FED A Debating team debated against Riverview on the topic “That news companies should never be owned or funded by the government.” Our challenge was to come up with a strong negative case.
Some positives of the debate included how we rebutted the opposition throughout the entire debate, and our management time in the preparation room even though we were a bit puzzled on how to best argue our side of the debate.
Some areas of improvement to be made included the length of our speeches and engaging better with the opposition to make a more interesting debate.
Thanks to our Coach, Mr Razza, Mr Taplin, and our team comprising of H. Chuchra (8 He), J. Sivapirabu (8Hi) and N. Lake (8WH).
A.Viswanathan (8Ta)
YEAR 9 ISDA DEBATING REPORT
Last Friday the Year 9 ISDA Debating Team (consisting of M. Padmore as first speaker, C. Ciarroni as second, D. Lok as third, and E. Ciarroni as fourth) had a strong victory against Loretto Kirribilli in the first debate of the season. The topic for the night was “That teachers should be paid based on the performance of their students”, with Trinity as the negative side- arguing against the proposed change. Loretto came out of the gate strongly, giving a model where spot checks via an independent body, student surveys, and average grade increases would be used to determine how ‘well’ a teacher was teaching their class. This was swiftly and skilfully countered by the team, with arguments of how impractical this would be, given the cost and current teacher shortage, as well as how the change would discourage teachers to teach less academically able classes due to a reduced chance of pay bonuses from student results putting large doubt toward any potential benefits of this model. All in all, the adjudicator gave the primary issue of the debate- the student outcomes- to Trinity, leading to the eventual win. Let’s hope the team continues their undefeated season!
Padmore, (9Mu)
FED 7A DEBATING REPORT
On Friday 18th February, the debut of the Year 7 FED A debating team had a great success as we faced off against Riverview, with Trinity being the negative team. The team consisted of J. Wong (7Du), D. Lin (7Fo) and O. Hannan (7Fo) and we debated online. The topic, “That schools should value schoolwork and co-curricular activities equally” was based on the theme of education.
Trinity’s arguments mainly regarded the importance of schoolwork to the future careers of students, if the time spent on co-curricular activities could be more effectively used to improve schoolwork, as well as problems presented by the supervision of co-curricular activities. The opposition brought up how students could express their talents through co-curricular activities, encourage students to persevere and help students develop job-oriented skills.
Overall, we came out with a good win, but there is still much to improve on. Our coach and adjudicator mentioned that we lacked elaboration for rebuttals and perhaps next time, there should be more communication between the speakers to avoid contradictions that occurred in this debate. Going forward, and facing more challenging opponents, I’m confident that this team has what it takes to do well in the competition if we work hard and follow advice from adjudicators and coaches.
Lin (7Fo)
FED 8A DEBATING REPORT
On the 18th of February, the Year 8 FED A Debating team debated against Riverview on the topic “That news companies should never be owned or funded by the government.” Our challenge was to come up with a strong negative case.
Some positives of the debate included how we rebutted the opposition throughout the entire debate, and our management time in the preparation room even though we were a bit puzzled on how to best argue our side of the debate.
Some areas of improvement to be made included the length of our speeches and engaging better with the opposition to make a more interesting debate.
Thanks to our Coach, Mr Razza, Mr Taplin, and our team comprising of H. Chuchra (8 He), J. Sivapirabu (8Hi) and N. Lake (8WH).
A.Viswanathan (8Ta)
YEAR 9 ISDA DEBATING REPORT
Last Friday the Year 9 ISDA Debating Team (consisting of M. Padmore as first speaker, C. Ciarroni as second, D. Lok as third, and E. Ciarroni as fourth) had a strong victory against Loretto Kirribilli in the first debate of the season. The topic for the night was “That teachers should be paid based on the performance of their students”, with Trinity as the negative side- arguing against the proposed change. Loretto came out of the gate strongly, giving a model where spot checks via an independent body, student surveys, and average grade increases would be used to determine how ‘well’ a teacher was teaching their class. This was swiftly and skilfully countered by the team, with arguments of how impractical this would be, given the cost and current teacher shortage, as well as how the change would discourage teachers to teach less academically able classes due to a reduced chance of pay bonuses from student results putting large doubt toward any potential benefits of this model. All in all, the adjudicator gave the primary issue of the debate- the student outcomes- to Trinity, leading to the eventual win. Let’s hope the team continues their undefeated season!
Padmore, (9Mu)
