Debating

On Tuesday 28th July, Week 2 of this Term, the Year 7/8 Debating Team participated in a Gala Day at West Wyalong High School. This involved four teams from four schools, West Wyalong High School, Temora High School, Ariah Park Central and Ardlethan Central, debating each other to finalise the first three rounds of the Riverina Zone 2 for Year 7/8 Debating competition.

The first round topic to be debated was 'Education: That we should make all school sporting carnivals optional' and Ardlethan had the affirmative side. Caitlin was the first speaker, Laylah and Eva backing up as second and third speakers, and Riley providing insights as fourth speaker.  Whilst the points were short and to the point the arguments were well thought out. The negative team were Ariah Park and proved to be worthy opponents coming away with the win. After a very short break, the students again went into a one hour preparation period to create their  arguments for the second debate where they were debating the negative side to the topic, ‘Sport: That we should ban all sports involving animals’. Once again their arguments were well thought out and quickly delivered. This time the order of speakers was Eva, Riley, Caitlin and Laylah providing the on the spot support. Unfortunately their opponents Temora were awarded the win.

We then had a short break for lunch, before the students started preparation for the third and final debate. The topic was ‘Civics and Citizenship: That we should allow anyone under 18 to vote as long as they pass a test on politics’.  The team kept their order from the previous debate and once again provided some excellent points in support of their negative position, and this time they were able to capably rebut the opposition's arguments. This was a close debate and the Ardlethan team only narrowly missed a win, mainly due to the length of their responses, however they displayed enormous growth since their first debate in both the structure and maturity of their arguments. West Wyalong were awarded the win. 

The final result is still to be determined with Temora, West Wyalong and Ariah Park all tying on 2 wins each. I would like to thank each member of the team for their participation, maturity, willingness to attempt a new and quite unknown event, and excellent behaviour on the day. Three of our team members were Year 6 students, so effectively ‘performing’ above their age and they handled it with a calm determination, whilst capably supported by the Team Captain, Laylah. Teachers from the other schools commented on both their growth in debating technique and their composure throughout a rather hectic day.

~ Mrs Bray