Debating

Report from Round 2 of the Victorian schools debating competition

Last week our Year 10 debating team (C grade) were in action at Ivanhoe Girls Grammar,  arguing that volunteering should be made compulsory in all schools. It was a fascinating debate but one we ultimately lost because our opponents, the negative team, successfully argued that volunteering is not volunteering if it is compulsory. There was some excellent matter, method and manner from all speakers. Thinking back, it may have been more effective to focus on cultural change instead of debating the negatives that result from forcing people to do things they don’t want to do. Maybe we could have switched the debate to focus on how we value young people and how we need to encourage business and employers to foster an interest in young people in order to build a more caring and empathetic society. 

The other debate I saw was a Year 9 team (D grade), on banning uranium. We were the affirmative side. The other team, to their credit, weren’t phased when we argued that we should ban uranium but we are not against nuclear power. Hence the alternative of thorium was introduced. The adjudicator said this was a creative and innovative solution to a problem in a debate he has heard many times before. Well done team. And they were praised for not going off topic, mostly keeping the focus on uranium. 

Meanwhile our A grade team (Year 12) were off somewhere else debating the rise of A.I.. We were arguing that we regret this rise! 

Just a reminder these are the remaining dates for the DAV competition in 2023.

Round three: Thursday 25/5; Round four: Thursday 22/6; Round five: Thursday 20/7

In September Northcote will be hosting a night of play-off debates before the finals start.

There are four rounds in the finals series:  Octo-finals (last 16 teams left in the state (per grade), Quarter-finals (last 8 teams left in the state (per grade), Semi-finals (last 4 teams left in the state (per grade), and the State finals (last 2 teams still standing (per grade).

In news outside the Debaters Association of Victoria competition,  we have our Year 7 debating program running in terms 1 and 2 and a Year 6 public speaking competition in term 4.  The Plain English Speaking Program is being held on 27 May and State constitutional convention at parliament house next week on 9 May.

~Martin Ramsay and Grant Tucker