Nossal News 2024

Debating News

Deakin Law High School Debate Competition

On the 26 June, select students were offered the opportunity to represent Nossal High School in the annual Deakin Law School Debate at Deakin University.

 

Approximately 70 students from 16 schools attended the competition, which was hosted in collaboration with the Debaters’ Association of Victoria. Students were required to demonstrate and debate very high-quality arguments for matters of legal theory, such as the preposition that animal laws should extend to farmed and domesticated animals.

 

Two teams of students from Nossal High School were created: Team 1 consisted of Year 12 students Ria K, Sai K, Hritik J, Max R and Jashan. S, and Team two consisted of Year 11 students Ananya. S, Muhammadah. K, Sarah. I and Peter. G.

 

The competition included three rounds, with an additional round to ultimately determine the winner of the Law Debate competition. The topics presented were:

  1. That we should raise the criminal age of responsibility in Victoria.
  2. That animal welfare laws should offer the same protections to farmed animals and domestic pets.
  3. That judges should consider algorithms that predict rates of re-offending (e.g., COMPAS) when sentencing offenders.

 

While Team 1 had much success, including defeating some of the higher ranked private school teams, they ultimately fell short, coming so close to claiming victory. Moreover, while Team 2 unfortunately lost their first and third debate, they showed great skills and were awarded victors of their round 2 debate. 

 

Ultimately, the topics proved to be very interesting and required creative thinking to prepare for, making each debate both a joy and a challenge for us all. However, it was the challenge that added to the fun of participating in such an event and provided us with an opportunity to refine our debating skills. During the day, we therefore witnessed many brilliant speakers and astounding logic behind their speeches. It was also very fun and served as an excellent learning experience.

 

By Jashan Suran and Zhen (Peter) Ge.