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Hello everyone!
Thank you very much for attending Tuesday’s class on the motion “This House Would Repatriate Historical Artefacts to their County of Origin”. The quality of the debate was very high and I was delighted to see your preparation shine through in your speeches.
As I mentioned at the end of the class, one of the most important parts of debating is structure: towards the beginning of a speech saying “I have three (or four etc.) points” and then signposting them with “First”, “Secondly”, “Thirdly”, and so on. This is what I would like to see you all work on for next week in your preparation!
Next week’s motion will be:
“This House Would Prohibit Private Ownership of Art Deemed to be Culturally or Historically Significant”
This debate will overlap with some of the themes we talked about this week, especially pieces of art which are important to a specific culture!
Think about for this debate:
(1) Lots of examples of historically and culturally important pieces of art (da Vinci, Turner, van Gogh, Chagall, but also maybe other more controversial and contemporary artists). I want our next debate to be full of examples!
(2) What happens in private ownership? Who sees these pieces? Do they always get put on display?
(3) What happens to the price of art if more people can bid on them?
(4) How important is art to culture?
In terms of preparation you might do:
This is a quite long and serious debate from the World University Debating Championships. Definitely no need to watch at all, but if you’re interested! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ig1lMy2EL8
This is a Guardian article arguing for more public ownership: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/14/art-protection-public-galleries-private-vaults
A related idea: “export bans” https://www.art-critique.com/en/2020/02/why-should-the-art-world-be-concerned-about-the-prevalence-of-export-bans/
A more post-colonial take on the issue: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20150421-who-should-own-indigenous-art
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/feature/lost-art-when-works-disappear-into-private-collections
Best wishes,
James
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Tuesday 05/01/2020
Hello everyone!
A very good debate from everyone on a particularly tricky motion – a big improvement from last week! Lots of very good points and, best of all, plenty of rebuttal and responsiveness.
Next week we will debate the (very relevant) motion: This House Prefers Online Teaching to In Person Teaching! (Imagine this debate is happening outside the context of COVID).
Maybe have a think about:
1. What is better about school in person? Is it good for students to be able to see their friends face-to-face. Does it nurture relationships? If school went entirely online, would there be a way to make friends in other ways?
2. Think about other countries, especially those without strong education-oriented infrastructure.
3. Which is cheaper? Which is better for parents?
4. Which do you personally prefer? Bring in your own personal experiences of online v. in person.
See you next week!
Best wishes,
James
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Hello everyone,
Sorry very much for the delay – it’s been a hectic week here in the UK! You all did very well indeed in the last debate – I loved seeing your improved responsiveness, rebuttal, and especially your signposting skills (I have three points: First, Second, Third).
Next week’s motion will be (as we agreed!): This House Would Ban Alcohol (Girls Prop, Boys Opp)! Feel free to have a look around for any additional resources but lots of content will be here: https://idebate.org/debatabase/health-addiction/house-would-ban-alcohol.
Looking forward to seeing you all next week!
Best wishes,
James
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Session 4 – Tuesday 19/01/21
Hello everyone,
Great debate on Tuesday – congratulations! It is very satisfying to see you guys making such extensive development in your debating skills. The debate on alcohol was excellent – I really enjoy your new rebuttal and signposting skills.
Next week’s topic will be: “This House believes that the media should not report on the private lives of politicians .”
1. Good summary of points on both sides: https://debatewise.org/2513-private-lives-of-public-figures/
2. How should journalism react? https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/politicians-private-lives-535257-Aug2012/
3. More considerable ideas: https://idebate.org/debatabase/digital-freedoms-privacy/house-believes-private-lives-public-figures-should-be-open-press
See you on Tuesday!
Best wishes,
James
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Session 5 – Tuesday 26/01/21
Hello everyone!
Great debate this week – as we discussed, you are all becoming much more confident speaking for longer periods of time, developing your points, and providing rebuttal + summary speeches with less preparation.
Next week’s motion will be:
THW Pay Teachers According to the Improvement of Their Pupils
1. http://www.debatepedia.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Merit_pay_for_teachers
2. https://owlcation.com/academia/Why-Teacher-Pay-for-Performance-Doesnt-Work
Best wishes,
James
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Hello everyone!
Excellent debate this week – it’s quite a tricky topic with a lot of facets but very well prepared by everyone. You are all clearly getting better at speaking for a longer period of time too – we barely had time to do a side-swap last week!
This week’s will be a bit easier:
This House Would Ban Faith Schools
1. I want you to use this as your primary inspiration and points for + against: https://idebate.org/debatabase/education-education-general-government-religion/house-would-ban-faith-schools
2. https://humanism.org.uk/education/education-policy/faith-schools-why-not/
3. https://newint.org/sections/argument/2011/11/01/religious-schooling-debate-on-faith-schools
Looking forward to seeing you all + best wishes,
James
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Lesson 7: 09/02/2021
Hi everyone!
In our next session we will be debating: This House would legalise the sale of human organs.
1. https://debatewise.org/2623-human-organs-sale-of/
2. https://www.npr.org/2008/05/21/90632108/should-we-legalize-the-market-for-human-organs?t=1612710671708
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291132/
Looking forward to seeing you next week – hopefully I will be a bit less ill!
Best wishes,
James
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Lesson 8: 16/02/2021
Very well done this week!
Next week’s motion will be:
THW allow the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport
1. https://idebate.org/debatabase/culture-health-crime-policing-science-sport-olympics/house-would-permit-use-performance
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/sport/debate/for.shtml
3. https://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6150/rapid-responses
Good luck 🙂
James
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Lesson 9: 23/02/2021
Excellent session last week! Very well done to everyone who took part 🙂
Next Week: This House would introduce compulsory national service
1. https://www.theweek.co.uk/94653/should-the-uk-bring-back-national-service
3. https://debatewise.org/123-national-service-should-be-re-introduced/
See you next week!
James
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Changed to:
Motion: This House would only allow those who pass a political awareness test to vote
2. https://aeon.co/ideas/the-right-to-vote-should-be-restricted-to-those-with-knowledge
3. https://reason.com/volokh/2018/05/10/can-we-help-save-democracy-by-requiring/
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Week 10: 1/03/2021
Very well done everyone!
Next week’s motion is: This House Would Ban All Anonymous Posting and Commenting on the Internet
1. https://idebate.org/debatabase/science-censorship-ip-internet-digital-freedoms-privacy/house-would-ban-all-anonymous
2. https://debatenirvana.com/research/topics/all-anonymous-posting-and-commenting-on-the-internet-should-be-banned/
3. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/sep/30/social-media-anonymity-ban-debate-trolls-abuse–jess-phillips-jamie-bartlett
Looking forward to seeing you next week 🙂
James
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Apparently last link doesn’t work, use this instead:
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Week 11: 08/03/2021
Hello everyone!
Next week’s motion: THW Make Education up to and including University Mandatory
2. https://www.debate.org/opinions/should-going-to-university-be-compulsory
3. https://www.econlib.org/archives/2013/10/why_not_compuls.html
Best wishes,
James
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Very well done everyone for last week! This week, in light of all the discussion of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, we will be debating: THW (This House Would) Ban All Medical Drug Patents.
1. https://idebate.org/debatabase/science-censorship-ip-digital-freedoms-intellectual-property/house-would-abolish (This has to do more generally with “Intellectual Property” rights – but all applicable to medical drugs).
2. https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-problem-drug-patents-pose-for-developing-countries-45667
3. https://newint.org/features/2020/06/11/what-if-drug-patents-were-scrapped
4. https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/09/23/should-the-government-impose-drug-price-controls/end-patent-monopolies-on-drugs
Think particularly about who loses most if patents are allowed to exist.
Best wishes,
James
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Week 1: 22/03/2021
Very well done for last week! Next week’s motion will be: THBT Religion Has Done More Harm Than Good.
3. https://www.salon.com/2014/11/17/6_reasons_why_religion_does_more_harm_than_good_partner/
Best wishes and good luck!
James
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Week 2: 29/03/2021
Another excellent week! Particularly good development of rebuttal and an excellent indication that everyone is progressing.
Next week: THW Allow Prisoners to Vote
1. https://debatewise.org/2868-prisoners-right-to-vote/
2. https://felonvoting.procon.org/top-10-pro-con-arguments/
3. https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/duel-should-prisoners-be-able-to-vote
See you next week!
James
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Week 3: 06/03/2021
Very well done this week. Next week: THW Allow Torture of Convicted Criminals for Critical Information.
Please also find someone new for balloon debate!
1. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/08/torture-terrorism-college-class
2. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/in-defense-of-torture_b_8993
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/torture/ethics/wrong_1.shtml
Best wishes,
James
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Week 4 – 13/04/2021
Very well done last week! Next week’s motion will be: This House Would Prefer a World In Which Lying Was Impossible.
1. https://www.thoughtco.com/the-ethics-of-lying-2670509
2. https://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/inline-files/Benjamin-Suen.pdf
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/lying/lying_1.shtml#:~:text=Most%20moral%20philosophers%20would%20say,if%20told%20to%20a%20liar.
Best wishes,
James
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Week 5 – 20/04/2021
Hello everyone!
Another very good week last week. Next week we will do a more International Relations-oriented debate: THW Impose Liberal Democracy (i.e. a multi-party political system with inbuilt protections for human rights) on Other Countries.
2. https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2007/sep/30/featuresreview.review17
Try to think of real-world examples where either democracies themselves have been good/bad for people and examples of when trying to “impose” democracy has gone wrong/well.
Best wishes,
James
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Week 6 – 27/04/2021
Very well done last week! That was definitely the most difficult topic we have debated so far and I thought you handled it very well indeed.
Next week we will do the more relaxed debate: THBT We Should Abolish Nation-wide Examinations.
This effectively means getting rid of country-wide exams which determine what universities you get into etc.
1. https://idebate.org/debatabase/education/house-would-end-national-testing
3. https://dbknews.com/2021/02/05/sat-testing-college-writing-subject-admissions-umd/
Don’t worry about the numbers and details too much; just try to have a think about what kind of students benefit from exams (the rich? the poor? the academically-gifted? the creative?) and who does less well and the relevant comparisons.
For reference, the sort of exam I am talking about is the HKDSEs and IB. In the UK, we do GCSEs (16-year olds) and A-levels.
Best wishes,
James
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Week 7 – 04/05/2021
Another excellent week! Hopefully the week’s topic was a bit more relevant to your lives and a little easier to understand than the “liberal democracy” debate, which was very tricky.
Next week’s will be somewhere in between, and it was one of the first debates I ever did: THBT Government Should Introduce a Fat Tax. (This means increasing the price of items which have high saturated fat, salts, and sugar).
3. https://debatewise.org/2728-fat-tax/
Best wishes,
James
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Lesson 8 – 11/05/2021
Great work this week everyone. Next week’s topic will be: THBT Social Media Has Done More Harm Than Good.
1. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/social-media_b_5375853
3. https://www.success.com/20-pros-and-cons-of-social-media-use/
Best wishes,
James
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Week 9 – 18/05/21
Very well done for this week – seems to have been a good topic which you all enjoyed discussing and we had a lot of good chat about. Thank you all very much to everyone for participating so enthusiastically!
Next week: THBT Space Exploration is a Waste of Money
1. https://debatewise.org/137-space-exploration-is-a-waste-of-money/
2. https://idebate.org/debatabase/science-computers-phones-evolution-science-general-genetics-universe/house-would-explore
3. https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2011/10/debate-for-and-against-space-exploration-is-space-research-a-waste-of-time/
Best wishes,
James
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Week 1 – 25/05/2021
Well done for last week! Sorry for the late post – I’m in the midst of my own exams.
Next week’s topic: THW Ban Zoos
1. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2017/05/hot-topic-it-time-zoos-be-banned
2. https://greenecofriend.co.uk/should-zoos-still-exist/
3. https://idebate.org/debatabase/environment/house-believes-wild-animals-should-not-be-kept-captivity
Best wishes,
James
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Week 2 – 08/06/2021
Great work last week! Next week: THW Introduce a Mandatory Salary Cap. This means the law would say: you are not allowed to earn or be paid more than a certain amount of money.
2. https://inequality.org/great-divide/debate-maximum-wage/
3. https://therift.eu/index.php/2019/05/27/should-there-be-a-maximum-wage/
Best wishes,
James
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Week 3 – 15/6/2021
Great work this week. Next week will be: THW would criminalise the payment of ransom (either electronic or personal).
1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29409361
2. https://www.cfr.org/blog/paying-ransom-ransomware-should-be-illegal
3. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/apr/02/paying-ransom-hostages-crime-flourish
Best wishes,
James
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Week 4 – 29/6/2021
Great work this week. Next week will be: THBT, assuming feasibility, We Should Seek to Make Contact with Extra-Terrestrial Beings. This is actually an extremely interesting debate and has a lot of facets to it (as you will see from the reading), and it should sharpen your debating skills in weighing off potential risks v. gains.
1. https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/should-we-call-out-space-aliens
2. https://www.businessinsider.com/should-we-try-to-contact-aliens-3-world-leading-scientists-debate-2017-11?r=US&IR=T
3. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/01/do-you-think-that-there-is-alien-life-beyond-earth-first-contact
4. https://www.space.com/26449-contact-intelligent-aliens-active-seti.html
Best wishes,
James
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Week 5 – 13/7/2021
Hi everyone,
A very good week this week. Next time we are going to further develop our concepts of “rebuttal” by using the motion below to play some debating games to develop core skills.
The motion is: TH Would Prefer a World with a Single Language
1. https://www.debatingeurope.eu/2011/08/03/should-esperanto-be-the-language-of-europe/#.YPKi_x7TUlQ
2. https://www.debate.org/opinions/should-there-be-one-global-language
3. https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2021/04/is-there-any-hope-for-esperanto.html
This debate is harder because it requires you to think for yourself; you will not find any obvious answers or arguments in the reading. Try to build your argument from first principles: imagine what would happen if the world did have a single language. Think especially about the following questions:
1. Who would control the “right” version? How might this “control” be used?
2. Would it mean more or less cultural diversity?
3. What would the economic benefits and downsides be? Which one is bigger?
4. Is there an inherent value in a language’s existence? Are some languages “beautiful”?
Best wishes,
James
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Week 6 – 20/7/2021
One of the best weeks we have had so far! Excellent arguments from everyone, especially with quite a difficult topic.
This week the debate will be more science-based and should throw up several interesting points: THW Ban the Sale of 3D Printers to Households
2. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-dark-side-of-3d-printing-10-things-to-watch/
Please also have a look at these three (very interesting) news articles for next week:
1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57946842
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/57944242
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57950149
Best wishes,
James
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Week 7 – 27/7/2021
Excellent week last week! Next Week: This House Would Ban the Sale of Violent Video Games.
2. https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-keep-having-debates-about-video-game-violence-121539
3. https://www.wired.com/2020/06/geeks-guide-videogame-researchers/
These three are quite long articles so no need to do any news this week, though the below is quite interesting:
1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-58021718
Best wishes,
James
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Week 8 – 3/8/21
Hi everyone!
Next week we will debate: THBT Smokers Should Have to Pay for Their Own Healthcare
In addition, please everyone bring one (sensible) news story from the week and share it with the class. The only rules are: No Sport, No Celebrities, No Video Games!
Best wishes,
James
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Week 9 – 17/8/2021
Great week this week! Next week’s debate will be: THBT We Should Allow Assisted Dying (“Euthanasia”)
Some of you may have done this topic before, either in school or in a debate class – do not worry! It will be a good opportunity to display the rebuttal skills you have learnt over the past ten weeks.
1. https://idebate.org/debatabase/health-disease-healthcare-philosophy-ethics-life/house-believes-assisted-suicide-should
2. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zynv87h/revision/3
3. https://care.org.uk/cause/assisted-suicide/arguments-for-and-against-assisted-suicide-and-euthanasia
In terms of news articles, have a look at:
1. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58289893
2. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58279439
3. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-58029083
Best wishes,
James
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