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Lesson 1 (Monday group) – 28/12/20
Hi everyone!
Very well done on your debate with me about repatriating historical artefacts. I thought everyone spoke excellently and I hope the individual and group feedback was useful, especially about structure and numbering: “I have three arguments. First… ; second… ; third”. This makes the debate nice and clear for the judge, the audience, and for yourself. The other element of everyone’s speeches I thought was great was the use of comparatives: words like “better”, “more”, etc. to describe the differences between the two sides of the debate.
As I mentioned at the end of the last class, next week’s debate will be: “This House Prefers Online Teaching to In-Person Teaching”. The girls have already picked their side (I think proposition – but I’m sure you all remember better than me), so boys will get to pick next week! I know some of you said you’d already written an essay on this before so, from next week, I’m also going to let you all pick the motion from a list that I have.
In terms of source preparation (if you want it):
Proposition:
Try to think about the points in this article in depth and maybe pick a couple to make your numbered “points” – online learning works for some people really well!
Opposition:
https://e-student.org/disadvantages-of-e-learning/
Try to use this as a building block for your “numbered points” and also think about how this relates to you: what would you miss out on if school were only online, and does that outweigh the benefits proposition are trying to make?
Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday 11th Jan for Lesson 3 – I hope you all have a relaxing weekend 🙂
Best wishes,
James
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Lesson 3 (Monday Group) – 11/1/21
Very well done again everyone! An excellent debate – it was really encouraging to see you all developing some of the “structuring” points by saying things like “I have three points”, “first”, “to wrap up”, “in summary”.
Today we talked more about rebuttal and how to structure it. I gave you all specific and individual phrases to use when you are introducing rebuttal – say these a few times before next session so that they become natural. I want you to practice saying them in a calm and authoritative way. Eventually I want everyone to start by saying something like:
“Opposition’s points are clearly incorrect and fail for the following three reasons”. But for now, I know it is more fun to say something a bit more exciting and something that will incentivise us to do more responsive rebuttal. Also, don’t use these lines outside of our classes!
Debating is fundamentally about responding and arguing, not just speaking. The most important skills you gain in debating are about polite and reasoned disagreement; learning to say somebody else is completely wrong without being offensive is very difficult!
Next week’s motion will be:
“This House Would Ban Gambling” (girls are prop; boys are opp).
Both sides should try to get their main points from here:
https://idebate.org/debatabase/culture-culture-general-law-law-general/house-would-ban-gambling
This will make sure we have a responsive debate; I want us to really focus on rebutting and responding (i.e knocking down our opponent’s sandcastle), not just our own points (i.e building up our own sandcastle).
See you next week!
James
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Lesson 4 (Monday Group) – 18/1/21
Excellent debate this week – really encouraging to see how you have all been getting on. I was particularly impressed by the rebuttal skills you have developed and the structure you have imposed on all your speeches; you are also all speaking for longer periods of time and getting more confident in communicating without preparation.
Next week’s motion will be: THW Ban Beauty Contests. This is a very commonly debated motion and it’s the ideal way to develop your skills. In particular, it tests your ability to think about indirect harm. Even if everyone agrees to take part in a beauty contest, how does it make other people feel? Does it set unreasonable attitudes towards beauty and health?
1. https://idebate.org/debatabase/culture-television-human-rights/house-would-ban-beauty-contests
2. https://debatewise.org/2700-beauty-contests/
3. (Longer BBC article): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200309-can-beauty-pageants-ever-be-empowering
The week after next we will move onto a more Current Affairs-oriented debate. This debate will help you to practice the skills and discussion of principles necessary to engage in those.
Best wishes,
James
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Session 5 – Monday 25/01/21
Hello everyone!
Great debate this week – you are all becoming much more confident speaking for longer periods of time, developing your points, and providing rebuttal + summary speeches with less preparation.
When working in teams this week, really focus on working out what your opponents’ strongest points might be and ensuring you rebut them when they come up.
As we discussed, 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
Boys will be Prop; Girls will be Opp.
Best wishes,
James
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Lesson 6 01/02/2011
Hello everyone!
Excellent debate this week – it’s quite a tricky topic with a lot of facets but very well prepared by both sides; great summary speeches and rebuttal too!
This week’s will be a bit easier:
Wednesday: 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.
Boys will be PROP and girls will be OPP.
Looking forward to seeing you all + best wishes,
James
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Lesson 7: 08/02/2021
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!
Best wishes,
James
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Change of topic since apparently you debated this with Stephen!
THW allow the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport
2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/sport/debate/for.shtml
3. https://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f6150/rapid-responses
Girls will be Prop, Boys will be Opp.
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Lesson 9: 22/02/2021
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/
Girls will be PROP, and boys will be OPP.
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
Best week so far by a long way – very well done to everyone! Great to see you dealing with a more complex motion than previous weeks.
Next week’s motion is: This House Would Ban All Anonymous Posting and Commenting on the Internet
Looking forward to seeing you next week 🙂
Boys Prop; Girls Opp.
James
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Apparently last link doesn’t work, use this instead:
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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
Girls Prop; Boys Opp.
Best wishes,
James
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Week 12: 15/03/2021
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.
Girls Prop; Boys Opp
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.
1. https://idebate.org/debatabase/religion-faith-morality-society/house-believes-religion-does-more-harm-good
2. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/29-march/features/features/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good
3. https://www.salon.com/2014/11/17/6_reasons_why_religion_does_more_harm_than_good_partner/
Boys Prop; Girls Opp. Also – everyone make sure you find someone for balloon debate!
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
Girls Prop; Boys Opp.
See you next week!
James
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Week 3 – 05/03/2021
Very well done this week – another win for the girls’ team! Next week: THW Allow Torture of Convicted Criminals for Critical Information.
Girls Prop; Boys Opp.
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 – 12/04/2021
Very well done last week! Next week’s motion will be: This House Would Prefer a World In Which Lying Was Impossible.
Boys Prop; Girls Opp.
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
Best wishes,
James
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Week 5 – 19/04/2021
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.
Boys PROP; Girls OPP.
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 – 26/04/2021
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.
Girls PROP; Boys OPP.
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.
Also, we are finally abandoning the Balloon Debate. It was fun while it lasted, but now the last ten minutes of every lesson will be a General Knowledge-Current Affairs QUIZ between boys and girls.
Best wishes,
James
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Week 7 – 03/05/2021
Another week, another excellent debate! 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.
There is a one-week break next week so our next class will be on 17th May. The topic will be 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).
Boys will be PROP; and girls will be OPP.
3. https://debatewise.org/2728-fat-tax/
Best wishes,
James
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Week 8 – 17/05/21
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/
Girls will be PROP; boys will be OPP.
Best wishes,
James
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