Oxford Union Debating Final
| It’s a commonly held view that teenagers are obscenely argumentative. Whilst this may be true, it’s not necessarily a negative thing, as proven by Year 10 debaters Matthew Knight and James Watt from Y Pant Comprehensive School. The two boys attended the prestigious Oxford Union Schools Debating Competition Finals in the Oxford Union having gained one of a handful of places given in the Welsh regional round. |
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James, 15 and Matthew, 14 were undoubtedly the youngest participants in the competition, with the majority of the other debaters being sixth form students. On top of this, they represented one of the few state secondaries, competing against numerous private and grammar schools. Mr Howells, their English teacher said, ‘It was an outstanding achievement to get that far, but to win a debate was excellent’ and ‘myself and the whole school are proud of their accomplishment’. |
| The finals day consisted of four British parliamentary-style debates on the motions ‘This house would institute fifty percent quotas for women on the boards of corporations’, ‘This house believes that the state should make all important decisions on the behalf of mentally ill patients, instead of their families’, ‘This house would confiscate the assets of criminals to pay for their incarceration’ and ‘This house would enter Sudan to forcibly carry out the arrest warrant on Omar Al-Bashir for crimes against humanity in Dafur’. Each motion was disclosed 15 minutes prior to the start of each debate, allowing a short space of time for the participants to consult any printed materials and form the key points of their arguments. During the actual debate, each debater is required to speak for five minutes and answer various questions, or points of information as they are known in debating jargon, received from their opponents. This style is said to encourage ‘on-the-fly’ thinking and greatly develops each speaker’s articulation and argument forming skills. |
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The two boys won one of their debates held in the actual Oxford Union debating chamber, the room which has played host to a number of world-renowned politicians and speakers including Ronald Reagan and even the Dalai Lama himself.
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The overall winner of the competition was St Paul’s School’s A, but James and Matthew took the experience with them and are looking ahead to next year’s competition as another excellent opportunity
James Watts yr 10 |
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Year 10 students debating in the Oxford Union |
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