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Posted on January 29th 2016
URBAN DEBATING LEAGUE – THE COMPETITION IS HOTTING UP
On Monday 25th January 2016, three teams of Harris Academy Beckenham debaters travelled to Norwood School to participate in the Urban Debating League.
As we walked into the main entrance, I could see many other students in different uniforms. There was an excited buzz in the atmosphere as the students talked over what they had learned recently and re-capped what they would need to do to win their debates. Suddenly, there was a loud shout that came from the far end of the hall, and all the Urban Debate League judges announced the format for the evening and a list of formal debating rules.
Once we were ready to get started, another organiser informed everybody which schools and teams were debating against each other. As soon as our team heard their name being called, we quickly followed our judge to make the most of our 15 minutes of preparation time.
The first motion was ‘This house believes that children under the age of 16 should have an 8pm curfew’. Our team was opposing the motion. Once we had finished debating, our judge tallied up our scored and informed us that we had, unfortunately, lost this time. We felt defeated but we made our way back down to the (still buzzing) hall. Luckily there was a selection of biscuits and drinks laid out for all the students to refuel our energy and spirits.
After about five minutes of re-capping our feedback and coming up with a plan of action for improving in our second debate, the judges lined up again for a second time and informed us which school we would be debating against for the second motion entitled ‘This house believes that commercials that advertise unhealthy food should be banned’. We were proposing the motion and again, had 15 minutes to prepare before the official debate commenced. We were incredibly anxious as a team as we had lost the previous debate. Unfortunately, our team did not end up winning either of the debates but we definitely did learn from our mistakes and we are confident we have what it takes to improve and win next time!
Nicole Johnston – 8EL-DM
