Congratulations to Tom, Olivia, Jamie and Amelie who, together with their debating teams, made it through to the Stage 3 debating final.
'Students should write reports on teachers. Do you agree, or not?'
'Students should write reports on teachers. Do you agree, or not?'
That was the topic for the final debate of the Stage 3 Debating Competition, between Team Red and Team Blue 2. Team Red was the negative team and Team Blue 2 was the affirmative team. Everyone presented extremely well and deserved to be in the final debate.
The affirmative team opened with some great arguments. They had good points and an interesting point of view. They talked about trust, and how important it is to an effective learning environment. Olivia, the second speaker explained that trust is vital in a good student-teacher relationship. She explained that teachers could learn to trust their students when the students gave honest feedback to them. This was a strong argument that fitted well into their debate. This point was extremely strong.
Needless to say, the negative team also had an interesting and sophisticated debate. They came to the debate with a fresh angle. They focused on the definition of a report, identifying key concepts of audience and purpose. Who would be the audience for a student’s report on a teacher? Would it be teachers, parents or principals? They also asked the question of what would be the purpose of the report and who would read them? They also raised the issue of time management. Amelie, the third speaker explained that students writing reports on teachers is not a good use of time. She explained that students could be learning more important things. They also had very strong rebuttals, arguing that reports on teachers could actually break the trust between them.
The debate was very closely argued, with specific differences in both debates. However, in the end the negative team’s points and rebuttals were slightly stronger, so that is why the negative team won the debate. Congratulations to Team Red.
Both teams did a spectacular job and deserved to be in the final debate!
By Sophia A (Year 6)
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