A learning experience for South Island
South Island School (SIS) had a reason to celebrate despite finishing 20th at the first Asian Schools Debating Championships in Manila last week. It was a tournament to remember for SIS student Prakash Sanker, who won the Public Speaking Champion award.
SIS was represented by three teams - each consisting of three members. They battled it out with some 300 students from 80 other teams from seven Asian nations.
'Some [debates] were comparatively easy, while others proved to be extremely challenging, especially against [South] Korea, Indonesia, Qatar and Sri Lanka,' SIS coach Mary Garland said.
'The SIS students found the Filipino style quite blunt and aggressive. But to give them their due, the SIS students quickly recognised the change in style and were able to adapt to that in order to meet the local teams on an equal footing.'
The SIS squad missed out on the 16-team semi-finals, but they did well considering this was their first international competition, Garland added. 'I feel the students acquitted themselves extremely well. We had a range of topics dealing with such themes as education, Asia, family and moral issues,' she said.
The SIS team tackled topics ranging from why Myanmar should be expelled from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and why the United States should stop financial aid to Taiwan, to tying teachers' salaries to the performance of their students and extending the death penalty to minors.
Katriana Milne admitted she learned 'heaps about different cultures and different styles of debating', while teammate Mary Hui said there were plenty of other things to keep them occupied in-between debates.
'Although it was officially a debating championship, it was not the only thing we did. We were mingling with different people from different countries and learning about their cultures,' Mary said.
'We made a lot of new friends from Qatar, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Indonesia, and of course, the Philippines. For me, that was the most exciting and memorable aspect of the tournament.'
She said they learned to prepare a solid case to support their arguments.
'Good debaters should think about an issue's stakeholders and how they would be affected, whether a policy would do more harm than good and how it would play out in the short and long term.'
Two schools from Manila took part in the final, with Southridge School for Boys edging out Xavier School to win the title.
The motion for the championship debate was: 'Non-taxpayers should be denied a vote'.
Students from South Korea's Daewon Foreign Languages High School won the Best Speaker award.
The second Asian Schools Debating Championships will be held at the same venue - De La Salle University - next year.
