St Antonius Girls' College scored a convincing victory as student debaters returned to action after the summer holidays. St Antonius beat PLK Wu Chung College in the fourth round of the 12th Nesta-SCMP Inter-school Debating Competition held on September 14.
The two teams debated on the motion 'Fast food restaurants do more harm than good', with Wu Chung being the affirmative side and St Antonius taking the negative stance.
The debate was adjudicated by three English teachers - Ian Sanderson from TWGHs Kap Yan Directors' College, Bill Henderson from St Francis of Assisi College and Roola Andreadakis from HKTA Tang Hin Memorial Secondary School.
Wu Chung began with the team line, 'fast food is bad for people and the environment'. They said fast food caused health problems among consumers and harmed the environment.
The team's first speaker, Form Four student Jan Tse Pui-yan, said: 'Fast food creates a huge amount of rubbish. The polystyrene used in the packaging cannot be recycled, taking up much space in landfills, while many trees are cut down to make paper wrappings for fast food.'
Second speaker Taylor Ng Ho-ying, also a fourth former, cited examples of how fast food can lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and many other illnesses.
Despite the solid evidence provided by Wu Chung, their opponents were unimpressed. Point by point, the girls from St Antonius rebutted the arguments put forward by the affirmative side.