Top Asian School Debating Teams off to Compete in Britain

Plenty of quick thinking and rigorous reasoning was in evidence at the first Asian Schools British Parliamentary Debating Championship to be staged in Hong Kong. A total of 60 teams, including 24 from local secondary schools, took part in the two-day event co-organised by Capstone Education Group and the Cambridge Union.

Hosted by Munsang College in Kowloon, participants from the mainland, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan argued the pros and cons of a host of current issues. These   included whether individuals who lead unhealthy lifestyles - by smoking, drinking or taking drugs – should be entitled to free healthcare and if it is fair to punish individuals living beneath the poverty line for committing the “economic crime” of minor theft. Other topics dealt with the merits and downside of “tiger parents” and whether stay-at-home spouses should be compensated for work done for the home.

Each debate was adjudicated by experienced judges from the Cambridge Union who were in Hong Kong especially for the event. Eight winning teams will now travel to Britain next year to compete in the Cambridge Schools Debating Competition Finals.

Learning to debate well requires a combination of skills, namely critical thinking, effective communication, the ability to present and refute arguments, and teamwork. These are all important attributes for a successful career, according to Ronald Po, founder of Capstone Education Group, which specialises in debate training, language development, and advisory services for those applying to overseas universities or boarding schools.

“A lot of technical aspects and soft skills learned from debating, such as constructing an argument and presenting it fluently, can be applied in academic and everyday situations,” Po says. He notes that Capstone's non-profit “Tomorrow’s Leaders” initiative aims to increase access for students to debating competitions which develop public speaking, critical thinking and leadership skills. “Our goal is to create competitions with minimum entry requirements, which allow students to compete against the best and see how they get along.”

Having already supported secondary school debating for about 10 years, a particular objective is to give more opportunities to students who may not be an automatic choice for their school teams. “A key part of our philosophy is to encourage young people to set the bar higher for themselves and attain new personal achievements,” Po says.