Well done all in our Knightsbridge School debating club for another superb session of thoughtful argumentation and current affairs discussion. It was wonderful to see various members using rebuttal, showing team work and raising rhetorical questions in their contributions.
Our key skill this week involved looking at unseen work and top tips for analysis of images or texts. With advent a day away we looked at early paintings/images of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and Christmas trees. The group put forward some tremendous ideas incorporating religious, royal, historical and more commercial/current themes.
Following a brief newsround we then turned to the question of whether it was right that the UAE should be hosting COP28 following the BBCs findings of schemes to promote fossil fuels. The group was evenly divided on this debate - with many arguing the point of the event was to reduce the world's use of fossil fuels to help reduce climate change and global warming; whilst others felt that with the world still heavily dependent (and likely to be so for years to come) on oil and gas, it made little sense to avoid such topics.
To finish, we returned to a more detailed debating discussion of the motion:
'This House believes children have the right to protest'.
Again the group voting overwhelmingly (at both tellings) in favour of the right for children to protest with Malala Yousafzai and Greta Thunberg held up as examples of those capable of driving forward change and influencing public opinion. It was at the same time argued that safety, the topic and the circumstance were key factors in any protest involving children.
An excellent session - well done all!
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