The Socratic club began the new term with competitive debating across two topics: one philosophical; the other based on current affairs.
Today we marked each student on their performance as we gear up to certification at the end of term with a competition at the Carlton club. More details to follow for that event on 8 July.
We began by voting on the philosophical motion: ‘This House would always tell the truth’. The motion was rejected in the first round 33% yes to 67% against. In the second following a fascinating debate the margin moved further - with 20% in favour to 80% against.
The quality of contributions were outstanding! Honesty, trust, illusions, stories of Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy and crying Wolf all set the tone and the group all scored heavily with their individual speeches. We will be working on teamwork and rebuttal as the term progresses.
We ended with a quick fire round on the topical (following the recent poll) motion: ‘This House would make voting compulsory for local elections’.
Again the opposition held sway improving a margin of rejection from 33%/67% to 17%/83%. There were huge concerns with making voting mandatory although the group felt strongly that in many ways local elections can impact one’s daily life more than general elections - from street cleanliness to bin collection and local schools and housing.
It was tremendous to see ‘thinking on your feet’ contributions with no preparation. Again scoring was high.
We much look forward to the next session and our speaker session! More details to follow …
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