YOUTH DEBATE COMPETITION 2025
Held at The Beacon School, Banstead in January 2025
AMAZING YOUNG PEOPLE DEBATE CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
In January 2025 four teams from local schools took part in the annual Rotary Youth Debate competition at the Beacon School in Banstead. The event was organised by the Rotary clubs of Sutton Nonsuch and Banstead.
Plato, the Greek philosopher, believed that debates are often dangerous and pointless because they are more concerned with winning than telling the truth. He thought that debates are more like sport, with winners and losers, than a genuine pursuit of truth. Well, our competition did not seek to find any truths, but to give young people the chance to speak in public, a great skill to aquire and something many adults find daunting!
Each team consisted of a chairperson, a proposer and an opposer and the subjects considered were better conditions for maternity and paternity leave; gender equality in sport; state schools aligning with private schools for term dates and finally hair discrimination. Each team made some excellent arguments both for and against and kept the audience engaged and entertained.
The chair of judges gave valuable feedback to each team and student. Considering that they were all aged under 14 and were speaking in public for the first time, they all performed very well.
After careful consideration and praise the judges considered the winners were from St, Philomena's and they will progress to the Rotary District semi-final in February. our congratulations to the winning team and admiration to all who took part.
We would like to thank the judges and the Beacon School for hosting. We hope that all the students will continue to improve their speaking skills and perhaps we will see them in our senior competition in the future.
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