Kent Debating Society

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  THB Britain is Broken

  Oliver Blackley 7:04 pm on November 4, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: britain, broken, culture, debate (36), election results, israel (2), society (2), state

  

  Last night’s debate on Israel was particularly engaging, and we saw many passionate and engaging speeches from both sides of the house. Unfortunately, neither side fully addressed the motion, but there were several rousing speeches concerning the nature of the Israeli state which made for a very enjoyable evening. The opposition managed to persuade the house in favour of supporting Israel through a narrow vote that concluded the evening. Congratulations to Matthew Burgess (3^rd Opp) for winning best speaker and also to Jussinius for winning an honourable mention for his rousing speech. I’d also like to thank the Kent Palestine Solidarity Group for attending and advertising our event to their members.

  Our elections last night created this year’s committee with myself, Matt and Ben re-elected to our positions and Oliver Hartland to the position of Debate Convenor. We are still looking to fill the position of Social Secretary and Vice-President, so if you’re interested get in touch.

  Next week, we return to domestic issues with This House Believes Britain is Broken. Speakers need to carefully define what aspects of Britain are broken as this motion allows for a broad criticism of British culture, society and politics.  Send us an email if you wish to speak.

  As always, be sure to sign up for membership if you’d like to attend our Christmas event, a copy of our debating handbook and a chance to attend IV’s later in the year.

  See you on Wednesday!

   

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  Update: Kings College IV

  Oliver Blackley 11:29 pm on December 17, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: army, bbc (2), college (2), debate (36), debating (8), education (4), elected, eu (2), government, iv (4), kings (3), license fee, officials, private (2), state

  Just thought I’d post a quick summary of how we did today at the Kings College IV:

  1st Round: Private Education / 3rd Place

  2nd Round: Scrap License Fee / 2nd Place

  3rd Round: EU Army / 2nd Place

  4th Round (Closed): Pay Cap on Government Officials and Elected Ministers / 3rd Place

  Not so bad for Kent Debating’s first hack onto the IV scene, and my first public competition since Durham Schools ’08. Time for bed.

  UPDATE: Full tab can be found here.

   
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  THW send their child to state school

  Tom Barker 9:00 am on October 11, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Log in to leave a Comment
  Tags: debate (36), education (4), private (2), school (2), state

  Wednesday, DLT2 – 6pm

  Another week, another debate. So far we have covered the topics of politics (in our BNP debate) and crime (in our drugs debate), this week we turn our attentions to probably the most contentious issues in British society: class and education. The debate will be in DLT2 this week at 6pm following a skills talk on ‘Developing a Mean Streak’, we think you are all far too polite to each other! Remember if you want to speak get in touch and we can guarantee you a speaker spot.

  Having never participated in a debate like this myself, I’m particularly looking forward to seeing how this will play out. As always, a lot will depend on the definition. The first speaker will need to explain how they will turn this theory into action. Will it simply be a case of government setting an example and supporting state education? Will it be a withdrawl of all state-support for private institutions or will it be a complete abolition of the private system? Although a lot of the content will depend on the route taken by the first proposition, there will still be a number of central themes.

  The proposition will want to demonstrate how private schools perpetuate inequality socio-economically, a major problem in the UK. It is a matter of fact that the higher up the University league tables you go, the higher the % private and public school (remember in the UK ‘public’ is another form of privately funded education) entrants. That the continued financial support of the state towards private education only slows the progression the state-education sector are making in terms of academic education. They will also want to explain how state schools produce a better education in terms of life experience and ‘soft skills’, that academic excellence is not the sole aim of the education system, it is one component in a much larger educational process.

  Meanwhile, the opposition will want to refute these claims. They will want to say that schools in the Private Sector provide a brilliant education that can only be achieved through private means. Only an irresponsible parent would ignore the opportunities a private school offer and in a capitalist system it is down to the individual to decide how they would spend their money. They will also want to show that rather than perpetuate the problems in the state sector, the provision of a private education actually alleviates the problem. By reducing the number of students in this system, the financial burden on the government to fulfill its commitment to universal education its reduced.

  Here are some links to aid you with your research:

  http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=31 a more comprehensive summary of the issues

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/04/davidcameron.education an argument for

  http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/06/private-schools-stigmatised-chief-says some reasons against