18.02.2016
From its very beginnings, debate has been an inherent part of an open society. In ancient Athens, citizens gathered inforums to discuss and debate important issues of the day before casting their votes on decision that affected society. The common saying that ‘children are the leaders of tomorrow’ inspired us to make sure that our wards at Golden Section put themselves to the test through debates to help prepare them to step into leadership in whatever capacity they find themselves tomorrow, be it in the government or private sector. With this in mind, we set on to ourselves to the task ofteaching our 7th and 8th graders what debate is all about, how it is carried out and we took a relevant issue challenging the world today-immigration. Immigration levels are at a record high and with it come a lot of challenges and problems. The human side argues immigrants should be admitted into Europeans countries, but most countries are ill equipped todeal with the repercussions and uncertainties. Jobs, security and peoples’ way of life will forever be changed as a result. As a result, we chose the topic for our debate to be: Immigration ought to be a human right. Both sides presented arguments supported by evidence and tried to persuade the judges to side with their cases. The audience also had their say on the matter. A key trademark of debate is that it rarely ends in agreement, but rather allows for a robust analysis ofthe question at hand and that, most importantly, we wanted our students to learn. To learn how to look at issues objectively irrespective of what opinions they might have had about it as this was come in very handy when they go out into the real world to help solve the world’s problems. We are proud of what they have achieved!
