This thread is a place for debaters to chat about technique, competitions and throw about ideas for motions. By debaters, I mean mainly those involved in British Parliamentary debating (as practised at the European and World championships) but also those involved in policy debates and, to a lesser extent, those involved in congressional style debates.
I'm the newly elected debating coach at Southampton University and have been debating for several years now. I used to run debating classes at the school I taught at in Germany and have also competed and judged at inter varsity competitions in the UK. I should have been going to the Euros this year, but it fell through due to over subscription.
Anyway, to kick off the thread, I thought we could talk about interesting motions that we've discussed. I'm going to tell you about my debating class last year with a 14 year old German girl.
This House Loves Potatoes The student squirreled the motion by rationalising that potatoes are chips and chips are used in gambling. Therefore this house loves casinos. Her motion went on to talk about introducing super casinos into the UK.
Interesting motions include This House Believes Rape is Worse Than Murder, This House Sees The Error Of Its Ways and the freestyle motion from the Sydney World Championships "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get next".
I know fresh and interesting motions can be hard to find, so please suggest some. I've come across a few debaters lurking around GW, so I'd like to get to know a few of you.
I'm the newly elected debating coach at Southampton University and have been debating for several years now. I used to run debating classes at the school I taught at in Germany and have also competed and judged at inter varsity competitions in the UK. I should have been going to the Euros this year, but it fell through due to over subscription.
Anyway, to kick off the thread, I thought we could talk about interesting motions that we've discussed. I'm going to tell you about my debating class last year with a 14 year old German girl.
This House Loves Potatoes The student squirreled the motion by rationalising that potatoes are chips and chips are used in gambling. Therefore this house loves casinos. Her motion went on to talk about introducing super casinos into the UK.
Interesting motions include This House Believes Rape is Worse Than Murder, This House Sees The Error Of Its Ways and the freestyle motion from the Sydney World Championships "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get next".
I know fresh and interesting motions can be hard to find, so please suggest some. I've come across a few debaters lurking around GW, so I'd like to get to know a few of you.