ISDA Debating Report Round 4 vs Ascham
M. D. Kwak
HUH? WHY IS A DEBATING REPORT THE EDITORIAL? IS THIS SOME KIND OF MISTAKE? No, it isn’t. You see, for the average Shore boy, debating has probably flown under the radar for some time now (especially at Assembly where it’s hardly ever mentioned anymore 😭). Speaking from a totally unbiased and objective perspective, debating is one of the best co-curricular activities the School has on offer and in hopes of raising its profile, I’m unashamedly putting this report in prime position. So, get out there and support the lads on a Friday evening and hopefully consider trying out for a GPS debating team when Term 3 comes around (there are plenty of positions).
Last Friday, Shore was home against Ascham debating topics surrounding social issues, with Shore winning a solid four out of six debates in the high school rounds. This now puts Year 7 and the Senior As on straight wins (four/four) and in good stead for knock-out qualifications.
Our Primary As and Bs affirmed ‘That the government should prioritise funding of technology in classrooms.’ Thanks to a strongly constructed case, the As secured their first win of the season. Special shoutout to Rufus who effectively set up the debate at first and paved the way for Shore’s victory. The B’s team were dealt with a tough loss to swallow but should nevertheless be proud of their performance. Congrats to Zac Robertson for an excellent third speaker speech, using advanced techniques that haven’t even been covered in training yet!
The Prep boys in action.
An SDC update: our teams are continuing to dominate (as one would expect). Despite our Year 7 teams unfortunately going down, our Year 8s and 9s chalked up strong wins against MLC, Barker, and Riverview.
A victorious Year 9 team.
Our Year 7 LND teams debated the topic ‘That Australia should become a republic,’ losing one debate and winning the other. Congrats to Nestor for whipping up some perfect thematic rebuttal and “excellently spinning every element of the debate into a tight analysis.”
Unfortunately, our Year 8 LND team went down in a closely fought debate of the same topic, in which the boys provided good logical arguments but were ultimately defeated by MLC.
The Year 7 ISDA team have yet to break their undefeated record, bringing back another dub affirming the motion ‘That celebrity activism has been good for social justice.’ Despite a difficult topic, they fought well and, led by their first speaker, gave an excellent representation of the key concerns of the debate, which led to yet another victory. #Year7trophyiscomingtoshore
An atmospheric pic of the Year 7s.
Year 8 ISDA bounced back from last week with a sleek W, affirming the same topic. The Shore side did very well to not only highlight the inadequacies of their case, but also to engage with them. Shoutout to Leo for being debater of the week, owing to his effective rebuttal.
The Year 8s #defendingthebridge
If you’re in the mood for a joke, here’s a really funny one for you. I think Richard composed this (yes he pretentiously refers to himself in the 3rd person) in the prep room instead of helping his team out (no wonder that kid’s benched week after week).
“This was certainly one of the debates of all time. The opposition’s case consisted solely of five examples, four of which were poorly linked to the topic until the third Negative. Richard Zhang delivered one of the most unique fourth speaker speeches in this sport’s millennia-old, multilingual tradition. Richard Zhang isn’t so great? Are you kidding me? When was the last time you saw a debater with such genius and adaptability? Richard puts the sport on another level, and we will be blessed if we ever see a speaker with his skill and passion for dismantling arguments again. Finn McCredie breaks records. Bo Seo breaks records. Richard Zhang breaks the rules. You can keep your statistics. I prefer the magic.”
Thanks Larry – some real funny and reeealll humble stuff (who could have imagined?). Keep up the self-aggrandising comedy/satire (just joking; please don’t make readers endure through another one of your incoherent ramblings, that are on par with Caesar and Juvenal 🥴).
Unfortunately, our Year 9s didn’t have much luck affirming ‘That we should offer a wage to primary domestic caretakers’. Despite having a strong structure, Shore missed crucial content for the debate. Special mention to Oliver Dorney for his attempt to unpack details of the team’s case.
All smiles from Year 9 ISDA.
Year 10 won their debate in spectacular fashion, affirming the motion ‘That schools should actively subvert gender roles.’ But more importantly, Will Nicholas is back and has generously bestowed
upon us another tantalising morsel of his delicious writing (the Grammar-esque red herring is wild):
“At last, the Year 10s recorded a decisive victory – their third of the season – putting on a masterful display that had their opponents quietly conceding before the adjudicator had even opened her mouth. This was partly due to Jayden Pan’s shrewd choice of model and fierce pre-emptive rebuttal at first, which suffocated his counterpart and reduced the Ascham case to little more than mitigation. Henry held the ship steady at second, letting a rural-stakeholder red herring loose on the debate in a supreme, Grammar-esque act of misdirection. This left Yukai with little more to do than to point out that the negative had proven no harms, which he managed brilliantly. In the post-debate chaos, the Ascham team lamented that a “messy” debate had taken place. From Shore’s perspective, this was only half true.”
Wow…If anyone can make debating sound like an action-packed, high-stakes match of fierce intellectual struggle and tactical prowess (which it obviously is), it’s Will Nicholas.
Shocking. Unprecedented. Maybe even revolutionary. The Senior Bs were dealt their first loss of the season to a polished Ascham side (which apparently won the competition, the year before). Affirming the same motion as Year 10, the Senior Bs valiantly fought in a hotly-contested debate, which unluckily fell to the Negative. While the Shore team clearly established the need to subvert existing gender roles for greater equality, they did not effectively prove that schools were the best place to achieve the desired change. They also needed to better articulate the importance of social pressure in limited freedom of choice.
Despite the guidance of the esteemed Michael ‘I eat 3 kg of Malatang’ Xu and the ever-charismatic Gus Leslie who, might I add, both actively subvert gender roles on a regular basis, the team narrowly fell short. According to preliminary reports, it seems that Rizz-bear Ramon and E-giant Qiao may be at fault here for trying harder to strike up conversations with the Ascham Senior Bs team rather than winning the debate. Unfortunately, it appears they have failed at both, but there’s always next time.
But now, onto the Senior As, where another week has now become synonymous with another W. Having secured the dub last week, the lads have all but guaranteed their position in the octos and, in the coming weeks, will aim to complete the inevitable 7/7 perfect record run and lock in that top seed position. Despite yet another chaotically frantic prep (which I suspect to be the result of our deep-seated insecurities and shocking lack of self-confidence in our debating abilities 😔), the lads were able to pull ahead in a tightly contested debate. I promise this is not a shameless act of self-promotion but a shoutout to myself for being debater of the week, delivering an “excellent speech, cutting through the issues with precision.” However, as always, Maxxy Kaxxy delivered a cracking first speaker speech which was well-supported by a rhetorical display of rebuttal from Deek. And, of course, Daddy Liu (I’m starting to like this new nickname) provided invaluable support as our beloved team advisor 🥰.
The nonchalant Senior As after a well-fought victory (what is Daniel doing with his arms there…are those supposed to be finger guns?).
Next week, Shore faces Cranbrook at Cranbrook. As the in-rounds of the ISDA competition near its final leg, teams should be sure to lock in and go demon mode in order to secure those knock-out round qualifications.