On the previous Friday, the representatives of our group went to 20 Middle High School in Gdańsk. There was going to be an Oxford Debate, which we had known only from a definition. I guess that some of you haven't heard about it also? So, let's begin with some short piece of theory:)
Oxford Debate is lead by a marshal, who is supported by secretary. There are also two groups: proposition and opposition. The topic of the debate was "Flying is our future". Both groups had to come up with some arguments and prove that they are right. It seems pretty easy, doesn't it? But here's the trick! Imagine that you're standing in the front of the audience confidently and speeching on your argument, and then suddenly someone is asking you a question "Which data did you find to prove it?".
That's the hardest part of it. The speaker obviously is stressed BUT they must come up with something, because this has a big influance on the situation of the group. So that's the challenging part of the debate! On Friday's debate there were students not only form Poland, but guess from where? From Romania! In that time, there was an exchange, and the evening was connected with the movie night!
The groups unusually consisted of 4 people, to give more people an opportunity to present their thoughts. As we were watching the debate, it wasn't hard to observe, that it was a pitched battle. The proposition claimed that flying is a comfortable, safe and fast mean of transport. They told us about two meanings which came with the comfortableness: fast way to get to many places and an opportunity to book a ticket online. What is more, they mentioned an important aspect - our health. Which option would you choose: go to London by plane in around 2 h or by bus, SITTING THE WHOLE DAY ?! "And time is money" quoting one of the speakers:)
On the other side, the opposition was doing very well, also. They said the planes are often used as a terrorist weapon, for instance the attack on World Trade Center.
But after saying this the proposition cleverly asked: "Aren't they using other kinds of weapons?". The group was still defending their arguments, mentioning the accidents, as well as the well-known today pokemons, but in the end the audience chose one winner, and it was THE PROPOSITION. When everything was going to finish, the organizer thank us for coming, and we on our way back home were discussing about the next debate, which we want to organise at our school this time. Keep checking the news on our blog!
What do you think? Is flying really our future? We are waiting for your opinion in the comments below:)
