In the third week of this semester, the Chinese Debate Club held the first-round freshmen’s debate competitions for all the twelve classes in Grade 9. Three volunteers from each class were the representatives to enter the competition. This series of debates was held to help Grade-9 freshmen get adapted to high-school life, make more friends, and learn about teamwork and critical thinking. The competitions last for two weeks. The winners of the first round will go into the second and final round to compete for the championship.

The resolution for this round is about whether the ending of fairy tales should or should not be justice defeating evil. Fairy tales should encourage children to learn from the moral qualities of the “justice” side, but if the ending is always justice defeating evil, it would misguide children in real life. During the process of the debates, all the debaters expressed their in-depth thoughts about this topic. Both the affirmative side and the negative side showed their debate eloquence and the ability to critically think.

After every speaker had their turn to express themselves and question the opposing team, it was time to count the votes and announce the winner of the “Best Debater” award. Congratulations to the six winning teams! The second round and final round of the Freshmen Chinese Debate will be held in the fourth week of the semester. We wish the best of luck to all the participants!

(Written by 9(12) Cana Cai Pictures by 9(7) Coco Chen Supervised by Meijun Shi Reviewed by Qian Zuo)