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Grade 9 Assembly: The Art of Debating

December 20, 2021

On the 14th of December in 2021, all ninth-grade students of SHSID gathered at the B1 lecture hall for their weekly assembly. First were two students sharing about upcoming activities in and around the campus and gave specific information about what is recommended to try out in the following week. Following them, Vincent of class 9(7) came to the stage to share his experiences and love for debate to the rest of the grade.

Vincent began his speech by making clear his intended audience: those who are not yet sure about what they want to do in the future or those who have not found their hobby yet. Vincent continued his speech by trying to persuade people about the three benefits of debate as an activity. First, he argued that debate, in and of itself, has academic value with it. While many people tend to look at debate as purely a hobby that is ranked after other STEM activities that “might be useful for the future”, that may be a wrong concept. Vincent said that debate and awards in debate specifically are able to provide significant help when applying for scholarships and even colleges.

Next, Vincent talked about debate as a thought process. A very simple rhetorical question was asked: Can you describe to an alien who had never seen anything related to the current world what a table is? Vincent concluded off this that the logical and careful nature of debate may be the only thing in one’s life that desires to explore deeper into every aspect of the world together with every individual.

Lastly, Vincent took the perspective of debate as a community and told his audience purely about why the SHSID Chinese Debate Club has a great atmosphere and is a unique community to join. In the debate club, everybody is willing to listen to as well as share opinions. Because of debate, people from all different backgrounds joined together and operate not anymore on a personal incentive basis, but for a group profit.

Vincent concluded his introduction to the benefits of debate by assuring that there were still so many more worthy aspects in debate that are for those willing to try out the activity to discover. Overall, students of grade 9 learned a new possibility for their hobby during the assembly.

(Written by 9(7) Vincent Ying Pictures by 9(7)Daniel Li Supervised by Meijun Shi Reviewed by Qian Zuo)