On Wednesday 21 November, a group of St Bart’s students, from Years 8-11, travelled to the Downs School to compete in the interschool debating competition. There were three exciting rounds of debate so we all had a chance to get involved and share our opinions.
The first round was, “this House believes that our government shouldn’t get involved in other countries’ politics.” St Bart’s argued for the motion, with both teams making some great points about human rights and the avoidance of war. Lots of references were made to Vietnam and the Second World War to support the points.
The next motion for debate was, “This House believes that we should ban private car ownership in order to protect the environment.” We had a very interesting discussion about whether we should take measures to tackle climate change at the expense of personal freedom. One St Bart’s student made an interesting reference to measures taken to reduce emissions in Dublin.
The final debate was, “this House believes that the public shouldn’t have a say in political decisions.” We were arguing for the opposition. This final round was very hotly contested, with lots of references to Brexit! The audience were really engaged, asking us lots of challenging questions.
St Bart’s won the first two rounds and drew the last. When the results were announced we won two of the three rounds and drew one, meaning St Bart’s were the overall winners.
