HBHS win Waikato Debating Competition

The Waikato regional debating competition was held at Waikato University on Sunday.  The contest began at 8.30am and continued until 7.00pm at night.  We fielded a senior team comprised of Scott Cameron, Thomas Simpson and Christopher Jury. They had prepared a debate for the first round, negating the moot ‘New Zealand should impose performance pay on teachers’, which they convincingly won.  This was followed by three more debates prior to the break; these were also won in an emphatic fashion. 

The HBHS team met St Peter’s in the semi-finals, negating the proposition that endangered species should be farmed.  This was won by Boys’ High on a split decision, which allowed us through to a final against John Paul College, of Rotorua.  We affirmed the moot that beauty pageants did more harm than good, which won HBHS the title.

The teacher in charge of debating, Mr Brown, commented that the quality of adjudication at this competition was very high.  Not only had the adjudicators passed rigorous examinations, but there were often whole panels available to evaluate debates, as well as several adjudicators in training.  The quality of the feedback provided by these experts was first-rate.  It focused on argument rather than presentation and style, which is a pivotal difference between debating and other disciplines like speech-making.

Thomas Simpson and Christopher Jury will now travel to Wellington as part of the Waikato contingent at the national competition.  The national debates are held at the Beehive in Wellington.  The Governor-General usually attends and presents the trophies at the end.  They are hopeful of a winning performance, to repeat last year’s result.