In the context of their REAL classes (Real Excellence and Attitude for Life), Hawthorn students have been inspired to start a Debating Club. Thanks to Hawthorn volunteer Shirley Chen, a fourth-year humanities student at the University of Toronto who is aspiring to pursue a degree in teaching, our students have been introduced to informal debating and British Parliamentary Debate. They’ve tried their hand at team debating and practised everything from defining important terms, introducing contentions, setting clear and narrow resolutions, summarizing, extending, refuting, and addressing the Speaker of the House. They’ve introduced motions from the House, including pineapple belongs on pizza, phones should be banned in schools, and all schools need to have uniforms.
Thank you to Miss Chen for bringing this initiative into our school. We’re excited to see where our Debating Club takes us!