Victory!!

We came...we DEBATED...we CONQUERED!

After almost 7 months of intense debating we emerged champions of the inaugural Asian Alliance Insurance Debaters' Council Schools League 2009.You can find an audio recording of the debate here

The tournament in itself was fairly a new concept where the top 8 schools (chosen based on the performances at the Sri Lanka Schools' Debating Championships organized by the Moot Court and Debating society of the Faculty of Law early this year) had to battle it out for 7 months to attempt to win the tournament. The schools that qualified for the tournament were S. Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia, Colombo International School, Royal College, St. Joseph's College, Bishop's College, Methodist College, St. Bridget's Convent and of course us! During the league we had to debate each school twice...one debate to be held at our school and the second at the premises of the respective school we were up against. Furthermore one out of the two debates was an impromptu and the second a prepared. We had many enjoyable debates during the league on a wide variety of topics and at the end of the 14 debates we managed to enter the grand finals! (For final points tally see http://thedebaterscouncil.blogspot.com/2009/11/aaic-dc-schools-league-final-points.html).

Im sure that Chris and Sith would agree that although it was a lot of work and effort.....a lot of researching...a lot of time spent debating and organizing debates...it was all worth it!

The finals were against Bishops College Colombo and was held at the BMICH on the 15th of December on the topic "This house believes that the Responsibility to Protect should be the base principle of the modern UN". We managed to beat BC convincingly at the finals and also in great style!

A few people I must thank........firstly the team...Chrisjit, Sithira, Shaz., and Jeremy you guys did an awesome job, if it wasn't for the level of commitment you guys put into this....we wouldn't have gotten this far.Sith and Chris for putting up with me and also for the hard work you guys put....Shaz and Jeremy for always been there for us.... both debating when we needed you and chairing debates....Proud of you guys...and all I can say is....let's do it again and win the next tournament!

And of course a very special thank you to Dilshan Boange, who helped us throughout, helping us develop our presentation skills as well as teaching us to become gentlemen!, MJ for calling us all the way from Australia to help with the case and give us moral support, Aadhil and Niru for helping us with the case and being there for us all through out.

Finaly everyone who helped us along the way including Nishan, Akeel, Khabir, Amirthajeevan, Thanuja, Amaan, Nichula and the gang.Suganthi Teacher and Shanthi teacher for all their help.......everyone else who came to watch the finals and cheers us along.....and a very special thank you to our Principal who constantly gave us his full support and for telling us how important it was to win.

The finals was of high standard...the judges enjoyed it....the crowd enjoyed it...and so did we! well...all I can say now is...Onward to the next challenge!

Maleen

Another Double victory!

We did away with SJC on the 24^th of October by beating them twice in a row. (I’m starting to like these double wins....!) These two debates were the last two debates for the league...after almost 6 months and 14 debates...we are finally done!

The first debate was a prepared one which we opposed (topic: THBT china should ratify the post Kyoto protocol) the second debate was an impromptu (we hosted both debates at the conference room) on the topic THBT peace is more important than Justice....which we proposed and went all philosophical with. As mentioned before we won both these debates.

These wins were absolutely crucial as SJc was ahead of us, but...well....Not anymore!! These two wins put us in second place, which means we have qualified for the finals! Find the current points table here:http://thedebaterscouncil.blogspot.com/

Well boys...seriously good job. Remember how we imagined this...well.....it came true!! And you guys made sure it did...so good job guys!..........but we also have the big one ahead of us. So as we celebrate and take a rest from all this which I think you guys deserve, we should also remember what’s ahead of us.

I would also like to thank Suganthi Teacher and Shanthi teacher for taking their weekends off to be there on the days we hosted the debates. And also of course everyone who helped us along the way....Khabir, Jeremy, Thanuja, Amirthajeewan, Amaan,Nishan and Nichula (Hope I’ve mentioned everyone!) Thanks a lot guys....we would never have gotten this far without you guys.

Maleen

This House Believes that the state should intervene to uphold intra-party democracy

This was the topic on which we debated St. Thomas' College at the finals of the Lilian Nixon Challenge Shield Debating tournament, organised by Ladies' College. I shall not mention anything more about the finals, as I always love seeing the sunny side of things and the finals was anything but sunny for us. As the judges put it "the debate was not an epitome of the standard of debating seen throughout the tournament", and personally I feel we were to blame for that.

Now, coming to the sunny side, which is everything that happened before the finals. We started out by debating our own sister school, by proposing the topic "THW legalise polygamy", where we won the debate and also won the place of "male chauvinists". Following that, we debated against a weight restriction being imposed on models, and won against St. Joseph's College (B). The third debate was against St. Thomas' College where we opposed privatizing university education and lost.

The next day, at the quarter finals round, we managed to secure victory against Ananda College by banning parties with names that included religious or ethnic references. Then at the semi finals we beat Vishaka Vidyalaya and justified Obama winning the nobel peace prize! And then came the finals, and the big audience and the defeat, which is better left in the past. 

We would like to congratulate St. Thomas' College on their victory and also David, who won the best speaker award. But above all, we are grateful to the Debating Society of Ladies' College for organising such an awesome, fun-filled debating tournament! :)

Impromptu debating tournament, by Musaeus College

Our team took part in the impromptu BP style tournament organized by Musaeus College………….Though lacking our battle hardened 3rd speaker we put up a good show at the tournament. Chris was out so we got Shazad to be our third speaker.In the first round we beat DS by a large margin. After this we went against STC twice and lost both the times with small margins. At the end of the 3 preliminary rounds we were in a good position in the rankings and so we went on to the semi –finals, where we were matched against STC AGAIN!! . We lost this debate as well, with a margin, as one of the judges put it, “small beyond your wildest imagination” however at the end of the day we were quite impressed at our own improvement in the course of the tournament and pleased with our performance against DS and STC. We would like to specially thank the debating society of Musaeus College for inviting us to their tournament. We also wish to congratulate CIS who eventually won the Championship.

Sithira

70 virgins or POW status?

Whats on the mind of a suicide bomber? 70 virgins or POW status?

We managed to secure a very important win against STC on the 26th of September.The prepared topic that was debated was "THB that captured terrorists should be treated as Prisoners of War".We opposed the topic and manged to win the debate with a clear margin.The judges were not pleased with the quality of the debate because of the interpretation of the topic that was give by team STC.But considering how difficult it is to propose the topic, the victory to me personally did not feel that great. Sithira in my opinion did an awesome job........I hope that showed you what you are capable of....and Chris...good job as always! This win strategically puts us ahead of STC on the points table in terms of wins.3 more debates to go.....2 against SJC and 1 against RC.....it's been a long tournament.....with all of us putting a lot into it.So far we have done pretty good winning 7 out of 11 debates. These three debates will ultimately decide our final fate.

_M_

Double win against CIS

On the 19 of September we downed CIS twice....in the course of 3 hours!.The first debate being a prepared one, on the topic THW spread the wealth was won by us very convincingly where the decision was awarded unanimously by the judges.We proposed the topic and the debate took place at our school, in the conference room.We were praised for how we set up the debate and how we tackled the arguments of team CIS.According to the judges it was a highly enjoyable debate and one of the best they had seen in the league so far.
The second debate took place subsequent to that and was an impromptu on the topic THW ban all hand guns.Team CIS proposed and we opposed once again securing victory, although the decision was a split one.
This leaves us, CIS and STC with even scores on the points table for second place which would allow us to secure a place in the finals .BC is leading the points table.Next weeks debate against STC would be a crucial one which would help which ever party who wins obtain a clear lead. This debate would take place at STC on the 26th of September and would be a prepared one.

_M_

Us at J's place

Watch out!!!

Debates on the 29th of August

"This House Would grant all IDPs unrestricted freedom of movement", a very relevant topic to the present situation in Sri Lanka was our topic for debate against Bishop's College. This second encounter with them, on this prepared topic was quite interesting and entertaining. Though it ended in defeat for, I personally think we put up a good fight. The judges were split on their decision two to one.

We as the proposing team, had to defend the IDPs freedom of movement, and had to show that security was not a good wager for a person's liberty, especially the liberty of movement. So, all in all it boiled down to whether security outweighed liberty or vice versa. It was really good debate, thanks to the well prepared Bishop's team. We would like to congratulate them on their victory.

Having supported the liberal side of the topic, we were faced with another topic where we had to go against the liberty of choice. This debate which was against St. Thomas' College, was on the topic "This house welcomes a ban on cattle slaughter in Sri Lanka". We had to propose this topic. Though it seems a pretty difficult task, I should say it was really enjoyable. For once, all of us had to go against our own personal take on the topic. St. Thomas' College did a great job opposing the topic, and they secured victory. We would like to congratulate them too.

Two losses in a day. It may sound pretty disappointing, and well, it was quite disappointing. But, still we learned from it, and we will move forward with what we learned.

hrrrm...Sixth?

Our encounter against Bishop's College

On the 27th of June, 2009 we debated against Bishop's College on the impromptu topic "THW drop the 'Don't ask, don't tell Policy' on homosexuals" where we opposed. The end result of the debate was defeat on our side, yet it was an interesting debate. On our part the arguments were quite shallow and lacked in depth analysis. Our presentation and strategy wasn't that great either. The defeat helped us to understand the areas we will have to develop and improve. All in all it was a pretty entertaining encounter.

Our usual second speaker, Sithira Gunasekara couldn't make it to the debate as he was ill. He was replaced by Shazad Synon, the B team captain. We had to make a few changes in the speaker roles, but all in all it went quite well.

We would also like to congratulate the Bishop's College team on their victory. We will be having another debate against them, which would be a prepared topic somewhere in September. Looking forward to that.

Chrisjit Xavier
Editor

Second encounter with Methodist College

Our second debate (30.05.2009) against Methodist College was an impromptu one, on the topic "THBT pircay is economically desirable".We had to oppose the topic and we managed to secure victory.

The New Logo

Due to the concerns of many that our former logo was unacceptable because the words "debaters' syndicate" were written over the Wesley College crest, we were compelled to design a new logo. This was in a way quite fortunate, as it provided us with a chance to make a meaningful symbol which defines us and signifies what we stand for. Thus a two month long designing process began to create a new logo.....an emblem....a symbol that defined and best explained the Wesley College Debaters’ Syndicate.

Our former logo

So without further a due here is our new logo:

As I mentioned before the new logo is a meaningful one and its meaning is centered on Aristotle’s three arts of argumentation and persuasion: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

• The Greek letter Lambda signifies Logos or logic our primary weapon as debaters. Logic involving deductive and inductive reasoning, analysis, the internal consistency of the message--the clarity of the claim, the logic of its reasons, the effectiveness of its supporting evidence, is central and imperative for any good argument, and is thus the primary mode of persuasion. As you may have noticed the letter lambda can be seen to be intertwined with a sword. The sword being the primary weapon of a warrior in most cultures signifies how logos or logic is the Debaters' syndicates’ primary weapon........something we will not go into a debate without.
  

• Aristotle’s second appeal is Ethos (Greek for 'character') or the credibility of a speaker. We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central necessities of argumentation is to project an impression to the listener that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself a credible authority on the subject of the debate, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect. This is symbolized by the Greek letter Epsilon and is connected to the shield in the center of the emblem. Thus the letter Epsilon and it's connection to the Shield seen at the center of the emblem signifies how the Debaters' Syndicate protects itself and it's arguments with credibility.

• The third technique of rhetoric being Pathos (Greek for 'suffering' or 'experience') is about the emotional appeal of one who is in argument. A good debater appeals to our sense of identity and self interest and exploits common biases; we naturally bend in the direction of what is advantageous to us, what serves our interests or the interests of any group we believe ourselves a part of. This is achieved through the emotional or motivational appeals; vivid language, emotional language and numerous sensory details like stories, humor etc. Thus the numerous methods of practicing pathos is symbolized by the Greek letter Pi and the four Ninja throwing knives (four signifying the numerous methods of practicing pathos).A ninja throwing knife or shuriken is a long distance and deadly secondary weapon which is an essential part of a Ninja’s arsenal either to be used in isolation or in complimenting his primary weapon; the Ninja sword. Thus a parallel could be drawn between a Ninja’s throwing stars and the importance of Pathos for a debater.

· The shaded blue circle is meant to symbolize Wesley College and its double blue colours to which our allegiances lie.

Thus to summarize we debate with logos (logic) as our primary weapon, Pathos (emotional appeal) as our secondary weapon and Ethos (credibility) to shield our arguments. This to us ( the current debating team of Wesley) symbolizes and defines the Wesley College Debaters’ Syndicate’s approach towards debate and argument and our commitment towards furthering and perfecting all three of these areas which are central for the creation and debating of arguments and the presentation of these arguments.

Please comment and give us your input and opinion about our new logo.

Maleen Jayasuriya

President

WCDS

Fall at SBC

I thought I'll not write about our losses,like the Egyptians dont have any records of their defeats.But what the heck! that would be stupid, plus the debate against SBC this week (16.05.09) was just too fun to not write anything about it.We found the impromptu topic kind of tough: "THB that fines should be relative to wealth" which we had to oppose.SBC did an excellent job proposing....the main problem we had was that we found it hard to counter argue their main principle argument which was that rich people arnt dettered by low fines and that it would be unfair on the poor as the poor will be affected more by a fine than a rich person,thus we should make fines proportional .
Looking back I can think of a few arguments we could have made,(my brother just gave me an argument we could have used just now.We could have said we should have a fine that is high enough to detter rich people and poor people alike.....an excessive fine instead of trying to tailormake fines for different economic classes,which is complecated and costs money so...if we had coupled that with what Gehan said then we could have done something).But overall I like how we handled it...we came up with a relatively unorthodox argument and stuck to it throughout.....and we didnt panick when we knew we were going down...which was kind of cool .....I felt that we kept on the pressure throughout
Well all in all I was reminded today that loosing sucks, and that we cant afford to loose again...specially at our next debate with Joes this monday on the topic "THB that China should ratify the post Kyoto protocol".

Maleen

Sisters vs Brothers: DC league debate against Methodist College

Our second League debate was against Methodist College; our sister school.Once again we were on the proposing side, so the debate was hosted by us. The debate took place on the 2nd of May, the topic being "THB the international community should intervene militarily to cease gross human violations" and we managed to secure a victory. According to the judges it was a clear win but we could have increased the margin of victory if we rebutted some of their arguments a bit more.The Metho team did a great job too and brought a few very important arguments, but as the judges put it most of them wernt really developed.All in all it was a good debate......and this is our second debate for the league and our second victory.Our next debate is agaisnt SBC on the 16th and would be our first "away" and impromptu debate for the league.
Maleen

Wesley's first encounter in the DC league!!

Wesley College enter the DC inter-school league in fine style by beating St. Bridget's Convent at last Saturday's debate.(25/04/09)The debate, with the home team Wesley as the proposition was under the motion " THW prosecute holocaust deniers".
As the judges put it,the debate was "by far the best debate we have seen in the league and for that matter the last twelve months", due to reasons as pointed out by the judges such as extensive research and good preparation. The S.B.C. team's strong arguments made the points of the debate be split 2:1, but due to them being presented to the house too late wasn't able to save them from defeat. Our heartiest thanks to the S.B.C. team whose support and solid opposition made it all possible and without a doubt, a very interesting debate.

Looking forward to meeting Methodist's College next Saturday with the motion,"THB the international community should intervene militarily to cease gross HR violations"

"ORA ET LABORA"

Sithira Gunasekara,

Secratary,
WCDS.