Hosted by the Rotary Club of Reading Abbey, this year’s Youth Speaks District Final was at The Oakwood Centre in Woodley on 6th March.
The Rotary Clubs of Wallingford & Didcot, Easthampstead, Thatcham and District, Banbury Cherwell, Maidenhead, Thatcham and District all submitted teams. They we all beaten, in both the Senior and Intermediate categories, by schools entered by The Rotary Club of Reading Maiden Erlegh who obviously now have bragging rights for the next year!
The competition requires teams to debate a topic of their choosing for 15 minutes, with a Proposer, Opposer and Chair.
Below are the winning teams with the title of their debate and a list of the other debates to give a flavour.
The Abbey School: Children must be taught how to think, not what to think?
- Should fairytales be modified?
- Is the death penalty a reasonable form of punishment?
- Dog or Cat?
- Extending the school day for sleep synchronisation
- Peppa Pig is dangerous
St Joseph’s College: Tourism needs to change – it is wrong to see the world as our oyster
- Disney has created unrealistic standards for young girls
- The house believes that wealth hinders the pursuit of happiness
- The meanest girl in ‘Mean Girls’
- Is Robin Hood a hero: stealing from the rich and giving to the poor?
- The house believes that the House of Lords is more important than the House of Commons
Youth Speaks is a favourite competition of mine, being in sales most of my life, being able to persuade others of your argument is a skill and takes years to hone. The earlier you get started the better.
I have been leading on Youth Speaks for the District for the last couple of years, having run the programme for over 10 years at my previous club. Now a Rotary Hub member I am reflecting on how I might rekindle the programme in the local area and take a couple of teams to the finals next year.
A few years ago, I asked the young man in this video if he would be a judge and while willing, sadly he was going to be in Greece on the date, debating in Latin 😉
Rotary District 1090 Thames Valley covers Berkshire, Oxfordshire, South Buckinghamshire and the London Borough of Hillingdon. It comprises almost 1400 Rotarians in 54 Rotary Clubs, Rotaract Clubs, Satellite Clubs and Impact groups. Rotary unites more than 1.4 million members in over 200 countries.
Thank you.
Jon
