Debate:
–noun
–noun
1. a discussion, as of a public question in an assembly, involving opposing viewpoints: a debate in the Senate on farm price supports.*
2. a formal contest in which the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition are advocated by opposing speakers.*
It is amply clear that a debate, unlike a discussion is always about 2 opposing viewpoints. It is generally conducted in front of a third party who takes a final call as to which viewpoint is more convincing. The parties participating in the debate usually never agree or take a middle path on any issue as their agenda is to keep driving home their point of view in front of the third party.
Training for debates is good if you intend to join politics or want to become a PR executive representing a company's financial as well as legal interests. In politics, you debate in front of voting citizens and in PR, you normally debate in front of policy makers or consumers or a legal panel. The debate participants cannot afford to take an opposite stand from the party or the company they represent in this case.
My issue with debates is that its training is given from a school level. Students are asked to take a stand first and formulate opinions based on that stand later. Their personal beliefs or viewpoints do not matter. I know of a debate in my school where a non-vegetarian student was asked to support vegetarianism in a debate contest. He also did a good job of it. This must have definitely sharpened his convincing skills but at the same time, the 15 year old must have thought that it does not matter what you actually believe in, what matters is how persuasive you can sound to get ahead in life!
I therefore would encourage group discussions at the school level where a group of students can sit and discuss the topic in question with full freedom to accept and modify opposing viewpoints and at the same time, arrive at a conclusion if possible. At their impressionable age, it will inculcate the values of camaraderie, solution-finding, as well as tolerance.
Debating contests can be held during placements for jobs, especially marketing profiles where a more biased approach is needed while expressing your views in public. Also, by the time these interviews come, the students also reach a level of maturity and understand that sticking to just one particular viewpoint cannot solve all the problems in life.
Ironically, where I come from, debate contests are held in schools and group discussions are held during MBA placements!
Let me go to the extent to say that if opposing political parties are willing to agree on certain issues without rigidly taking an opposite stand, it'll only help the country further and raise the politics to a more civilized level. I don't have much hope from PR guys though!
*-source: www.dictionary.com
It is amply clear that a debate, unlike a discussion is always about 2 opposing viewpoints. It is generally conducted in front of a third party who takes a final call as to which viewpoint is more convincing. The parties participating in the debate usually never agree or take a middle path on any issue as their agenda is to keep driving home their point of view in front of the third party.
Training for debates is good if you intend to join politics or want to become a PR executive representing a company's financial as well as legal interests. In politics, you debate in front of voting citizens and in PR, you normally debate in front of policy makers or consumers or a legal panel. The debate participants cannot afford to take an opposite stand from the party or the company they represent in this case.
My issue with debates is that its training is given from a school level. Students are asked to take a stand first and formulate opinions based on that stand later. Their personal beliefs or viewpoints do not matter. I know of a debate in my school where a non-vegetarian student was asked to support vegetarianism in a debate contest. He also did a good job of it. This must have definitely sharpened his convincing skills but at the same time, the 15 year old must have thought that it does not matter what you actually believe in, what matters is how persuasive you can sound to get ahead in life!
I therefore would encourage group discussions at the school level where a group of students can sit and discuss the topic in question with full freedom to accept and modify opposing viewpoints and at the same time, arrive at a conclusion if possible. At their impressionable age, it will inculcate the values of camaraderie, solution-finding, as well as tolerance.
Debating contests can be held during placements for jobs, especially marketing profiles where a more biased approach is needed while expressing your views in public. Also, by the time these interviews come, the students also reach a level of maturity and understand that sticking to just one particular viewpoint cannot solve all the problems in life.
Ironically, where I come from, debate contests are held in schools and group discussions are held during MBA placements!
Let me go to the extent to say that if opposing political parties are willing to agree on certain issues without rigidly taking an opposite stand, it'll only help the country further and raise the politics to a more civilized level. I don't have much hope from PR guys though!
*-source: www.dictionary.com
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