First day of school today. I returned to my alma mater, the Victoria Institution, to say hi to teachers and see what the first day is like from a '3rd person' perspective. Met up with some friends there, and we generally had a great time!
After being away from school for awhile, I seem to miss it; I think most of us either do, or would. One doesn't often realize what one has until it is lost. (Cliche, I know, but isn't much of life like that?)...
In the evening, went with Danial, Dinesh, Kishan and Ming-Shien to watch the World Universities Debating Championship Finals at the DBKL Auditorium. It was equally exciting and a definite 'eye-opener' into the world of international debate. The teams were all in form, and it brought me back in some ways to the great debate experience I had last year.
The motion was "this house believes that corporeal punishment should be brought back into schools" (or something to that effect). The House Speaker made a humorous comment immediately after announcing the motion; "ladies and gentlemen, we hope you have a spanking good time!"
Somehow I got the feeling this time, that good debaters create more points of digression than answers for the motion. They raise awareness rather than solve problems. Another technique I learnt was to answer a Point-of-Information (POI) immediately with a humorous answer, to keep the audience interested while buying time for a solid answer.
I also met Kok Kin there, who is the University of Sydney's coach. He introduced me to the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the Seladang Editorial Board, 1987 (I was last year's EIC), who also happened to be there.
An amazing day I won't forget anytime soon!
1 comment:
argh, i should've gone to watch it. my veins reek with decaying debating experience. peace
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