Stranger Festival Debating Masterclass
Yesterday I headed down to London on my own to attend a debating masterclass in the world schools format, an unusual format that I haven’t tried before. It has three speakers on each side, eight minute speeches (then closing speeches of four minutes), no floor debate and the third speaker on each side must be entirely based on rebuttal, and can’t introduce any new material. Somewhat intense if you end up as that speaker – which I did yesterday. I got up nice and early and headed the the train station, and I happened to have a first class ticket because that was the cheapest option when I booked the tickets just over a month ago, at the end of May. First class is definitely not what it used to be, you barely get anything for free anymore. But the journey was pretty fast at roughly two and a half hours each way. On arriving in London I headed for the underground which has long been my favourite part of London in general, and it remains fantastic, if somewhat BAKING HOT in the weather, and of course it is hotter the deeper you go. Mind the gap. The journey back was standard class, but it was a proper old train where you have to lean out of the window to grab the handle to open the door which was nice. All this blah about logistics is present merely because I feel I ought to look back on this post as the first time I have done a trip like this alone, so it was somewhat of an adventure.
The masterclass then was designed to give an introduction to the format and practice for those who wish to attend the trials for the World Schools Championship to be on the national team. We started of with an introduction as to how it worked, watched a debate by those more experience in the format, and then I was put into a group of three to prepare an opposition to “THW ban all religious clothing and symbols in schools”. I was put with an incredibly smart and intellectually agile Y10 and someone closer to my own ability, and we had a fair crack at it. There were so many holes in the prop’s case but then, we had plenty too, and we lost in the judge’s vote. They criticised us for not taking up several opportunities to tear apart the other side. I have no idea what my style was like, probably not fantastic, and not doing particularly well in that debate has soured my view of the whole day somewhat, which was really a very good event.
At the end various other events in debating coming up were advertised, and it would be so good to be able to be more involved in order to become more polished in more formal debating styles. The problem is that they all cost money, and even if bursaries are available you seem to generally have to apply first, and then potentially get a refund, which isn’t the way round I would like. Now, as usual, it is said that they don’t want anyone not to go due to financial constraints, but my situation is difficult. Simply put I’m not sure how much I can ask of my parents and school are useless at giving money for educational activities such as these. Yesterday was fine as it was just a train ticket. But I think I need to plan ahead and work out what to do in order not to miss opportunities as I have done so many times before. I nearly missed this one, having only had fourty-eight hours to apply.