FREMONT, CA: At the sixth annual debate competition held at the Nurture Kids Afterschool Learning Center in Fremont, children from kindergarten to the 8th grade displayed their finest debating skills. Their competitiveness put the judges in a dilemma over the scoring.
Kindergarten through 8th grade children were divided into five groups and each given a topic to debate. While the kindergarten kids were by themselves, 1-8 grade children were clubbed together for the competition in teams of two. Each topic brought out interesting viewpoints from the participants. They had two minutes each to speak for or against the topic followed by a rebuttal.
The rebuttal round is where the kids really showed their mettle and displayed an acute understanding of the subject they were talking about. Speaking on a topic dear to most young children kindergarten students really got the audience thinking whether movies is better or reading books. Interesting points were made debating how books have been made into movies but not vice versa. They also pointed out in favor of the movies how babies respond better to videos than story books.
First and Second graders talked about how going on a vacation is better than staying at home during summers. The kids talked about how travelling teaches about different cultures, meet extended family, stay fit etc.
The 3rd and 4th graders surprised everyone with their viewpoint on who is considered a hero; the one who has power or brains. They talked about Stephen Hawking and how he used his brains to make discoveries, how Mahatma Gandhi used his brains to fight for Indian Independence etc. 5th-7thgraders debated on whether the pen was mightier or the sword. The tilt was definitely towards the pen. It wouldn’t have been a complete evening if we hadn’t talked about a raging topic. Is walkout of classrooms a solution to Gun Control. A lone 8th grade student who participated put forth his views against the topic.
He made well-reasoned arguments that toed the line of caution. Putting forth a different point of view, he said that it is more important that we spend our time in bringing petitions, working with the government to bring about a change in laws, and educating the common public. The points he raised did bring to light the gravity of the situation and how we can all make a difference. The Sunday afternoon gave the audience a lot of fodder to think. It brought to light how our children think, if pointed in the right direction they can change the world.
India Post News Service
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