Debating

Dav Debating:
Congratulations to all D Grade debaters for 2010 on having won your first two debates. You have three further debates to enjoy this round. Your remaining dates for this year are


 * Round 3:** Tuesday, May 11th 2010
 * Round 4:** Tuesday, June 1st 2010
 * Round 5**: Tuesday, June 22nd 2010

All debates are held at Ballarat High School at 8:00pm for D Grade. Details of the draw and your debate topics are listed below.

//That Australia should embrace nuclear power//

 * ~ Affirmative team ||~  ||~ Negative team ||
 * Ballarat High School 1 || vs. || Derrinallum P-12 College 2 ||
 * Lake Bolac College 1 || vs. || St Patrick's College 2 ||
 * Ballarat & Clarendon College 1 || vs. || St Patrick's College 1 ||
 * Ballarat & Clarendon College 2 || vs. || Ballarat Grammar School 1 ||
 * St Patrick's College 3 || vs. || Loreto College 1 ||
 * Damascus College (Senior) 1 || vs. || Ballarat & Clarendon College 3 ||
 * St Patrick's College 4 || vs. || Derrinallum P-12 College 1 ||
 * Ballarat Grammar School 2 || vs. || Bye ||

//That judges should be elected//

 * ~ Affirmative team ||~  ||~ Negative team ||
 * Ballarat Grammar School 2 || vs. || Ballarat & Clarendon College 2 ||
 * St Patrick's College 2 || vs. || Ballarat & Clarendon College 1 ||
 * St Patrick's College 1 || vs. || Lake Bolac College 1 ||
 * Derrinallum P-12 College 1 || vs. || Ballarat & Clarendon College 3 ||
 * Ballarat Grammar School 1 || vs. || St Patrick's College 3 ||
 * Damascus College (Senior) 1 || vs. || Ballarat High School 1 ||
 * Loreto College 1 || vs. || St Patrick's College 4 ||
 * Derrinallum P-12 College 2 || vs. || Bye ||

//That smokers should be denied access to Medicare//
//Round five is power-paired (teams will debate against a team adjacent to them on the ladder). Draws for round five will be released after round four.//

Handbook:[[file:Schools Competition Handbook 2009.pdf]]
This is the 2009 handbook but it still contains some excellent information on debating. All debaters need to read and know the handbook. The following is an extract from the DAV resources page which covers your preparation for your first debate

D Grade
Round 3 background knowledge and preparation. There is some excellent background material on this website. [] This site gives a range of Australian Scientists' views: [] Round 2 That modern technology is a plague on human relationships.

http://deepak.esmartguy.com/ss/technology_blessing_or_curse.htm

Introduction
In November 2007 Kanye West’s mother, Donda, passed away as a result of complication from cosmetic surgery. In 2010, 23-year-old television star Heidi Montag had 10 cosmetic surgery operations. Cosmetic surgery is a large industry, helping many people change their appearance to one they prefer more. It comes with physical and emotional health risks, and might be influencing how society perceives attractiveness. Supporters of cosmetic surgery believe that people should be able to change how they appear, and if they can do so through exercise, why not through other means too? Opponents of cosmetic surgery note its risks, the way it changes social expectations of beauty and the fact that many people who pursue cosmetic surgery are actually quite unhappy and remain so after surgery. //—ASG//

Questions

 * What is cosmetic surgery and how does it differ from //reconstructive// surgery?
 * What are the risks of cosmetic surgery? Can people consent to those risks?
 * What kinds of people use cosmetic surgery?
 * What might happen if cosmetic surgery were banned? Would people still want to get it done?
 * How does cosmetic surgery affect society’s attitudes to beauty? What else contributes to our general ideas of what is and isn’t attractive in a person?
 * Does cosmetic surgery provide any additional benefits to society?

Links

 * [|Death of Kanye West's mother highlights cosmetic surgery risks]
 * [|Plastic surgery: Beauty or beast? (American Psychological Association)]
 * [|Plastic Surgery: Personal Accounts For and Against]



Catherine Dunlop

At some time in your debating life at school, you will probably be asked to chair a debate. It may sound like a fairly irrelevant role, but it is actually very important. Here are a few things to remember.

This may sound obvious, but the audience may not have heard it before. It is also necessary just in case one team has a different wording to the other;
 * State the topic**

Again this may seem really obvious, but try and find out the names of the people speaking as it is awkward when you know the names of the debaters from your school but then have to call on "the first speaker from the negative team", for example.
 * Introduce the teams**

Introduce each speaker only when the adjudicator indicates to you that she or he is ready. The adjudicator will often take a few moments after the speaker has stood down to go through the speech and make notes;
 * Call on the speakers**

If you are Timer or you are the Chair and you are timing, then please do so carefully - find a digital watch or a stop watch. Write down the times carefully in case anything goes wrong.
 * Timing**

To signal the time to both teams, the adjudicator and the audience you should knock the table, clap your hands or ring a bell - just make sure it is loud enough to be heard. You signal the times with,

In A Grade one knock at six minutes two knocks at eight minutes In B Grade one knock at six minutes two knocks at eight minutes In C Grade one knock at five minutes two knocks at six minutes In D Grade one knock at four minutes two knocks at five minutes

Please time carefully as you don't want to be accused of cheating, that would only sour the debate for eveyone.

If the adjudicator requests, state the length of the speech if there is no Timer;
 * At the end of each speech**

Inform the audience that the adjudicator is considering the decision and will deliver their adjudication in a few minutes.
 * At the end of the third negative's speech**

Thank the teams, the audience and the adjudicator. It is always nice to end on a note like this. Thanks for chairing, it's a very important role.
 * At the end of the debate**

Here's a file from debatabase which gives you ideas for your first debate on cosmetic surgery. What's good about it is that it also gives you an idea of what your opponents might be thinking. media type="custom" key="5553059" Four articles against the use of cosmetic surgery. ||
 * ==Debatabase== || Debatabase gives topics and arguments for a wide range of topical issues. You will find it an excellent place to start researching your case.
 * ==researching== || These hints are written for adults but they are not too hard to understand for any age. They make excellent sense. ||
 * ==Internet debates== || You can debate over the Internet provided you have a camera attached to your computer. ||
 * ==[|Convince Me]== || Contains topics and resources to help you prepare for your debate. The idea is that you debate online using your keyboard. My concern with this site concerns the quality of the argument. Can be interesting, however, just to follow. Warning: the language contains the occasional expletive. ||
 * ==For and against== || This is another website where you can debate topics with others by posting your opinion. Useful for sharing and exploring ideas, it will help make you aware of a range of views. You will also become aware of how people choose to construct an argument. ||