Love is in the air; but, whilst some people have been
staring at each other over candelabrums I’ve been doing the things I love. One
of these activities is debating. I spend two or more hours on this activity
every week and sometimes I end up dedicating my entire Saturday to this
cultural. And yet, there aren’t that many people who actually know what
debating is. So I think it’s about time you learnt. BTW the following
information is handy to possess for general knowledge discussions, quizzes and
the moments when you REALLY want to win an argument.
First of all:
A SACCEE debate consists of two teams each with three
members on it. The structure of a debate (without floor[1])
goes like this:
The Proposition Team is the team that is arguing for the
motion (topic) e.g. if the motion is: THW
(stands for THIS HOUSE WOULD) hold both
developing and developed countries equally responsible for fighting climate
change – then the Proposition Team would need to prove that both developing
and developed countries have contributed to the greenhouse gasses affect and
that all countries are able to fight climate change.
The Opposition Team is the team that disagrees with the
Proposition team and thus argues against them. If the topic above was the
motion that was to be debated then the Opposition team might argue that
developing countries contribute more greenhouse
gasses than developed countries thus developing countries should be the
most responsible for combatting climate change (this is just an example it may or may not be 100% true in 2015).
Speaker Roles:
Proposition 1:
This speaker should:
- Begin with an introduction and contextualisation (explain the situation that is happening wherein the motion is necessary for example if we had to debate the topic I’ve already mentioned the first speaker would explain that we are experiencing climate change and thus there is an increase in natural disasters)
- Burden of Proof (this is when you explain what Opposition needs to prove if they are going to win the debate).
- Define the important words in the topic.
- Give a case split (explain what your team members are going to be talking about during the debate).
- Explain your policy (here you answer the questions who, what, where, why and how you are going to change the current situation).
- Now you introduce your positive matter (explain the pillars that you have identified that will prove why you will win the debate).
- Conclusion
Opposition 1:
This
speaker will basically do exactly the same as the Proposition 1 speaker
however, instead of defining the key terms this speaker does rebuttal (this is when the speaker
mentions what they disagree with so far in the debate and the speaker explains
why they do not agree with these points) before
they introduce their counter-policy (if a counter-policy is necessary, if it
isn’t then the rebuttal is before the positive matter).
Proposition 2 and Opposition 2:
1. Introduction
2.
Case Split (the speaker explains what he
or she will be speaking about)
3. Rebuttal
4.
Positive matter (the speaker brings up more
points grouped in pillars that explain why his or her side of the debate should
win)
5. Conclusion
Proposition 3 and Opposition 3:
This
speaker’s responsibility is to prove that their team has won the debate and
whilst doing this he or she must also prove why their opponents have lost.
Basically he or she just deals with rebuttal.
No positive matter is added in this speech except in special circumstances.
REPLY:
The
speakers who do reply are supposed to summarize the debate by showing how their
team won the main clashes.
This
is a BRIEF summary of debating if you have any further questions feel free to
ask me J
[1] Floor is the session
during a debate wherein the people who are watching the debate argue for the
team that they are supporting. They can bring up new points or simply argue
against the other team, however, all their points need to be addressed through the
chair, i.e. they have to begin by saying “Through you Madam/Master Chair”. The
Floor takes place after Opposition Speaker 2 and before Proposition Speaker 3
