Premier's Debating Challenge

Should teachers have to teach students how to cook? This was the issue facing our school debating team, the Persuaders, last Friday. After travelling to Brunswick Heads Public School, both teams selected the topic That Year 5 and 6 kids should do a weekly cooking class at school and the Persuaders were the affirmative team. The students had one hour to prepare. During this time students only have access to a dictionary and palm cards. They do not have access to any other books or the internet and they have no teacher support. The team debated exceptionally well with making remarkable improvements in their rebuttals. After many minutes of adjudicating between each speaking and at the conclusion of the debate, Brunswick Heads were declared the winner due to stronger cohesion. The Persuaders are to be congratulated on their achievements and efforts - giving up many lunch times. They were the zone winners with nearly 1000 schools participating in the state.