Government vs. Opposition

Isn't it ironic that when I had just blogged about how I knew most of the answers to the Inter-house Quiz questions yesterday was through cartoons or in other words television; and the debate topic today was "Books are better than television at teaching". We were the opposition which was why I couldn't be happier. At first glance to the topic, many nodded to books right away but I suppose why I truly, honest to God think television is better is because I am a living testimony to it. Admittedly, I was the LAZIEST, BIGGEST potato couch in the world when I was a kid and that is how I managed to learn most of my knowledge at the point of my life where my elder sister's friends would go ooh and aah at how much I knew or exclaim "She's so adorable!" when I made blunt comments and how matured I seemed then (not that I'm still not matured la :P). If you can't tell, I absolutely loved the attention back then.

"Books are better than television at teaching"

In my opinion, "better" would mean more efficient in transmitting the information or knowledge in the shortest time possible for the recipient to understand. We had points about the development of a child, learning social and life skills from television series and about learning the most up-to-date news. Honestly, don't you think we learn easier and better by watching somebody else do it? Using visual images and sound are more effective than merely reading as we can mimic whatever that is being shown on television. Examples? Dance, cooking, manners etc. Don't get me wrong, I, of all people love books but I just learn faster through television.

Oh gosh, if you couldn't tell already, I am without a doubt very passionate about this which is why I suppose I can never be a good debater until I work on this problem of mine which is I can only present an argument about something I believe in or love. So, I won't do well in debate competitions but I betcha I can persuade those in my work force or my husband (AHAHA) in the near future when it comes to what I think is right.

On the first day of debate, there was something I found really funny. They were announcing the results and he said "It has been won by the government!" (silence for a second) "Government meaning the opposition!" And then, only the cheers came because no one knew which side was the government.

Anyways, today's topic for the final round was "Examinations promote teaching". Personally, I initially felt that the topic was pretty one-sided but Sien Yi's presentation was so convincing that he totally changed my point of view and that for a few minutes, I truly believed that examinations do not promote teaching and because of that, I thought Seladang was going to win but Helang emerged champions. I was a bit surprised but ecstatic because calculations wise for the First House Cup, it would had been more convenient for us to have Helang win anyways.

Back to the topic, I feel that examinations do promote teaching because when we fail or make a mistake, we want to find out why or how can we improve ourselves and through that, we ask questions and we learn that way. On the other hand, there is also about how examinations nowadays are very much aced by memorising and not so much of understanding espeically our SPM. It seemed like quite a debatable topic as proven by Sien Yi but at the end of the day, I think Helang just had much better speakers overall.

Hm, that's it. I'm done with debate forever. Well, hopefully, not forever because I truly do enjoy it. We'll see how college and university goes. Until then, farewell to rebuttals and the formalities of an argument. It's back to fighting with my sisters by pulling hair, clawing and perhaps bits of incorrect and unladylike etiquette with the usage of rude names and such but I suppose it's all in the fun of debating. Am I right or am I right jie? ;)