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Muhammad Abdi Zil Ikram
The World Schools Debating
Championships (WSDC) is an annual English-language
debating
tournament
for high school-level teams representing different
countries.
History
The championships were first held in 1988 in Australia,
as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations.
Members of the Australian Debating Federation were aware that the World Universities Debating
Championship was to be hosted by the University of Sydney in January that year,
but no similar event for high school students existed at the time. However the
rapid growth of the university championships since its founding in 1981 showed
the potential for international debating competitions. Christopher Erskine took
on the task of organising the first world schools championships, which was then
called the Bicentennial International School Students Debating Championships.
Six countries competed in the inaugural tournament – Australia, Canada, England,
Hong Kong,
New Zealand
and the United States. The teams flew into different
cities in Australia for their first debates, before meeting-up in Canberra
for the second week of the competition. The event was ultimately won by Canada,
who defeated Australia in the Grand Final.
The success of the 1988 event saw Canada offer to
host the second championship two years later in 1990. That year, the event was
called the World Debating Championships. Seven teams took part in the
1990 competition, with first-time participants Scotland
emerging as champions.
In 1991, the championships were held in Edinburgh,
and the event took on its present name of the World Schools Debating
Championships. Since then, the championships have rapidly grown in size.
Each country is entitled to enter one team. As
with some other international competitions (such as the FIFA World Cup),
the nations of the United Kingdom are allowed to take part
individually, as are dependent territories (such as Bermuda)
and special regions of some countries (such as Hong Kong).
All debates in the championship are in English.
This is for practical reasons, but it means that many countries debate in what
is for them a foreign language. This has not stopped a number of these teams
being very successful. Pakistan, for example, has reached the Grand Final twice;
while Argentina,
Peru, Greece and Israel have all
reached the semi-finals. Special awards have been introduced for the
highest-ranked teams made-up of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) and
English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) speakers.
To show that debate is universal, hosts in
non-English-speaking nations have often showcased demonstration
(non-competition) debates in their own language during the championships. A
notable example was in Lima
in 2003, where the teams from Argentina and Peru gave a demonstration debate in
Spanish (but in the World Schools style) in the Congress of
Peru chamber.
Format
World Schools Debating Championship debates use a
special format known as 'World Schools Style Debating'. This is a
combination of the British
Parliamentary and Australian formats, designed to meet the needs of
the tournament. Each debate comprises eight speeches delivered by two
three-member teams (the Proposition and the Opposition). Each speaker delivers
an eight-minute speech; then both teams deliver a "reply speech"
lasting four minutes, with the last word being reserved for the Proposition.
Between the end of the first and the beginning of the last minute of an
eight-minute speech, the opposing party may offer "points of
information". The speaker may refuse these, but should take at least one
or two points during his or her speech.
The style of debate was originally a compromise
and not used apart from the championship. However, the style has since been
embraced by many countries for their national competitions, including
Australia, Argentina, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, South
Africa, Slovenia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Wales.
The WSDC normally takes place over the course of
ten days. Each national team competes in eight preliminary debates: four prepared
debates (the motion having been announced a few weeks before
the start of the tournament) and four impromptu debates (for which teams
have one hour to prepare). Once the eight preliminary rounds have been
completed, the 16 best teams compete in knock-out debates (known as the
Octofinals) culminating in a Grand Final. For each debate, three judges (or more in later
rounds) mark each debater on his or her style, content and strategy.
A notable difference between WSDC and the World
Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships – the other
major international competition of its type – is that WSDC's primary focus is
on ranking each country's team as opposed to its individual participants.
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