St Bede's Triumphs in First Round of National Debating Competition

The English-Speaking Union’s Schools Mace is the oldest national debating competition in the UK. It has been running since 1957, encouraging the discussion of controversial topics and current affairs.

This week George Dabby and Henry Todman put St. Bede's through to the next round of this prestigious competition. They won through in a tough first round draw with Moira House, Cranbrook and Heathfield Community College. Working with Alice Lynch and Naomi Pearl, the boys thoroughly researched the topic of parental liability and youth crime and penned excellent seven minute speeches to impress the judges. They argued that it is not reasonable or practical for parents to be systematically held solely responsible for youth crime in that punitive measures such as fines, community service and enforced child and parent 'family classes' are authoritarian, resented and often simply punish the poorest in society. They placed their emphasis on all of us working together to achieve greater social cohesion through providing better role models in the media and government, improved social services, education and a more incisive approach to the poverty of opportunity available to many inner city children. Their use of rhetorical devices and their stage presence ensured our progress and George again showed his class in the middle with Henry rising to the challenge on the night to offer a hugely persuasive and balanced statistical breakdown of just why making adults liable for their children's misdemeanours only breeds resentment and greater animosity towards adults and the state. Overall, it was a great night for St. Bede's and all four debaters look forward to further success.