Public speaking and debating in high schools

At present there are several debate clubs across Romania that also organise contests.

Christine Leșcu, 25.05.2016, 13:30

Adolescence, the age of self-assertion, is the ideal age for young people to learn to support a specific point of view with arguments and present it in public. And school debates seem to be the perfect way to do this. This method has been working well for many years in the US. In the past years this type of intellectual exercise has become popular with Romanian high schoolers as well. At present there are several debate clubs across Romania that also organise related contests.

Such a contest entitled “Pache OPEN has been recently hosted by the “Mihai Viteazul National College in Bucharest and brought together 200 participants: high school students from various cities of Romania, arbitrators, teachers and organisers. The competitors did their best to find the pros and cons for several controversial issues debated both in Romania and abroad. The name of the competition is given by the name of the club hosting it: “Pache Debate Club, which is located on the Pache Protopopescu Boulevard, where “Mihai Viteazul National College is also located. The club was set up several years ago, when the current president, now a law student, was in high school. The club and the competition have already become a tradition of the college. Listen to Andrei Petre, the club president:

Andrei Petre: “Our club has been operational for more than 15 years. We organise debates, mainly between high school students. We have two teams, one representing the authorities or the government and the other representing the opposition. Each team has 3 members and they debate a given theme. When I started to take part in these debates, some 8 years ago, the club only held weekend competitions, involving a maximum of 20-30 participants. And only 4 people had joined our club. We now have competitions in which hundreds of people take part.

Apart from the competitive spirit fostered by the debates, there are many other aspects that attract high schoolers:

Andrei Petre: “First of all we love the atmosphere. Secondly, we like the fact that these competitions keep us up to date with the latest news, help us find out more things and grow. I believe that through debates we become better people, or at least better informed people. We like to say that any issue can be debated. Most of the competitions we participate in focus on topical issues, others on foreign policy or economy. We try to combine the topics of discussion and touch upon a variety of domains.

Alice Kempf, a 12th grader at the Gh. Lazăr High School in Bucharest was 1st ranked in the debate competition and she intends to study international relations at the Bucharest University. The exercise of debating and competing may help her in her future profession.

Alice Kempf: “I am very passionate about the art of speaking. I find it essential for a society that is trying to progress, but public speaking is not enough. It must go hand in hand with serious arguments and reliable sources of information. I am fascinated with this combination of elements. Research has become a way for me to relax. I like to read about international politics and economics, in addition to what we are required to read for school.

Debating helps not only from a professional point of view, believes Luca Mihailescu, an 11th grader of the Mihai Viteazul high school and a member of the Pache Debating Club:

Luca Mihailescu:I think it will help regardless what I do in the future. Being able to speak in public, finding arguments to support your view and thinking outside the box are all necessary skills. I think these skills are appreciated by foreign and even Romanian universities. They are also useful after leaving school, no matter what you do next. For example, I want to study physics and I think debating will help me. I have developed a way of thinking that will help me find a job easier.

Debating is also a polite way of expressing oneself based on well-documented arguments, something lacking in public space in Romania, says Mihai Savastre, a member of the team that won the second prize of the Pache Open competition. He is a 10th grade student at the Mihai Viteazul high school:

Mihai Savastre: “You rarely hear arguments that are logical or start from the right premises. You rather hear sophisms and things that have no place in a debate. If more people took debating lessons, they would learn things that are very useful in civil society and the benefits would become visible.

Until they have the opportunity to express themselves in the public realm, Romanian high school children can practice their debating skills in these extra-curricular debating competitions.