Be it resolved that...

The words above might have a familiar ring to some of you. The phrase might even be dredging-up old memories of moderators, time-keepers, and fierce verbal sparring during the formative years of high-school. Or, the phrase above might not contain any significant meaning for you; it might simply be a series of words you might have heard on the news, or read in the newspaper. Regardless of your individual experience, the phrase, "be it resolved that," has a distinctive place in our communal zeitgeist.

I had the pleasure of being a volunteer judge for the BC Regional Debate Tournament yesterday, so I became re-acquianted with the acronym B.I.R.T. rather quickly.

Ultimately, I wanted to express how inspiring it was to witness young minds being taught to critically analyze, think on their feet, and prepare persuasive argumentation in the crucible of antagonistic debate. While each debate I judged showed impressive skill at such an early age, I was struck by two observations I didn't expect: the type of schools that were represented by their debate teams, and the degree of argumentative sophistication employed by 16 and 17-year olds.

Public vs. Private

My first observation raises an internal debate I frequently have with myself. Overall, I'm a left-of-center socialist. I believe in taxation of my own income to ensure there are services available for the less forunate in our society; I think universal healthcare, not two-tiered systems, provides the best solution to affordable medical services; and I think investment in public education is the best way to ensure a prosperous future for our society. It is this final point that yesterday challenged, or at least laid bare.

For 6 hours, I watched these articulate, intelligent, and sophisticated young adults attempt to verbally persuade a panel of strangers of their point of view. And as I watched and listened, I thought to myself, "where was this opportunity when I was in highschool?" I attended Stelly's Highschool, a public institution, and had an extremely positive experience. But I noticed that each debate team I judged yesterday was not from a public school, but rather an expensive private or boarding school.

In the past, I've heard many arguments on the topic of private schools versus public schools, and one I bought into myself was that private schools tended to skew their education towards a purely academic focus, eschewing the more practical pursuits of woodworking, metalshop, or automotive mechanics. Of course, they are also immediately socio-economically discriminate due to the typically high costs of student enrollment. Consequently, I've always favoured the concept of public education over private.

Yesterday challenged my beliefs on this topic.

The young people I engaged with yesterday were turned-on, well-read, and already possessed skills I didn't have until 2 years of university education. Indeed, one of the debate coaches boasted that the average debate competitor scored on par with the average 3rd-year undergraduate; and they're only 16. I witnessed kids barely able to drive, connecting the dots between Hobbesian moral theory and modern issues associated with globalisation. I watched as a 17 year-old precisely deconstructed an opponent's argument, revealing its flaws with logic and reason, and then presented their own perspective instead.

These are the type of citizens we need.

These are the types of thoughtful, rational, and thorough people our society requires to survive and progress.

So, why were all the competitors from private schools? Where were the representatives from my beloved public institutions?

I can't be 100% certain there were no public school debate teams, maybe there were, but the overriding majority of teams were not. It's not my intention to de-value the pursuits of woodworking, metalshop, or automotive mechanics, but are they equivalent to learning the skills of critical thinking, analysis, and clear reasoning? Do they promote thoughtful, insightful citizens? No. They do not.

It doesn't have to be a case of either or, but let's ensure public education is creating the citizens we want, and the leaders we need.

Thoughts? It's a big topic, I know.