On Saturday 15th September 2012, the Grand Finals of the 2012 Schools’ Competition were held in The House of Assembly Chamber of Parliament House. Each debate began with a welcome from the Chairman of the Board of Debating SA, Mr Tony Houey.
Year 8
The day began with the Year 8 division debate at 10:00am with the Year 8s debating the topic “That Robin Hood was a criminal.” Students engaged well with this topic and after a highly contested debate between Prince Alfred College and Glenunga International High School, Prince Alfred College emerged victorious.
Year 9
The Year 9 debate followed at 11:00am with Pulteney Grammar School debating Aberfoyle Park High School on “That the Australian Government should fund competitive sport.” In light of the recent Olympic Games it was interesting to hear the arguments from both sides. Pulteney was declared the winner.
Year 10
At 12:00pm the Year 10 debate between Marryatville High School as the affirmative and Glenunga International High School as the negative began. The topic was in the form of a quodlibetical, a scenario around a topic.
The quodlibetical for this debate concerned a contestant in a Miss Universe contest who was actually born male and who had undertaken gender transformation surgery. Debaters handled the sensitive and complex challenge that this topic presented well. The debate was awarded to Glenunga International High School.
This team was the winner of the Year 9 competition in 2012.
Senior
The Senior division debate began at 2:00pm with Pulteney Grammar School debating Glenunga International High School. As with the Year 10 topic the Senior topic was a quodlibetical.
The scenario depicted a couple who had recently had a baby but decided not to tell anyone its gender. The couple had decided to raise the baby gender-neutral, allowing the child to choose its own gender with time.
As expected the standard of debate was excellent with students presenting some outstanding arguments.
Pulteney Grammar School were the victors.
Open
The final debate of the day was the Open division debate at 3:30pm on the topic “That Scientology should not be a religion” between Sacred Heart College Senior School and Pembroke School.
Both sides had researched this topic extraordinarily well and the standard was excellent. Sacred Heart College was declared the winner.
Debating SA would like to thank Miss Chloe Fox MP, Member for Bright for her support in securing the The House of Assembly Chamber.
Our thanks to the adjudicators for their expertise and all others who made the Grand Final such a special event.