11.04.2018
“I may be wrong and you may be right and, by an effort, we may get nearer the truth.”
Karl Popper
Debate is a formal contest of argumentation between two teams or individuals (In our case two teams). More broadly, and more importantly, debate is an important for developing and maintaining democracy and open societies. More than a mere verbal or performance skill, debate embodies the ideals of reasoned argument, tolerance for divergent points of view and rigorous self-examination.
This year, once again we are proud to say our students took part in the ‘Festival of active intellectual research (FAIR) debate which is a competition between students of private schools in Moscow. Mikhail Rubanov, Anastasia Ovsyanikova, Daniil Lobanov and George Khandruev represented Golden section School. It was a first time experience for these students and as teachers, we are proud to say watching them argue out their cases in a language that is not native to them was pure joy. By the time we got to the final, Mikhail was the only participant left undefeated. The final was intense and educative. Mikhail came 2nd place and took home the award for best command of English. All our students were awarded certificates of participation. Of note were George and Anastasia’s response when asked this question after the debate,’ well what do you think of debates’? Their response was one of motivated students; ’we’re fired up and will definitely back next year’. For a teacher and school, I’d say, ’Mission accomplished’.
