Our PNBHS Senior and Junior A debating teams competed in the Super 8 cultural Festival at Tauranga Boys College last Friday and Saturday. The Juniors, Andrew Karatea, John Cole and William Wood went, armed with strong arguments negating in the first round, the moot that Chivalry is dead. Of course they used examples of chivalry from within PNBHS to make their points clear and were put through to the semi-finals after this win against Hastings Boys’ High School. In the semi-finals they won against Hamilton Boys when they affirmed the moot, in a limited preparation debate that Teenagers 13 – 19 should be able to vote in General Elections. In the finals they were narrowly beaten by Napier Boys’ High School when they negated, again in a limited preparation debate, that learning a second language should be compulsory from ages 7 to 14. The boys did a great job and were variously ranked in the top 3 speakers for each debate.
In the first round the senior team (Denzel Chung, Aidan Berkahn and Ronan Carroll) debated against Napier Boys’ High School and won quite convincingly. The moot was ‘That this house believes that youth culture has sold out’. Ronan Carroll was judged best speaker. In the semi-final against Hamilton Boys’ High School the moot was ‘That this house believes that those associated with criminal organisations (like the Mafia) should be charged with treason’. In a very close debate the adjudicator awarded the debate to Hamilton. All three speakers were impressive throughout the competition.
Junior team (L to R): William Wood, Andrew Karatea (absent: John Cole)
Senior team (L to R): Ronan Carroll, Aidan Berkahn, Denzel Chung
