discuss their views and share their skills, but also I think this this uh this platform also , this ya as I said this platform is uh this platform is limit this technological platform the benefit in this technological platform


uh provides is limited by people's uh by people's uh by the way people use it so for example you could go online, and uh to go online and uh discuss about maybe go on websites like skillshare which which I agree uh like allows people to learn new skills however you could also go use what your computer to


play video games and instead of going outside to play sports for example so, I think the the limit the limiting factor to technology is, is the the way people choose to spend to use the technology


ya so, I think I think the impact that the benefit that technology has to people skills, levels is limited ya but and it could, still cause harm to people skill levels if they choose to use it


kay so uh I I believe that every country should have the right to unlimited scientific research so so actually, that


I agree with I agree with this motion because uh, by giving every country have the right to unlimited scientific research would mean recognizing that all independent states are entitled to make whatever decision they perceive did for their country


increasing including decisions on how far to go with the field of scientific research so I think that trying to limit or regulate uh any country could be seen as a challenge the sovereignty of the state itself, so ya so I think that scientific research uh is important to countries to find solutions to challenges that plagued their society uh such as climate change


or medical medical, medical disasters uh such as when we say example COVID nineteen uh so the so actually, uh I'm I'm gonna talk about the case about nuclear disarmament so


the UN treaty on the non non-proliferation of nuclear weapons signed by hundred ninety countries recognizes the US the russia the UK france and china and states so actually these states have amassed a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons


so however uh when, however when north korea north korean leader #kim jong un# detonated the country's first hydrogen bomb on six jan twenty sixteen and faced strong condemnation however he refused all allegations of wrongdoing stating that it is country's legitimate right to take precautions


to defend itself and this time's is actually uh asserted by both india and pakistan too, which always bright brings about the question why should we give these five par five states the official license to engage in scientific research in


while they are being condemned for conducting nuclear test the US was already


spend more than a trillion dollars normalizing its nuclear arsenal from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty five, ya so I think it's uh it's it's, it's not moral for bigger countries to bully other countries into submitting to to their regulations on on scientific research like


the countries should not have a moral high ground against another country such as the US versus north korea when the US is spending so much uh developing their, that I think that this example shows that


shows how, it shows that uh the countries should not be should not be each every country should have, the their own right to unlimited scientific research ya you can can continue


okay so I think the fundamental nature of, scientific research uh that, some new scientific discoveries one needs to step outside the norms on why it's currently scientific appropriate this fundamental nature of science uh means that regulate uh regulating research regulating scientific research will just


will hamper the development of new technologies uh to a large extent, so ya so when, a so scientific research as taking and, existing discovery and making it into something new something different something better if any regulations are present to prevent scientists from embarking on such new and seemingly


uh abnormal research there may not be any new scientific discoveries anymore or these scientific discoveries will be few and far between so this is especially true in, today's context where the things that science wants to discover are ever more complex and if they were regulation and control to impede science in every step science may never find these things so for instance to better understand the fundamental structure of the universe uh


(ppc) sorry CERN, the larsen the european organization for nuclear research produced the large hadron collider the world's, the world's largest the most powerful particle accelerator so it actually consists of a twenty seven km ring superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost energy of the


particles long away and basically the two high, energy particles means will travel at close to the speed of light before they are made to collide and this led to fears that a black hole will be created so in fact there are few people who are so concerned that they filed a lawsuit against them


they attempt to delay the large hadron collider's activation so fortunately their attempt failed but if they had legal limits and restrictions based on the, production of large hadron collider we may have never been able to prove the existence of the higgs boson believed to be essential for the formation of universal web of that the largely character file


and this discovery is that the large hadron collector uh will help to help to uh find was is essential to discovering, uh how we all came to be


so limiting such research uh is will really hamper the development of scientific advancement so ya


okay you wanna you wanna start, uh


so I'm gonna talk about ethical concerns of clothing so for that uh I think that uh


I think that sometimes the practical aspects of scientific research it does outweigh the ethical entrenchments that it that it go that, the ethical right that infringes so for example some of the possible roles of clothing uh actually actually clothing has


be said to have widespread potential so it could help in generating completely compatible bone marrow skin cells organs that for transplant and, useful in also treating genetic disorders such as diseases diabetes and also generating nerve cells in patients with degenerative neurological orders disorders


so while, cloning could possibly infringe on human human rights I think that ethical aspects offering outweighs this, because of the potential to save lives and improve the lives of many who are who are struggling


under uh from debilitating illnesses such as diabetes so ya, so so when talk talking about uh the ethical concerns of uh gene editing uh while


gene editing has some concerns, regarding gene editing I think includes uh may be unfair to say unfair or some people we unfairly edited such as by having a better disposition to maybe


uh stronger bones or bigger muscles but I think when we are talking about the advancement of humankind, these uh steps such as a gene editing, could could be could uh


be the stepping stones to improving humankind as a whole so I think these are, uh okay, uh least uh ethical concerns are not uh, are shadowed by the potential the great potential that scientific research has uh


uh the red button ya


!wow! that's indeed true I believe that, both human need and profit should be important factors for scientific research, because of the costs involved, research can only continue if there is a potential for guaranteed returns otherwise it has to


be terminated for instance, uh profit consideration is the reason why patenting for uh companies new product or innovations is essential, patents are the government's way of giving the ownership of a certain creation, so for a certain period of time usually ten to twenty years patent holders are allowed to control how their intentions are used and this allows them to reap the financial rewards to their work


and because of the cost the great cost involved in the research companies usually make sure that results are profitable before they, proceed with the research, showing net profit should be a main concern with research as well, additionally, the drive to keep searching for cheaper easier and more accessible ways to do research


may also lead to new research methodologies and tools, which benefit society, in the end, for example genetic modification research involves that involves the editing of genes and DNA, can now be made simple and more cost effective in labs


with the new CRISPR tool, these two allow small labs to carry out gene editing research which may turn out to be the cure for many genetic, diseases, for uh for example sickle cell anemia and these two also has the potential to cure many


other diseases now such as HIV uh many of these diseases, go untreated today so this, CRISPR tool may, is uh may we bring about a paradigm change in the way medicine's carried out in our world, in contrast to the past there's such direct genetic


modification research was an inaccessible for many labs because of the relatively, high costs of previous tools, with now a way that accommodates the cost profit factor, this is the realistic direction for more and better research, to proceed in hence


profit should also be a main concern in


uh well I agree with that point I also am of the, opinion that the most, projects tend to require large amounts, of private funding for their executions, you should you can only get if they are profitable, scientific research with the most potential of huge


impact require large amounts of funding to enable complex and sophisticated research methods it's a lot of these funds that come from the private sector, the the the profitability of eventual groups, of such research has to be high enough it's just


that's why the large amounts of dollars put in by these, investors, for example billions of dollars are poured into NASA's quest to create the world's first quantum, computer this it's processor running at least three thousand and six hundred times faster than today's computers quantum computing is the new technology


that is being developed today and will be, the most beneficial initially, in the fields of drug discovery cyber security business finance investment healthcare logistics and planning once it's done, the estimated cost for the first quantum computers will be three point eight billion in sales in twenty O five


and an annual growth rate of one point two percent, but with the far reaching effects of quantum computing this investment will will be worth it as it will help improve the lives of many with it's far reach in many aspects in today's world, hence I believe that it is logical to place paramount importance on meeting human needs as


profits would naturally follow after this needs are effective


ya ya, uh you you want me to go first cause I'm opposition, kay I


I go first, I think while human need is important for the main concern of scientific research, especially with the points raised by the proposition it should not always be the main concern and I believe that there should be a balance between human need and profit as the stakeholders involved in making scientific research happen and bear fruit


uh both may have different uh they have different motives as uh for, for part uh scientific research to happen it requires a collaboration of of government agencies as well as uh


as well as uh companies and labs that do research and development and and they, they both will aim for uh, aim for both to to improve and aim for scientific research to both for to


for human need as well as profit and as such there should always be a, uh there should always be an equal focus on both, however uh over overly focusing on for example profit will, be harmful for will be uh harmful as indeed they will lead to biases and and hyper inflation such as the example you brought up with the monsanto company as well as you eh


as such I believe it should always be a it should always be a balance between human need and profit


uh however, ya, however I I believe that technology does have a, positive impact on stimulating the minds of people at large which promotes critical thinking skills and creativity with technological advances the average person in a developed country


is now able to access an entire treasure trove of knowledge that has been created online on the internet the average users now am empowered to contribute, solutions related to these areas of interest in addition the differing points of view and contrasting schools of thought that are readily available online


allows him to broaden his uh his perspectives equipping him with the mental dexterity to think laterally instead of just vertically these technological advances have also meet an array of software applications and programs accessible to layman such as blogs computer aided design applications


and video and photo editing tools, these programs have allowed people to harness and display their creativity in a wide variety of ways for example blogs have allowed people, the liberty to ride or make videos on any topic they like and computer aided design programs have allowed people the ability to come up with design ideas for buildings and products video and software so as video and photo editing software have allowed people to tap on their visual


creativity to make their images more aesthetically pleasing therefore with all these applications made available to all due to the technology today people are better able to think creativity creatively and express themselves in such a way


uh


however I believe that technology has been developed specifically and expertly, to enhance our skills with positive results the content and context of technology proves to be beneficial to people which led to their skill level seeing a rise


for instance an assistive technology AT is any item piece of equipment software program or product system used to increase maintain or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities, some examples include mobility aids such as wheelchairs scooters prosthetic devices such as what you mentioned the robotic arms or orthotic devices as well as hearing aids


such uh technologies do empower these people with disabilities to enter the workforce and and do jobs that they previously would have been unable to do as such these technologies have, uh have have empowered them and have empowered these people in society and thus have a positive impact on their skill level


uh additionally uh as you mention uh machines have replaced manual labor and this has seen a, colossal upheaval in the way people work but I believe that uh although uh technology has made uh, very manual work uh manual labor like has has has uh led to unemployment in the manual in manual labour we have uh technology has however made it such that


uh, technology has also created a lot of jobs uh for for people to control such robots and, and in uh programming the uh the robots and and and, the designs such programs to control the technology


as such technology has has not at it it cannot be said that technology has a negative impact on skill levels but instead of change the focus on skill levels needed of people in the workforce today


okay uh


I think that what you said about technology being a double edge sword is indeed true so it is not really uh that technology will have, will ya it's not true that technology will necessarily have a negative impact on skill levels of people but it's dependent on how people use the technology that is provided to them and how they how they make it work for themselves


uh one of the most, uh important advantages of technology has is actually to, improve our cognitive skills and like improve our access to to uh knowledge on the internet lah like such as the invent of wiki pages online learning platforms as well as podcast in all this uh


the apps on the internet readily available to people that have really revolutionize the way that we learn and the way we pick up skills in general online uh especially now during this crisis whereby a lot of people in the world are


uh stuck or stranded at home and we can only rely on the internet to communicate with, people or to to work from home or like uh to study uh, is a technology is important to actually uh upgrade ourselves and to and and it's important to incorporate technology into our work and to our studies to to keep up with the world


and this is important in ensuring that ensuring that, the world goes on and it and and then such technology does have an important does have, the positive impact on on how the way the world how how the world works and on upgrading ourselves and our the skill levels of people


and you mentioned that that uh, technology may not be, be beneficial for the as people get lazy in the the way they think, however I think that with so much info online the act of thinking deeper is actually facilitated instead and people are more prone to deliberating on topics and asking more questions on when they can find answers to their queries and internet actually provides a ready bank of information to answer this queries and also many uh platforms and forums for them to discuss


any topic that they're interested in, whether uh topics that they want to learn more about


uh, if okay, you mentioned that technology may make people uh, may may be harmful as it distracts people from uh like from like going out and playing sports and and and ya but however I think that technology has enabled people to to like sharpen


their skills in example sports or like in any area of their expertise, for for example for sports right with the advent of technology like for for matches uh many football clubs have have started using uh technology that can can track and record like the specific angle and


and and the, distance of any of the of the ball and the players and this can help them to let's say help them to record and analyze the each player's statistics, or like whether a ball goes out of bounds or other other other


such statistics and this helps to facilitate the help out the referee and facilitate game play and also with technology many uh many of such matches can be recorded and uploaded online, for for uh, budding footballers or anyone who wants to pick up the sport to really like sharpen their skills and and learn more


while I agree that every country should have the right to carry out scientific research


I think that not every country should have the right to carry out unlimited scientific research because this scientific research uh is it can be used to develop disruptive technology as you've mentioned as more research is put into science the chances of a country apply it to create weapon technology


very high and this can be argued to be a means of deterrence and protection from hostile action by other countries, uh we must also consider countries that seem to elude the fact that simple deterrence is an option for protection, should these countries be allowed to perform unlimited scientific research the chances of sparking an arms race like that between the soviets in the united states during the cuban missile crisis


will be incredibly high after which countries would ruin their economies trying to out build the other countries in terms of weapons technology, and nations that dislike the influence and power of another dominant country might just abuse their scientific knowledge to create technology for the sole purpose of threatening smaller countries nearby with invasion or even destruction so as to garner power against it


this could even result in increasingly strained political ties between countries and like ultimately lead to major conflict, as such even though every country should have the right and, should have the right to carry out scientific research they shouldn't have unlimited they shouldn't have the right to carry out unlimited research and they should definitely definitely be limitations and regulations in


place to how far how how far uh they can carry out scientific research


okay , another argument I have against granting unbridled freedom would be that is that governments may not act in the best interests of their people and could possibly pursue any form of research they wish even at the expense of other more pressing needs in their country such as solving poverty


for example there are, few countries in space programs, that that may that uh that can be said, to to like to it to


for better in like they they have space programs despite having uh poverty issues in their country for example north korea has a space program and this space program uh usually


uh would uh, usually would mean uh lots of investments and a lot of money poured into it to develop the right technology and, however, uh poverty in north korea extends to about half of their population of twenty four million and the money that north korea has poured into developing a space program can be can be said to be better use


to to to, solve the poverty issue in their country and to uplift their, their their people and make their lives better another example will be mexico their national space agency the mexican space agency was established in july twenty


ten and in twenty seventeen, the budget the budget for governments space activities amounted to about one about two hundred and twenty eight million mexican dollars which is around eighty million USD


however current figures estimate that at least forty four point two percent of the mexican population lives under poverty and of those thirty three point seven live under a moderate state of poverty while at least ten point five percent live under extreme poverty


uh the budget for the space activities is really high and if the government if the mexican government had chosen to, to use these funds instead to uplift their people and to help the people in terms of I I guess welfare welfare packages uh or just for basic necessities it will greatly improve the the welfare of the of mexican people and also improve


their improve their their economy as well other examples will of course be portugal, and and ya I guess that being said, uh


countries shouldn't have the right to carry out unlimited scientific research as their governments may not may may choose to prioritize, issues that are not, uh primarily essential or beneficial for their people


and instead invest the money in other issues that that may have, they may have a long term benefit but do not do not, uh meet the the current demands of what the current and short term demands of what their people may need even for essential stuff like what's needed for survival like food and proper health care and education


uh okay sure uh


, another way that science can science can affect the world would be ethical concerns which is a major issue in scientific research particularly in the field of medicine this is due to the fact that untested medicines or medical procedure may have undesirable effects on an individual when used


and to find out this effect scientists usually test the medicines on another living being before deploying them and other ethical issue, arise when they research specific sciences such as cloning which is a very controversial issue as such


many countries do they meet their scientific research due to the ethical reason stemming from areas such as society, and religion without unethical barrier unlimited scientific research will become possible and pave the path, and wait uh


without unethical barrier, bridging the gap between the rich and poor would


okay for example for example there's this famous case of dolly the cloned sheep which is born in scotland in nineteen ninety six and since this case there's been fear that unscrupulous countries might engage in human cloning for the wrong reasons


as such the unit and and due to this the united nations general assembly has adopted a declaration on human cloning in twenty O five prohibiting all forms of human cloning a move, that that I feel that


that I fully subscribe to as I feel that no country should be allowed to engage freely in unlimited scientific research that could violate the sanctity of human life, uh, another example would be twenty fifteen the chinese technology company formed an alliance with a south korean based research company to build the world's largest animal cloning factory in china where they hope to produce one million cloned elite calves annually by twenty twenty


and it is quite alarming that the companies claim to have the technology to clone a human but despite all the regulations already put in place by the UN this this company and these companies have, have these visions and plans to create for for such technology and it is quite uh it's quite alarming actually that uh as their as the their motives and aims are are not very well defined and we don't know what they could do


with such technology in future if they do succeed in developing it as such it is important to have, limitations and regulations, properly enforced when allowing countries to do scientific research


ya red button


sure so let the proposition go first


so having said that right I would like to, contradictive of it you stated earlier that a healthy ecosystem depends on those animals as their foundation, so to speak however I disagree so every animal has their own role to play in their ecosystem that I agree with however


this does not mean the success a successful and healthy ecosystem in that sense would be entirely dependent on that one particular species, for example if you were to kill a if you were to consider the black rhinoceros a, species that has been labelled as critically endangered since the early nineteen nineties


err the black rhinoceros are herbivores uh browsers for that matter uh meaning they uh eat they consume uh leaves and grass from bushes and, uh trees so if knowing this if we were to consider consider their exclusion sure the ecosystem might be slightly affected first


but eventually more primary consumers, will eventually take over the role of the black rhinoceros and possibly restore balance to the ecosystem, as such I feel that it's not really that important to say such endangered species as, such as the black rhinoceros


ya sure,


no way I probably where you think


go into extinction


alright so going back to your point about the black rhinoceros once again, so you you mention that uh it's not easy for a certain primary consumers a specific primary consumer to uh take over the role of


the black rhinoceros so to speak however that as you also mentioned there are a million and one difference types of species of uh primary consumers , that can be potentially beat that can potentially be introduced, into the it into the system


in in a way that it can help uh cope with the what what you said about, a specific individual uh species not being able to achieve what the the black rhinoceros can, so in a sense I all I'm try what I'm trying to say is that uh we can in instead of uh


just thinking about using one specific species to uh to attempt to take over the role of the black rhinoceros entirely we can use multiple species and introduce them into the, environment it as a as a method, to the uh cope to to what's that called to cope with the


with the current situation which is why I feel that it's still not very important, to uh save your plant and and endangered plant animal species, !wah! I give up already


(ppc)


alright since you're done now uh I would like, to disagree so in my opinion, I feel like oh this may be true to some extent that, err cancer can may have a there may be a possibility to cure cancer with a through these animals this issue actually stretches far beyond just the endangered species of animals so you see that you stated that there are there was a potential for


millions of species of plants and animals that are to be tested for medicinal uses, however according to the IUCN, there are only about, thirty thirty thousand endangered species amongst the seven point eight point seven million known species of plants and animals currently


this would this would mean, the the probability of an endangered species having the cure to such disease to diseases such as cancer is comparatively lower as compared to the vast majority of non endangered species, one could also argue that the test could be prioritised and such that


those endangered species uh could could be tested earlier, uh as compared to the rest and if, if by some miracle these endangered species uh proved to have the cure to let's say cancer uh measures could be take could could be implemented to to accelerate the growth of a and birth rate of that species


and yeah that is why I believe that it's not really that important to save like all to protect all endangered species as of now


oh


yeah okay I I agree with what you said entirely with which is why which is why I also mentioned that we could uh, move up the tests for those endangered species and identify those endangered species that we want to test and test them earlier so that to prevent them from completely from completely dying out


so if like I said if some by some miracle the endangered species actually actually had the cure to let's say cancer we could actually uh, implement measures to uh accelerate the birth or growth rate of that species which would


then allow us to uh have a constant supply of that medication for let's say cancer, that's why I still believe, that uh we should it it doesn't really matter uh it it it really it more it more so matters about the


uh let's say the the the specific animal itself not endangered species as a whole, so yeah that's my point lah


so in that in that matter there's also amongst that the those thirty thousand endangered species , there there are bound to have among those thirty thousand endangered species there is bound to be some specific some species which have comparative which have a significantly lesser numbers as compared to the rest


for example there's a type of a, dolphin species which which name I cannot remember but ya that's forty seven of them left in the world so if I were to prioritise I would probably prioritise those with lesser numbers, uh in just in case they were to go extinct before the rest however I cannot really be be that certain because that may be some


uh pandemic that pandemic in the animal kingdom that wipes out the entire population of animals suddenly, so yeah that that's all I have to say, I think animal


sure


alright so you mentioned bird watchers so, what makes you think that majority of the bird watchers go out there to watch that specific to come and find that specific endangered species of bird that you that you were that that so happens to reside in that area the chances of that happening and the chances of actually


uh meeting said bird is actually very slim also it is, bird watching is more of a recreational activity most people do that for a relaxation purposes to get their mind off, their busy schedule with their busy work schedule


where or to get to let to let loose of all the stress that they have put up behind themselves so, in my opinion I don't think that, uh killing a few endangered species of birds dying off would really affect the eco tourism business in terms of bird watching simply because I do not I I do not feel that majority of people go out for bird watching


just to uh, find that specific bird you know so, if that true there may be some, bird watchers some very avid bird watchers that go out there just to find that specific species of bird or uh what what not but that does but that the the


size of the the amount of people who are actually uh that into the bird watching, in that that avid into bird watching uh is is actually quite low so I don't think affect the, the business that badly it so to speak, yeah so that is why I still believe that


which doesn't it doesn't really matter you we should if we kill off uh all your endangered and plant animal species


(mmhmm)


so this is debate topic, two, environmental concerns and economic growth cannot coexist do you agree so


so now well to me I would like to disagree, so now I understand how you might use crude oil, as an example , however I would like to point out the fact that uh crude oil has been in use since uh very very long ago


and that I also like to point out the fact that, even though oil is still being produced and consumed, countries have started using alternative solutions to generating electricity


other than other than just oil, for example, some examples include uh tidal energy solar energy uh winter buoyancy and, uh etcetera , in addition uh the IEA


uh in a report by the IEA it also shows that, there had been a decoupling of economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions in twenty fourteen uh that was six years ago and that was the first time in forty years in which that had not been a in the in which there was a halt


or reduction in the emissions of greenhouse that was not tied to the economic downturn, so why is this important you might ask so this is important due to the because previously, uh before this incident there was a tight link


in between economic growth and the consumption of more energy, this argument was often used by many developed countries and economies to justify their high emission rates, this was the case that some economists claimed that economic growth was incompatible with environmental


protections leaving others hopeless that conversation was was was possible while further industrialising underdeveloped countries, so there were some other factors that were reported that uh resulted in this change uh some of them include china shifting to a more renewable sources energy


the OECD countries uh them meaning the what is OC OECD uh the organisation of economic cooperation and development yes case the OECD countries uh will utilising advanced renewable energy and combined


with more uh more energy efficiency and a decline in the united states energy usage uh, by the use of more energy efficient cars refrigerators electricity and etcetera, so this shows that even though some countries may be highly developed


they can reduce their energy consumption and remain successful, which leads me to mention that uh argue that environmental concerns and economical still can coexist uh yes


on what, (ppc)


alright so yeah I I agree currently the alternative solutions may not be enough especially for those , like those, countries which are still like uh mostly rural uh those not not as developed countries


uh let's say uh cambodia so right now cambodia is actually as actually actually has a plan an initiative, to try to reduce their carbon emissions by of forty percent by twenty twenty, which was sufficient right so but that's a that aside the case so right now majority of electricity that is being produced in cambodia is actually


uh fuelled by oil as you said which proves your point however that uh cambodia is also looking towards, uh most more more renewable sources, in the in the case of cambodia it's mainly uh hydroelectricity


so right now if I'm not wrong about, forty percent of the energy that is being produced in cambodia is actually uh hydroelectric power while the remaining sixty percent is uh all your oil and natural gas


so yeah I I agree with you that currently uh these measures may not be enough, but with uh enough effort put in by certain countries us or uh every country for the matter I feel like these measures can will eventually be able to


uh surpass those that those cons that you have previously mentioned


wait uh can you can you pause my my my recorder stopped recording, the phone the phone ya it stopped recording, no I don't I don't know why it just stopped, I I I I don't know I don't think I pressed anything


yeah it still running still running, alright sure, eh so err I uh if you want me continue oh


oh you all also stopped never mind , yeah just the summary pitch


alright alright, alright sure, !wow! it's a


you are talking about uh


okay alright alright so I I agree with you about how a leadership, uh a potential leadership of some countries does affect, uh the economic growth and the and the environment the the factor of environment


however I feel like when it comes to the environment it it it also takes it also boils down to a more uh personal level, like uh as individuals more we we cannot, we cannot completely rely, on the government uh


to to do everything for us you know we cannot allow we cannot just uh uh expect the government to set policies and uh do some and construct some miracles in in a effort, to uh counter your climate change or your carbon emissions for that matter


in a more individual matter in in a in a more individual level if you were not if you if you were, to let's say in a in a country where a in a in a post in a country where there was a government a leadership that implemented all these policies but as individuals you want to do you won't doing anything or you won't following those policies at all


you it wouldn't really matter in that sense if even if all those uh policies were sent or were implemented then, you understand , yeah so like I am trying what I'm trying to say is that uh the


got the leadership doesn't really matter it's more about whether uh we as individuals put in the effort, uh to, to reduce our own carbon footprint to reduce and overall reduce the carbon emissions now you also mentioned how uh what


something about larger countries so what uh uh what I would like to say to that is that, uh the size of the country uh doesn't really indicate uh how well developed it is I mean you can just take, uh singapore for example we are such a small uh island uh island country but we are island country !wow! okay we are such a small island but uh however we are still one of the uh uh we are still up there in terms of economic development and whatnot


so the size of the country doesn't really uh impact how doesn't really uh factor into how well developed that country is that's what I'm trying to say, yeah uh (ppc)


responsibility


right so so you you mentioned uh US right as an example for about how our how the current leadership is bad so no so so the carbon emissions are going up and whatnot, that that is true


but I I feel that this can be taken down to a, uh another level you know like the in the industries themselves whether they want to uh let's say uh this confirmed to the, the the rules that, uh your their current leader has set for them whether whether they feel that


they have a right to speak up against the current leader uh against the current a current leadership, and to do something against the, a current measures that are heavy implemented you know, so it's like, right now uh let's say your your current leader uh ask you to


asked for you guys to uh continue with your current ways and uh continue producing large amounts of, uh carbon and increasing your carbon footprint however you as a person you as an individual you know that, what you are doing uh uh is affecting the environment in a negative way so I feel oh my internet just crashed good job hello


alright my internet died hello test test okay !hey! so so okay what's I saying uh I was saying the uh let's say you would uh you're you're the leader so your your leader uh decides to, (oh) what's happening him your your leader decides to implement rules to allow you to continue with youruh to increase your carbon footprint and whatnot


however I feel like as as a individual this really boils down to an individual level whether you feel that, uh you as a company can uh, can can take steps to reduce your own carbon footprint and not entirely rely on the government to do so for you


you know you know what I mean so like you could you could implement some technologies that you mentioned earlier in one of your, us in one of your points you can implement those it could reduce your own carbon footprint as a company and not really rely on the government itself, to do it for you so I feel like that really is that that that is an important factor but that factor can be


that factor can be solved uh as a as as individuals you can step up and try to mitigate the factor by yourselves yeah that's what I'm trying to say, eh I think I run out of things to say ,


okay


alright so this is debate topic three is it possible to, protect the environment when many countries require increasing amounts of energy to progress so


okay so I would like to disagree, so, you mentioned uh countries such as china having, the large wind power turbines, uh using large wind power turbines as an alternate source of uh energy production


so now while that may prove effective uh in countries such as china which have very large uh land mass, how will a small country for example uh let's put singapore uh effectively use that technology


since singapore has such a small landmass uh constructing turbines such as those in china, uh will take up a lot of land not to mention the fact that, majority of singapore surface is covered by HDB flats or high rise buildings which will also block the flow of your air and will also uh reduce the effectiveness


the effectiveness of the of the thing, so as I was saying, uh, if singapore were to think of implementing such technologies, or any technology


for that matter that would require a large land mass for that matter, singapore may have to resort to a reclaiming land in order to achieve that especially for uh your wind turbines as you mention as I mentioned before majority of singapore is filled with your HDB which blocks uh your airflow


so reclaiming land may be a solution to that however, by reclaiming land you'll be destroying, the ecosystem in the form of your, oceans and your county resource, and whatnot which is why I still, which is why I feel that uh it's not possible to protect the environment


when you require increasing amounts of energy


, eh


!wow! I I thought it will use water


alright so then let me ask you so how would you suggest that singapore were to, since since singapore is quite a developed country right how would you suggest that singapore, uh protect, their environment while also uh uh generating large amounts of energy


I see but you mentioned marina reservoir but, marina reservoir actually gets the water from uh various sources right and then, the water over there is mainly used for, uh recreational purposes uh so (ppc) if you were to use that entire marina reservoir and somehow turn it into a uh into a dam for hydro hydro power it will be uh


you will be removing your option for singaporeans to go there and enjoy their, their saturday night uh canoeing or or or whatnot the marina reservoir, also I also I feel like yeah it's okay I feel like hydro power


could be your option for singapore but it's not, that effective as hydroelectricity, requires a certain degree of height so like you need you need, you need your gravity you know and whatnot and right now singapore with all their all your reservoirs and such


uh is unable to provide that that necessary drop of height in in which that you can produce the electricity required, (ppc), yeah and right now all the reservoirs are currently used for either our industrial purposes or to, uh supply water for us for drinkable water for us


so right now I don't think hydro power be very effective ah, unless you were to use uh tidal energy but singapore's, but singapore's tides the, singapore's tides are actually very shallow so I don't think tidal energy as so very effective ah in that sense


ya which is which is why it's so hard right now first, singapore has still growing singapore is still growing and, and we are uh we're we are very limited on options


uh produce energy, yes, sure, (ppc)


okay so I would like to beg to differ, so in the case you mentioned the Copenhagen summit, so, in the case of the there is no telling if this will turn out to become yet another Kyoto protocol where countries signed up


and failed to meet the standards set or if the countries that did not sign up end up contributing to more of your carbon emissions so, one example I'd like to bring up is uh how during the Kyoto protocol uh


the main the main reason why I believed that believe is believed that it failed was because, the Kyoto protocol failed to, get the those major majorly uh developing or or already developed countries to sign


main primarily the united states, so since uh, and I believe that it was a ninety ninety five to zero vote in the senate, uh where the uh where the united states decided not to participate in the Kyoto protocol


so, that resulted in a very very large (ppc) that that resulted in a very very large , difference uh as compared if as compared to if, uh the US had actually were actually to sign up for this uh Kyoto Kyoto Kyoto protocol


so cause just because the US didn't sign up uh carbon carbon emissions actually went up over the years, uh and also there's also the fact that uh the countries that did sign up while, uh some of them did uh end up meeting the uh required uh target by the end of the few years


a very large majority of the countries actually failed to do so and some countries failed to do so by a very very large extent which ultimately led to, the carbon emissions owes it uh increasing overall, so I feel like that the using the Copenhagen summit as a example is not really a very


uh wise and not very uh useful in this sense so yeah, sure


okay so while I agree to that to some extent, there are some parts which I feel are amiss, so you mentioned uh china implementing, measures to reduce their emissions


however the total emissions, have been steadily increasing since uh twenty seventeen, so before that it was a very constant uh the emissions were constant ah uh oh dropping but since twenty seventeen it's been uh steadily increasing uh from one point seven percent to


uh uh recently rising by two point six percent, since uh twenty nineteen, so the only, way the carbon emissions have only uh recently dropped and it has recently dropped uh drastically by about twenty five percent uh and this is only due to the start of uh COVID nineteen


uh the current pandemic pandemic that we are in so when COVID nineteen started obviously it started in in china and many many uh different parts of china were affected, and as a result uh chinese government had to implement uh those uh self isolation measures in uh basically your your circuit breaker for china


so this resulted in many businesses uh having to shut down uh be it temporarily or permanently, so by having all these businesses small businesses large businesses shutdown apart from all your essentials uh this has uh significantly reduce uh resulted resulted in a very significant uh reduce in your uh carbon emissions in china itself


so I I feel like using china as a example uh really really uh puts the urge this show so goes to show how, the efforts that people put into reducing your carbon emissions may not may ultimately may may not be enough to curb the and the existence of climate change uh in itself if you get what I mean


okay so I'll go first ya my first point is it is important as healthy ecosystems depend on them as their foundations when species becomes endangered it is a sign


(ppc) sorry that, the ecosystem is slowly falling apart when a species is lost it will certainly trigger a decline of other species as some species may have only one particular prey and if that prey goes extinct the predator species would almost certainly follow suit


us humans a part of this ecosystem, (ppc), sorry and if animal and plant species in our ecosystem goes extinct we would certainly feel the impact of it


be it directly or indirectly without healthy forests grasslands rivers oceans we will not have clean air water or land, if we allow our environment to become contaminated we are putting our own health at risk hence


it is important to save plant and animal species which are in danger of extinction


okay so in my opinion you are okay I agree with your point however that, this, okay even okay like what you said it may actually restore the balance in the ecosystem but however it


okay but however in my opinion it won't perfectly, restore the balance as the black like let's say for example the black rhinoceros it does have such several feature


such as, the, likewise and hold on please give me a moment to think about it


okay, okay so


okay even though it may actually, restore balance to the ecosystem but, there are definitely some


ways that are there's definitely some better look benefits to having the black rhinoceros around and you think about it if you were to think about it like if


if the black rhinoceros has does not have any additional benefits, or whatnot what was the point of it even what what would be the point of it


what would be the point of it having like being there in the first place, that's what I think like, there's definitely some things that, even though there are okay even though more primary consumers would take over the role but


that those primary consumers, would definitely lack some part that the black rhinoceros have in which that the primary like primary consumers don't so it in that sense, I think that


even though like, there definitely are many more primary consumers out there that could easily take over the role of the black rhinoceros


it may , they would not fit in perfectly into the ecosystem and hence I would feel that it is still important to save plant and animal species which are in danger of extinction


okay


okay so moving on to the second point, it is important as they provide a source of our commonly consumed medication, over fifty percent of the hundred and fifty most prescribed medications were originally derived from a plant or other natural products according to the journal of natural products in the area of cancer


over the time frame from around the nineteen forties to end twenty fourteen out of the hundred and seventy five small molecules approved, hundred and thirty one or seventy five percent are other than synthetic


eighty five or forty nine percent are actually being either natural products or directly derived from natural products, however only about five percent of known plant species have been tested for medicinal uses and there are thousands of plant species that have yet to be identified


according to the world health organisation WHO, sixty percent of all deaths are due to chronic diseases such as heart disease stroke, cancer chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes


with hundreds or thousands even millions of plant and animal species yet to be identified and tested for medicinal uses, there is huge potential for the


cure of currently incurable diseases to be found there, this could very well be a turning point in human history, when people stop dying from the currently incurable diseases society might progress


faster, hence it is important to save plant and animal species which are in danger of extinction


okay you whatever you said might be true however that, okay according to you you said that the probability of an endangered species having the cure to such diseases is comparatively low but


have you ever thought about this, in a sense that if the cure is actually in this species the endangered species before we could even, test for them they become extinct what would be the


what would happen what would be the result of that it would mean it will just mean that this incurable diseases as of now, would still be incurable in the future and that in my opinion is really unacceptable as in a sense that we are so we were so close to getting the cure but however since these species had


gone extinct we would never get what we will never get, the cure of our incurable diseases as such, I would like to state that even though you might whatever you said might be true but we still have to


save this endangered plant and animal species before they go extinct, okay


okay earlier on earlier on you mentioned that, okay I quote, one could also argue that the test could be prioritised and conducted on those endangered species before the rest however you also state that according to the IUCN there are only thirty thousand endangered species


however thirty thousand it it itself is not a small number and how would you prioritise which species to go first and which not to go first


then what about oh alright let's move on to the last point, it is important as this


plants and animals species provide additional sources of income in the form of eco tourism, eco tourism generates billions of dollars each year around the world, according to the twenty sixteen national survey of fishing hunting and wildlife associated recreation produced by the US fish and wildlife service


forty five million people watch birds around their home and away from home, joining other wildlife watches, in contributing to nearly eighty billion dollars to the US economy in addition according to


aberdeen in the united states a a demographic and economic analysis and addendum to the twenty eleven national survey bird watchers spent, nearly forty one billion annually on trips and equipment


local communities, a local community economies benefit from the from the fourteen point nine billion that bird watchers spent on food lodging and transportation


in twenty eleven six hundred and sixty six thousand jobs were created as a result of bird watching expenditures, if these species of animals become extinct chances are the people watching them would stop watching altogether


this would lead to a drastic drop in revenue received by the local community economies as some of them depend heavily on the revenue that comes from these bird watchers


hence it is important to save endangered plant and animal species, so you mention


okay however I would like to say that as this, as the species of birds we are talking about uh actually endangered it means that they are more likely to go extinct compared to the non-endangered species


as such there's a sense of variety to these birds and hence that and hence bird watchers would more would prioritise on these birds birds first, and thus I still feel that it is important


clap first before you all start the debate, okay the proposition environmental concerns and economic growth cannot coexist


one example would be crude oil oil is the source of gasoline heating oil and plastics, the oil industries and related fields have generated billions of dollars for investors and owners created thousands of jobs and enable the growth of other industries such as


automotive and plastics, the world economy would couldn't have grown as fast without the power of oil, in our personal lives we benefit from being able to drive or fly around the world and from plastic consumer goods being so cheap


however the downside is the environmental damage that includes drilling for oil can damage ecosystems, drilling also often often requires killing of plants on the site before drilling begins


another example would be plastic, once considered a miracle of the industrial age plastic has become how part of how we live our daily lives


our toothbrushes are plastic many of our children's toys toys are plastic, the bags we use for everything from trash to shopping to sealing food to keep it fresh are plastic


economic growth makes it possible for people to afford more plastics, and for the industry to expand and create what more plastic to meet the needs


however there is a price for the many benefits, only a small fraction of plastic will degrade and breakdown


most plastics if it's thrown, in a landfill or dropped in the ocean will endure forever, most plastic in in in use main more plastic accumulates in the environment


by twenty fifty it's estimated that the mass of plastic in the world's oceans, would be greater than the mass of fish, fish or any animals that eat


plastic die painfully so as it cannot be digested, like it cannot be digested like real food the fact that the use of plastic, and oil is so prevalent in our society would mean


that it is highly unlikely with that we will see any drastic changes in the near future hence I agree that environmental concerns and economic growth cannot coexist


okay however okay I agree with what you said, but however I would like to point out that, you you you mentioned that countries have started, using alternative solutions to


generating electricity other than just oil is that true, then, okay that's true however the majority of it, it's still not the majority of electricity, are still being generated using oil


and, yeah it just means that, it's, the alternative solutions are just not enough, to, yeah they are just not enough,


okay so let's say you gave the example of, cambodia right however I would like to say that, it is still the sixty percent that, are still being generated by oil and in addition cambodia itself is a small country compared to the rest of the world and yeah if let's say only the small countries


were to do it but the large the big countries such as the united states, yeah the the united states especially with its current administration, yeah, its president doesn't believe in any of these


so yeah, and death it, ya it's basically it just depends on a leader itself and whether the leader believes in climate change and whatnot and yeah


so, in a in the case of the the US its leader doesn't believe in this so as a result, the policies would not, focus on saving the environment and


where and it would use up more resources compared, and that, it will use up more resources as a result, and that might, erase in a sense erase the or rather negate the benefits of all the other small countries combined and


yeah basically, you mean the phone is it, do you know why it stopped, you didn't press anything right


okay uh can I check with your computers recording is still running, okay okay then you all just continue first, wait uh I


my one also stopped yeah, I'm not sure but wait what how do I continue, yeah at the yeah ah it is


without doing anything to the phone right okay so, okay as what I was saying, what what what will you say okay so as what I was saying


the fact that some the large countries some large countries may not want, to, engage in this type of, economic environmentally friendly policies and they would end up using more resources, that which would negate


what's, being done what the, small countries are doing and hence, it may it would be useless at the end of the day


yeah I understand


okay but sorry so okay so right in my opinion it okay like what you said just now I agree that it, everyone everyone's job to, make sure to it is everyone's


duty to ensure that, whatever the climate thing is what okay it is everyone's, duty to ensure that, we to ensure that the environmentally friendly policies go through and what not however it would it boils down to


awareness and however like if I'm not wrong most even though, okay it boils down to firstly awareness and secondly whether would that one is willing to change, in order to save the environment if I'm not wrong in singapore there are I'm pretty sure there are pretty


there are a number of policies made in order to increase the awareness of singaporeans in order to, in order to change to help more environmentally friendly ways of life however it at the end of the day is it


singaporeans we are used to the less environmentally friendly method of life and hence, some of us if not the majority of us would be less willing especially the older generation of singaporeans will be less willing


to change for the environment, yeah and also you said that the size of the country doesn't matter in terms of economic, economical status however


I agree that I agree with that but at the end of the day it's, it's, these big countries, I'm not talking about basic I'm not talking about economic status right now but at the end of the day it's about these big countries being not willing to change and therefore would negate what the smaller countries would do


the efforts that smaller countries did, and hence yeah the whole, environmentally friendly thing would not work in that sense yeah


yeah, sorry I can't hear you yeah hi can hear you yes uh I can hear you uh uh


sorry I can't hear you, yeah hi can hear you, yes uh I can hear you


uh, uh the factories itself the leader tells you


okay yeah, okay so, alright no okay uh in my opinion you know this, organisations and whatnot they are all profit driven and, they need they will need to measure they will need to weigh the costs and benefits


as to whether implementing the more environmentally friendly way methods of production would lead to more revenue being made, and if they if that would mean more revenue being made then why not however it most of the time environmentally friendly methods are not that profit making and yeah


okay the first proposition


it is possible to protect the environment when many countries require increasing amounts of energy to progress the rapid the rapid progress of human society has led


to further research and development as people have the means to carry out such activity which may which are expensive in the short run, but in the long run leads to greater efficiency and cost savings


as such technology would become cheaper and easier to acquire especially green technology as its popularity rises due to greater awareness of people


country can conduct research and develop cheaper and cleaner energy sources, to cope with the increase in demand for energy for the cheap for the economy to progress


smoothly as technology and equipment become cheaper, countries can capitalise on environmentally friendly technologies, and reduce their reliance, on natural resources


such as coal and fossil fuels, which are high in carbon emitters, that destroy the environment, with the invention of large wind power turbines


such as countries such as china korea and new zealand have begun to harness the natural wind, to generate electricity heavy industries that emit high


levels of carbon have begun to install catalytic converters in chimneys and new cars, that are produced have also been fitted with these catalytic converters in order to reduce the amount of poisonous carbon emitted into the air


also hybrid cars are becoming more common and cheaper these days that its popularity is rapidly increasing, greater technological advancements


will lead to such equipment becoming cheaper and more efficient and thus, can help to power the progress, the countries need economically and yet at the same time protect the environment


hence it is possible to protect the environment, when many countries require increasing amounts, of energy to progress


okay you mentioned singapore as an example in your, in what you okay you mentioned singapore as an example however you use wind powered turbines, as we are all in singapore right now


, we will definitely know that singapore does not have such strong winds, to power the wind powered turbines as its name suggests wind powered


so for that for that particular solution the singapore government would definitely not not take into consideration at all given the fact that we simply don't have that strong of wind


yeah, yeah


okay so, you know singapore has a lot of reservoirs and whatnot right I would suggest using like, the make use of the water to generate electricity


yeah like the one, okay like the for example the marina barrage we have, yeah we have a lot of water there right and I think we can somehow make use of that water to basically hydro in a sense


hydro powered turbines I guess , yeah


okay you need sorry


yeah that's true


uh can


, that's true, yeah


in that case the singapore government have to think of other methods ya


yeah alright uh do you want to move on this to the second point, alright the second proposition it is, possible to protect the environment as governments are working together to try to protect the environment


most significantly in many parts of the world where governments take office based on the people's mandate there is mounting pressure on governments, to not only focus on the economic agenda for progress but at the same time protecting the environment


during the US presidential campaign both, you both barack obama and john mccain reaffirmed their, commitments to introduce pro environment policies


also at the recent Copenhagen climate summit in denmark many countries like singapore even developing china and india, all have indicated their willingness to help protect the environment by doing all it can to reduce


energy consumption as most, energy used are provided using coal and fossil fuels, in singapore the government encourages enterprises to construct green buildings or environmentally friendly


buildings that consume energy efficiently and provide attractive incentives such as grants and also give award, through the green label project


government buildings in japan also, reduce energy consumption by reducing the duration of the use of air conditioners and introduce smart and energy efficient lightings that automatically dim when it scans a certain level of sunlight


in the facility therefore with a stronger political will will countries can combat climate change in the midst of rapid economic progress


(ppc)


okay do you want to move on to the last point, alright as society progresses the people, affluence increases as well especially through education and as such there is increased awareness among the world population about climate issues


theories learnt in geography lessons on climate and temperature especially have alerted many people to care for the environment, as people are able to observe unexpected changes in the environment


such as extremely harsh weather conditions and increasing frequency of natural disasters, the increasing knowledge about climate change issues has led to many searching for ways to help protect the environment despite the need for society to progress


people are now tapping on cleaner energies, such as solar and wind energies to generate power for industries and homes, which can help reduce the need to use natural resources such as crude oil and coal


which are causes for increasing carbon emissions, some housing estates in china's capital Beijing have begun installing solar panels on top of roofs of the covered walkways that can generate enough electricity for almost all households


for more than three hours during the night china is seeing rapid economic growth and it's increasing affluence, although has led to a greater demand of energy has also encouraged


cautiousness in dealing with climate change as the chinese began to tap on cleaner sources of energy and decrease their reliance of on coal power energy, which can definitely help to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment from further harm


furthermore the increased awareness for environmental protection has led to more individuals and communities playing their part as well, more individuals and families are beginning to use more efficient lightings at home and reducing the consumption of energy by limiting their use each day previously people could leave their lights on


and electrical appliances on even when not in use, but now there is an increasing trend on people who care about the environment and the welfare of the international community reducing their consumption by switching off unnecessary appliances


many have even become advocates for the environment and help by encouraging their community to do so as well, therefore in the age of the in the age of rapid economic progress it is still possible to protect the environment if individuals are willing to exercise social responsibility by reducing their energy needs


yeah so at the end of the day it just shows that the most important most effective way of curbing this thing is to have another pandemic


so, okay so debate topic one, will be, practical ability is just as important as intellectual skills and how far is this true in


your society so, especially in today's world I would say that based on all the hierarchy of, grade seen in singapore especially such as like primary school everyone wants to get good PSLE scores to go to a good secondary school to


and everybody wants to get a good O level scores to go to good JCs or polys I would say that intellectual skill is generally very focus on in singapore and is a big part like we begin to, teachers and even parents begin to try and


in a way most students and even like, right from primary one there's tuition there's extra class there's supplementary class and remedials to to try and improve, intellectual skills in a sense and


this will make it seem that intellectual skills are more important especially when, when you say that majority of parents teachers and the likes put such a gigantic emphasis on just improving intellectual skills as I mentioned before however on my side I would say that


at least now practical ability is becoming more, accepted and is being more regarded as being a fair important skill, that I would be that I will say is at least close to as important as intellectual skill at least now in our society so why I said that is that


so firstly let's start by saying that intellectual skill, I would define it as being having the ability to solve abstract problems or to grasp like, academic or (ppc) difficult concepts such as calculus and


algebra and the likes and to me practical ability seems more like, how to solve day-to-day problems and being handy being able to solve things around the house and such like teamwork and solving day-to-day uh, issues and in life and how to manage yourself or like finances


so I will say that there are many instances in our society where practical skills has been shown uh practical ability has been shown to be very important, to an extent that I will say it's just as important as intellectual skill, so for one there was a incident not really a incident but for for example there was this news of uh this guy called desmond Quek who's actually is scholar and he's actually also a former military general


who oversaw our SMRT , the SMRT like over overran the SMRT like process and everything relating to our MRT system and so technically from his background you can see that he is very intellectually skilled


being having high uh academic success in being both a scholar as well as being a former uh military general however, during his time overseeing the process of the MRT there was a a lot of breakdowns


there was even a flooded tunnel and apparently there was a collision between two trains and obviously this was not overlooked especially by the public like they pick this they picked up on it uh really quick, and in this sense uh he was heavily criticised for


his lack of practical ability and just from this uh criticism alone you can see that, practical ability is highly important at least to most of the public as they, they focus on like what the effects are intellectual skills are really just shows like it's good for interviews and getting into the job but practical ability really


shows you how you progressed in the job and like its effects for, for the general public and the world and I believe that this criticism shows that at least for the general public they really care about the


you know for about the practical ability as it really affects their overall lifestyle and their life more and as such I would say that practical ability is at least just as important as intellectual skill ah in this regard yeah that's all for myself


wait can you can you clarify that points uh like you kind of over went like the children send to children the can you just clarify that or you


so you are saying that because parents send their children to, to more intellectual skill focused tuition classes and extra curriculum classes that this shows that


it intellectual skill is more valued and priced at least but I would say that, in that sense you only mention I feel like you only mentioned a very small part of


like our society because what you mentioned was basically parents wanting their children to have a large intellectual skill , foundation I would say because they send their children to


to uh tuition classes and all these other classes that focus mainly on academic skill however I believe that at least, in terms of our life and like career and just general public and society in general that practical skill


is more crucial or more important at least once they grow up like they might want to have , my parents may want to have a good intellectual base for children like by sending them to tuition but at the same time parents also


send send their children to like piano classes and violin classes which I'm not sure like would you consider that intellectual skill or practical ability is


I don't know what what would you consider that is that practical ability or I mean they also send their children to let's say soccer classes uh swimming classes even swimming classes are very popular now, it's like a it's a thing that almost every child learns to do like in primary school even in kindergarten I had swimming classes in kindergarten


so I think is is technically a practical ability right because it's, teaching you how to how to swim which is practical instead of being intellectual, furthermore skills such as swimming has been more


more renowned and more well-known in our society now especially after like the the joseph schooling and now it's more regarded as being, like you are able to make a career from it and you're able to progress in life with having good practical ability and they never really focus on like intellectual skill nobody really looks at


him and say like oh it's just ACS scholar it's just his practical abilities is very good and also I feel, practical like at the start when they're young people want their children to have a good intellectual, intellectual skill background


however even our government has been pricing putting more focus on having good practical ability which is why we see more skill future courses that, that focus solely on trying to


so continue or


alright so as I was saying about the the skills future that, even our government has been placing more importance on practical ability like you can now go for courses especially when you are older it's more important to have practical ability because they want you to be able to work smart work hard work efficiently


for the better of our society ah yeah so I will say that overall practical ability is just as important


okay uh I mean I agree to a certain extent that intellectual skills, are considered very important like for society and even the workforce they care they look at, uh intellectual skills is said in order to get a good job to have a good paying job in order to


sustain your sustain a better lifestyle per se however part of these grades also include , a practical ability compartment uh will you say especially nowadays there is uh there's literally practical classes at least for like science or like let's say design and technology and err


food and nutrition where they have, where they have practical that determine their grade so in that sense, practical ability is kind of links to their intellectual skill


because they have to be able to perform well practically as it will affect their intellectual skills, which is which is what I'm trying to say that you know practical ability at least now has been shown to be more


valued in today's society and it's becoming more of a thing that people recognise more yeah


so will you say intellectual ability is more important because that's the first basis and which they they judge our like students and the like is that what you're trying to say


well I men, at least for school admission and even job interviews they might look at your, intellectual skill based on your grades your GPA and whatever certificates you have however I would say that practical ability is still


just as important because if you have intellectual skill and, somehow you do not have the same practical ability to back it up when you go into, to do your career or your work these overlaps in knowledge from practical ability and


intellectual skill will still uh one way or another it will show, and of course like even though you got the job because of your intellectual ability you uh intellectual skills sorry you may very well also lose the job for not having


practical ability so I would still say that practical ability is just as important though you raised a good point maybe, that our criteria for assessing practical ability is not there yet and it's because practical ability's a very difficult thing to kind of assess it has to be hands-on and it has to be


during the (ppc) like during the specific job and the job scope itself in order to assess the practical ability so I will still say that practical ability is just as important as intellectual skill


will you say that someone with good practical ability, is unable at, achieving a certain success or maybe a a certain or having a good career


or being a a worthwhile person to our society as in someone that contributes let's say that person has good practical ability but not so much intellectual skill, would you say that he is unable to contribute as much to our society or like economic in that sense


in what way, in what in what way, like I mean the same could be said as in having practical ability also teaches you how to acquire intellectual skills


such as uh knowing how to work with a team or even communicating can be seen as a practical ability more so than an intellectual skill, and practical ability in that sense will allow you to you know acquire uh intellectual skills faster more efficiently and even maybe understand it better


so in that sense, I would say that practical ability is more important or just as important because having that practical ability foundation is what will be able to allow you to acquire better intellectual skills as well yeah


alright so uh now moving on to debate topic two it would be, uh the word failure should never be used in education discuss !wow! okay so firstly I think it's important we


establish what failure means because uh everybody has different, perceptions of failure to some people failure maybe uh not achieving like the highest of standards like not getting A will be failure


but to others failure could just be like you know they actually like fail a test or failed to meet a certain expectation in that sense like it could be very low and so in that sense I would say, failure does not necessarily should not mean that you fail to uh get like very good failure should be individualised to a specific


person's goals or to their to their needs and to what they plan to achieve so, in that sense I would say I will define failure as the lack of being successful or being unsuccessful in achieving what you set out to achieve or your objectives


next for education education is, the purpose of education is to give the its students a body of knowledge and info and information and even training about a particular subject or topic so


to use (ppc) the word failure and education would imply that a student in that point of education was unable to achieve, a body of knowledge or to was unable or unsuccessfully in achieving their information and training


about a particular subject so now we meet this middle ground where, failure is as we both know failure is a fairly common thing as in many people experience it, but it's the use of the word failure in itself anywhere useful or required


in education so personally , I think that it's not like it should not I agree that, the word failure should never be used in education because calling someone a failure would


be used to describe someone that has done poorly academically in terms of education, at least from what we know that's mainly what education means uh for education like you being a failure will be failing to meet the passing grade


or failure to meet a certain standard to move on to your next phase in life even or like for someone who has come short of their goals let's say they failed to get A that that would mean they are failure to themselves


although I agree that uh I would say that (ppc) the word failure can be used to motivate individuals and even, some people may may use the word failure just for the exact purpose in in an attempt to motivate their students their their students their children and even their friends to


reflect on their mistakes and to learn from their mistakes in order to excel excel and exceed themselves next time I feel like, the reverse of this is also true that it can uh facilitate demoralisation which


negatively infects motivation like if you were if you were labelled a failure just from trying something, like most of us try like once it may lead to a lot of pressure because


it's your it was your technically first time trying something like for education most of us just go in like one time mostly unless you, retain so at the start like being called a failure is very demotivating as it makes you feel like you learn nothing


you wasted your time and that it can also develop a sense of like oh you will never be able to understand this subject or topic or that you are just uh unable to, to do well in this and it might actually lead you to feel even less motivated


and actually do worse for your next time as you're you really have that mentality right that I'm a failure I I don't want to do it anymore, and why should I try and everybody knows I'm a failure the everybody expects me to fail and


maybe they themselves expect them to fail so I think that the word failure shouldn't be used as it's a very negative word and it could, badly influence their mental state and their motivation to continue especially in education which is a it's not a very easy thing ah


as in like education is not easy for everybody and using the word failure may just make it worse yeah


so you're saying that although it can, essentially ruin self-esteem decrease motivation, on the flip side you could also uh motivate them and


the fear of failure can also help them realise their full potential and do better than last time, uh with regards to what you say I I agree to some extent that it could be, used and I even said that it could be used to motivate and uh this could lead to better results and


uh overall it's also better for society if more people are successful, but that's where we should like really think about is it, is it worth it to use the word failure like like you mentioned that seventy eight percent of students uh


fear fear failure in a sense and this fear of failure could manifest itself in, many more harmful ways than the benefit so which we really need to


think about the the negatives and the positives of using the word failure right so like you mentioned the, the word failure has a chance at motivating students


and helping them uh realise their full potential like let's say they fail something and you know they could have done better then the word failure or an F can be used to, make them improve and want to excel more but on the flip side the same thing can be said that it could make them want to just give up or quit because they think that they are unable to do it because they're


labelled as a failure and I think this also boils down to how everybody has different, uh coping strategies as well as a different routes in which they feel motivated so for some people


they may feel more motivated knowing that you know they they failed that they're a failure and they they should do better next time and this would like instill a sense in them that they need to work harder and they will work harder in order, to hopefully excel themselves and not be labelled as a failure in their eyes or their teachers' eyes or whoever's eyes however


uh people do that do not excel from these , or do not benefit from this route of motivation could also develop very , uh negative self thoughts and like you say lower self-esteem in fact there was a scenario in


twenty sixteen I believe october which in which a, a eleven year old boy committed suicide because (ppc) because of his grades his mid year exam grades, he didn't


it's not as like he did like so horribly out of all his subjects he had( um) maybe failed one however he was instilled to have a, have a mentality of achieving seventy and above so anything below that seventy mark he would basically see himself as a you know as a failure and of course this lead to this led to very negative self views and that constant fear of


being a failure especially to his parents because they are the ones who instilled that , that goal of seventy marks is what you know eventually caused him to commit suicide so I would say that it's not


very worth it to use the the word failure at least not for everyone as it could have, very bad uh implications and very negative consequences of using the word compared to its benefits


so it provides feedback and you know like mentioned before it provides a motivation to, excel and do better than last time, but I think really boils down to us well like , is there no better word that we can use besides failure or is there no other way to refer to it


other than failure must you must you be labelled a failure just because you didn't meet a, certain grade or just because you did not pass a certain test or such


like for example we have uh we used to have like it's gonna be changed but we used to have express normal and normal tech so technically, you would have had to fail in order to get into normal tech or normal instead of express


but I think that that shows that it does not need to be used in education and that there are other ways of going about it other than labelling students , failures as you know they could simply be slower and take a longer time in order to achieve success instead of you know being


seen as uh outright failures and being unable to uh be successful in their life, I also and for for what you say about like how uh failure can be used to


or tailored to individual students I would say like there is a a bit of a flaw because I don't see how, let's say you have a failure like someone who failed in in your class and someone who like two people who failed and one person


is able to benefit from using the word failure you can't possibly call , one person a failure and the other person not a failure as that will lead to you know even more difficult scenarios such as uh biasness or, and the such for you know for labelling one person bias and the other person uh one person a failure and the other person not


so I think like it will just be better if like it will benefit more people to to instead of using the word failure maybe they could find a way of like you know needing improvement and the likes however I also agree that you know without that


almost sense of failure it will be uh fear of failure it would also be very difficult to motivate others to do well because they don't have that need to succeed


okay, okay so like you said there is an over emphasis on grades in especially in singapore but


, and you said that more and more people are starting to see that practical ability is just as important


but in twenty fifteen it was revealed that seventy percent of parents send their children for tuition with nearly eight in ten parents, with primary school children they send their children for the sole purpose of improving their academic performance even though only a third of them


actually showed improvements this of, err like parents don't how do I say


they send their children they spent a lot of money on their children just to make them achieve the best grades that they can and this like, this while it definitely emphasises on the need for intellectual skills


, they rather develop their intellectual skills through tuition and uh achieving the best academic performance in school rather than to develop their practical ability


is that does that make


okay


uh it is mine to me so


okay I ya I think it's okay already


okay but the for the obsession over grades is definitely still evident especially in parents, in the current time till they


I mean they have a constant worry that their children that if their children do not do well in school they would end up living a very difficult life in the future like not getting a job


uh or getting underpaid or not having the the skills to even , work a decent job like all the common sayings with like if you don't do well in school you end up as like


a a rubbish collector or you work uh what uh a bad job, instead of serving as a motivator for their children to perform well academically it instills in the children that the idea that poor academic performance


pre destines them for a job that is uh usually described as undignified, which suggests that their grades do define their worth so this not only over-emphasises the need for academic achievement


like this has like become almost a tradition as it's been passed down from generations emphasising the importance of intellectual skills, for their future and never really


like much about like if you can't do like a certain thing or there is always focus on getting good grades in especially in school


okay but if uh you may argue that in recent years like especially like the more, more higher education institutions have begun to shift their emphasis away from academic grades to more skill based or attitude based


(um )especially during student admissions however I think intellectual skills still play a very big part in the application process like for instance if a students rank point or


GPA fails to meet the tenth percentile of the indicative grade profiles for the respective universities, many would just simply recommend it they should not even bother applying, even though meeting a score does not guarantee admission


the this idea of just it just states that good grades like weigh more than practical ability and it's still very apparent even though


there's been more more focus on uh developing skills in students, they yeah it just seems like the grades still matter more


yes yes


no I wouldn't say that but, being competent in uh intellectual skills is definitely it's definitely gonna, it's gonna benefit how they develop their practical abilities like if they have or they don't have


the intellectual skills it's gonna be hard it's gonna be uh difficult to even uh work on practical ability


let's say so it's like the base yeah it's like the foundation for practical ability, so if you don't have that like


if you learn how to do something and if you don't like how to do just one thing and you're expected to do it , say in like different environments like if you don't understand what you're doing it


it's just like muscle memory for like practical ability


okay okay failure is a rather negative word and it shouldn't be used at all, in education I feel that


it should be used and it to be used at appropriate times and, certain only in certain situations


yeah the purpose or the purpose of the education system is to well, how do I say it to transfer knowledge to the students and to examinations is to gauge the degree to


to which the student has gain the knowledge and how prepared they are to move on in to the next, level or next phase, the use of the term failure is important nonetheless as part of education as it serves as a form of constructive criticism and as a means to guide the students towards improvement


however as more people begin to view this term as a tool to demoralise students, it then loses its benefits and also creates new problems for schools


and education systems the word failure has been associated with many negative experiences especially by students, but even educators, one of the worst fears of a student is getting called out for failing a test in front of their peers or having their parents informed


by a teacher of their poor academic performance, however having to be reviewed by supervisor due to high failure rates in a class can also be negative for a for a teacher


but I feel that the word failure can be used as a tool to motivate, the students to learn from their mistakes and to work towards achieving better grades, it can be expressed through an F on a paper or through word of mouth which although have been argued to manifest feelings of regret and disappointment and even lower self-esteem


can also manifest a drive in the students to better themselves, like for example in twenty nineteen, singapore logged the highest percentage of students which was seventy eight percent having agreed to possess a fear of failure


among the other countries studied such as taipei and Hong-Kong with this in mind the use of the word failure can be used to enhance, that fear in a positive way to ensure that the students use it to improve their attitudes towards learning and uh to achieve to maximise their potential


therefore I disagree that the word failure should never be used


okay , I have to agree there is definitely a high uh high rates of suicide and depression, especially in students as due to that fear of fear of failure


or disappointing maybe their parents or even themselves and uh this it's definitely concerning, but it doesn't uh


maybe relate like to maybe relate the those depression or suicide rates to to stress too high amounts of stress and this doesn't just mean the


use of the word failure or them encountering any failures it's possible the heavy workload that they have in school, an although I agree that failure is


it it shouldn't it's not a it's not one size fits all approach to to to motivating the students as, each student is is


they have their different learning methods and they have different, pace of learning so I would I think that the word failure can be used


it can be used appropriately and when used appropriately it would, provide benefits to the student not not only can it benefit the students it can also benefit the educators


who can also , make necessary arrangements to benefit the students, well like most teachers will understand and appreciate the fact that every student is different and they possess different traits and skills and they learn at different pace


so by failing a student they are able to identify their strengths and weaknesses in different subjects maybe, and they can use that to alter their teaching methods that best suit the students so they could use failure to help them individualise their


their teaching methods to different students as well every student learns differently and like for example in singapore, and many other countries we engage the students in streaming examinations which


helps to further, uh , like further individualise the students to their learning abilities, uh like yeah


so by streaming them with similar with students with of similar academic capabilities into like the same classes same, levels uh same same schools, the teachers are like it it will be better for the teachers to to be able to stimulate the best learning environment for them


so that they can learn and different yeah so by using the word failure it can be used to, gather feedback for the teachers and to help them, yeah okay yeah


yeah okay yeah


okay


okay so I've I think that it should, the right to vote should not be limited to those who are educated, because, it is also possible that the educated voters are more likely to be biased due to the ability to


like you said comprehend it in their own way with like in terms of the their knowledge their extent of their knowledge and, the ability to read in between lines be influenced by propaganda one-sided views and biased sources


claiming to provide fair view through social media and fake news, it could risk them becoming blind supporters and vote for whoever


is the most popular and due to uh the claim freedom of speech , in singapore there is like it is evident that even though these voters may be educated they


still are able to vote blindly like they, can be influenced by other people who may have a it's like a better state like a higher status which is often deemed as more


uh reliable and can lead to them being close minded and, educated people can, take advantage of that situation which can lead to corruption and unfair elections they may even use their education to manipulate the idea of


others to vote based on their own biased views and support , yeah yeah then uh yeah


uh having the right to vote is a basic right that should not be taken away regardless of education status which is supported by the claims of being a democratic society, to withdraw the right to vote from the uneducated not only proves that discrimination is evident


but also goes against the idea of democracy in singapore voting is compulsory as it is deemed as a fundamental right of citizenship and civic responsibility which is to be exercised by the citizens


to choose who should represent them in the parliament so by limiting the right to vote to only educated people it, it represents an unfair situation to those who are uh uneducated which in this case is most


often referred to as achieving a university degree, and education and political literacy is are two very different things and those who may be educated may still know nothing about politics and thus be highly likely to vote blindly


as the chances of them voting blindly is as it's almost as high as those who are uneducated, I guess


okay so, but educated people are not it's it's not that uneducated people are more prone to being influenced by maybe like fake news


or biased opinions as, I I feel that educated people are


also can also be influenced by that as uh to , like a similar extent because like you see it's like the most recent twenty twenty general elections right it had seemed like


the present day elections were no longer focused on what the candidates or the parties could offer to the citizens, but rather the professionalism of their campaign videos the strength of their social media presence the


extent of their PR stunts and their promises to potential supporters this could, their this could well influence both the educated and the uneducated by


with all these campaigns stunts and it doesn't only mean that the educated would be the most, influenced by these like promises that the politicians have offered while make


uh they were carrying out their campaign, and also even if you limit the voting rights to only educated people the fear of casting an invalid vote


uh a vote that is biased may be especially apparent in new voters they may be educated and they may read a lot, about that but as a new voter they


they wouldn't realise how much of an effect their vote would make especially in deciding their own government so


those who are uneducated may have had experienced what the what their vote has say what kind what how their vote has affected their own government and how their how