, I do believe that he made a lot of promises unfulfilled and those promises may have, in the one that attracted people thinking that you know he will do everything for the benefit of america he wants america to grow uh he want them to have be to have more economic


uh, standing etcetera so with those positive points that he may have a manipulatively put in to people's, mind , they voted him in without realising the


what will happen in the future but then again now you see there's gonna be a re-election, soon correct, per se campaign is ending we if see now there's so many people out there bossing against him


and in fact, there is a very high probability the fact that he won't be re-elected, and having the probability that he won't be re-elected does show


does show the fact that, people are, understand the actions that their president takes, uh for their country and even if they have made a uninformed decision in a, past they will not repeat their mistake again


, because the reason they had made made their uninformed, decision may be due to the fact that they were manipulated or they didn't understand what exactly donald trump meant but his action show everything that he meant and his actions are the ones that are going to deter people


from voting him the future so I do feel that you know everyone should have the right to vote in election that's what democracy is all about, ya


honestly now that think about it it is it is not easy to educate them on politics because there is so many buyers in in when we educate people so let's say even if I want to educate a group of students on politics


uh, subconsciously I may end up talking a nicer things about the particular party that I believe in rather than the oppositive opposition party which he gives the fact that they should have a mutual understanding of both parties before they decide which one is best


so, in that sense it is very hard to educate people's first, quickly about political scenarios in, they going on but uh what I do agree with is the fact that and having the ageing age as the limit does uh give rise to uh the fact that these people are mature enough to understand their


politics situation and when they have to vote, uh, either by making compulsory to vote then they were automatically seek out the answers that they are looking for ya and uh even in the the donald trump's case


uh, before donald trump was elected there were so many things that no one knew about you know only throughout his elections many things came rise uh to the surface about his scandals about things that he have done, past all these they were not uh very transparent about previously


so even if you are educated, or you try to research on the particular president was running you may not find the information that you're looking for and you may not find a information that deters you uh from voting for them because what he did was wrong you may have never knew about it so I I do believe that uh


educated like not only educated people should have the right everyone should have the right ya to


part one debate topic one


our debate topic is that ah practical ability is just less important than intellectual skills and uh I am the opposition so I will begin


my first, point being I do think that, , increasingly intellectual skills maybe important but they're not as important as practical ability and this can be seen in our society as we see that it's increasingly more difficult, to get


a a good job just with good grades, we see that the proportion of graduates from university who are able to secure a full time job within the first six months of their graduation has gone down so in twenty seventeen this percentage was eighty-eight-point-nine


but in twenty sixteen it was much higher, so this shows that despite the fact, that these graduates have, good intellectual ability this is not enough for them to secure a job they need to be able to show that they have the skills and their practical ability in order to find employment


I agree that the point that you made, I do think that, intellectual abilities are necessary as, in getting your food through the door so to speak, but, I see that increasingly a lot of top companies are not just looking at your grades but they have also moved on to incorporate


, skills based application processes so for example if you were to apply for google, for a tap position, looking at your grades a first class honors from NUS will not be enough, they will make you go through several rounds of coding interviews just to see that you have the technical skills and know how to backup your grades


and it's not just google I've seen this in companies that, a lot of my friends have also applied for so I see that increasingly they evaluate candidates based on the skills they possessed and the fact that they have taken on projects that show that they have the practical ability to carry out the job not just their grades


so I I think that this proved the point that practical ability is becoming as important if not more so than intellectual skills in thriving it for


, more onto your point about how some jobs they they still require good grades such as such as retail as you mentioned, I think there's also the flip side to that so if you can see examples of people like joseph schooling or even the chefs behind the hong kong soy sauce chicken stalls


these are people who, may or may not had had the intellectual skills but they are highly regarded to they they enjoy success in the form of fame, and financial, financial success because of their practical abilities for joseph schooling it was because he had put in the hours and he


put, to the world that he was a competent swimmer, , and then for the chefs it was that they had taught themselves well enough, for their practical ability in cooking to be well regarded by so many, I think increasingly our society is moving away from just looking at


intellectual skills although you make a fair point that in a lot of jobs today these two that's like the basic that they expect from you to get in, but, we are moving away from that and I do still believe that practical ability is, becoming more and more important in singapore today


that's a that's a good point , I think singapore is still quite status conscious and, having come from good schools that illustrate, your intellectual abilities definitely helps you to, boost your credibility in society,


increasingly I I do feel that, simply having intellectual skills and having attended goods, schools, it's not a reflection of how well you will do in your future so we can, just take the example of the recent handling of COVID-nineteen in singapore so even though the state created a task force that was made up of


very intellectually capable ministers right we look at our parliament and all of our ministers have, illustrious backgrounds they came from the best schools and they will like scholarship holders, this did not translate into, a very good handling of COVID in singapore we still have one of the highest number of cases in southeast asia even though our country is so small


and we, I saw that a lot of singaporeans were unhappy with the response that the task was put forward claiming that it was slow and not sufficient, so I think that this is yet another example of how having intellectual abilities is not enough


no one is questioning that these ministers are not smart they are very smart and they had definitely gotten the good grades and, the good background, they have had the background and the experiences that put them in this position but simply having those intellectual abilities


did not prove sufficient, as they were not, not completely able to manage the situation in singapore they did not have the practical abilities to, to, do better for the country so I guess that also shows how we are placing greater value on the ability to perform and to use practical skills for tangible benefit


rather than simply, possessing intellectual abilities


, you make fair points I I cannot really, uh, I cannot really disagree with what you say because they that is true, in in the time to come however I I would think that


practical ability will become more important it may not be, through, in our society as of right now but I think in time to come it will be more important and you can see this in, the way that our schools have, moved away from traditional curriculum and set up just examining us


on very, formal subjects like english math and science now you see that primary school kids had to take coding classes from a young age and, in , they're exposed to a lot more things they have to, do, projects with their classmates even though these were things that


originally did in university increasingly the ministry is making them do it at a younger age because, they want to be able to inculcate practical ability just as much as intellectual skills, but I agree, to the point that as of right now having intellectual skills is still the basic requirement is the stepping stone that you would need


to, to get a good job to earn good money, to achieve what's the traditional definition of success in singapore, but I do, believe that in time to come, , practical ability will become more important than intellectual skills


that's my opinion


, do you think it's a good thing that we moving away from purely intellectual skills


I think I think it's great , I think that simply evaluating a person's, abilities based on his or her grades is, very superficial and it's not a good reflection of how well that person will perform later on in life, a lot of things


and a lot of forms of success are not dependent on, on your grades or how well you can study, but, ~ther how quickly you can pick up soft skills like being able to, do, communicate with others, be a good team player and, how are you able to translate those skills into actual work


done, so I think it's it's a good thing that we moving away from, just intellectual skills into looking at practical ability as well, , I think it could be done faster, but I'm glad that a lot of companies are taking the first step some of them have even


removed the need to submit your, your , transcripts so quite a few companies that I've applied for they don't ask me for my GPA or my class of honours they just asked me to perform online quizzes, , and in interviews they often question me on past experiences so if I see I have a certain skill can I show that


I, have put that skill into action and I have gotten some results, I think it's great that these companies start setting the step forward I think, even, that the education ministry has recognised that it's important to develop practical ability, , we are often regarded as very book smart but maybe not street smart so I'm glad that same voice


slowly moving away from that and encouraging, its citizens to be able to, , practically do things rather than just have, good grades


I think we are in agreement on


part two debate topic two, the word failure should never be used in education


discuss, so here I take the stance of the proposition again, my first point being I agree that failure should never be used in education because they often leaves a very significant negative impact, on the individual


the point of education has to inculcate a love for learning, such that students will always still motivated to explore beyond their comfort zone right because school is only for the first few years of their lives but for the remainder they will have to be willing to


go out and try new things, and see where that takes them, if you label students as failure, often, this results in towards self esteem, which impacts the students' desire to learn and their vileness to take risks, then


for impede them from acquiring further knowledge and skills that would help them in their future and I I believe that this goes against the whole point of an education, so for example I used to be a teaching intern at a local secondary school and I remember at one of my classes uh one of my students he was not doing the work that I had assigned him and he I asked him why and he just said there's no point teacher because I know I'm going to fail


and that was quite sad for me to hear that at such a young age you're already so scared to even attempt a piece of work because they are scared of failing and you're scared of not doing well and the consequences of that, I saw first hand how the label failure


, affects a student's willingness to to try even if they get it wrong they are just not willing to take the first step, so this is why I I feel that failure should not be used in the context of an education because they often leaves a very significant negative impact on the individual or the student


I do agree with the point that you make, , I think when used appropriately, maybe, the word fail is not all bad, and it could in fact encourage a a student or person to


make the extra effort to correct their mistakes and to learn from, them, I I do think that using the word failure is a bit harsh though, but, ya you were you made a good point that in singapore at least we are moving away from, putting like fail on your exams and they using different ways to get


people to correct their work, another point I have as to why failure should not be used is because it's very difficult to define what a failure is, in, I would say that education goes beyond your traditional subjects like english and math


where it's easy to examine the attitude of a student and to decide or if he or she passes or fails, education also involves in parting, good values things like, being honest and being a good team player


it is very difficult to come up with a metric to allow teachers to evaluate of a student has failed that been kind for, ~ple, in in that case I think it's, it's impossible in fact to, to use the word failure in that kind of a context and if education goes beyond just former subjects to imparting these skills


and I feel that the word should not be used in education at all what do you think


you make a good point that, , feeling at a particular subject for example is, just a reflection of that person's ability, at that point and time, it's not reflection of how well that person will go on to do in the future, and I say this because my next point was gonna be that


people labelled as failures, , might actually go on to do well later on in life when they have to go out into the workforce, I seen, the examples of so many


I've seen the examples of so many entrepreneurs, for example who, did not do as well in school, some of them, in their biographies they they share about how they continuously failed subjects, how they were told by their teachers that they wouldn't amount to anything in life


and yet here they are, years in the future and they're doing very well for, themselves, they have had the the soft skills and the practical ability, to start a business to earn some money and to hire stuff to support them I think that this shows how


labelling people as failures early on in life during their education fails, is not a good reflection of their ability, it it may be accurate at that point in time but, a lot of people later go on to do very well in life, and


perhaps then you should evaluate if, we should be calling people failures, when they are young to begin with , I think maybe there is a distinction to be made, would you be okay with saying that this person, failed or calling that person a failure


I think those are two different things, personally I've never been called a failure, uh I think I would be, scarred for life if one of my teachers called me a failure but I have been told that I had failed in exams or, that I need to bark up in something or the other and I think that's fine


ya so I think they needs to get distinction between using the word failure and, saying that you failed in something what do you think


, I agree with your point about how, when used appropriately maybe telling someone that they failed at something, , can help them to build resilience which is very very useful especially when they go out


outside school , I think we've all heard the term strawberry generation and a lot of the older parents like to throw this around at the younger students saying that, we are too , like we don't have the resilience and the


emotional strength to be able to bounce back from setbacks and from failures so I think you make a very good point that, if we were to, teach from young that it's okay to fail as long as you learn from your mistakes and, improve moving forward


if used in in that kind of a context I think, the word failure is appropriate and it would in fact bring about very good, consequences , but I also feel that there is a need to, perhaps decide, when we should be able to use the word failure and when we can't so I think


you made a point just now about how maybe in primary school and secondary school, failure should not be used I agreed with you, I think that , maybe only when students have reached a certain emotional maturity, and that, could maybe happen in junior college or polytechnic or later on


then it's okay to use the word failure because they would be able to understand that they are more than this setback that they can move away from it and that they can come out stronger, so, overall I I, I I still feel that in some


cases the word failure should not be used but I agree with the point that, if used effectively if used in the appropriate, context it can be, very beneficial for the individual hearing that word, they can then make changes to where they gone wrong they can


, rectify their mistakes and they are likely to build resilience needed to do well in life later on


I agreed with your points, ya I I wouldn't, contest what you said I think it has its value in education but it must be used in the appropriate context, and, when you call someone a failure you should also be able to


then tell that person okay so now what what other steps you take moving forward how can you bounce back from this, simply leaving a failure is, not good you have to tell them how they can move forward from


part three debate topic three, only educated people should have the right to vote in elections what is view what is your view


I agree that only educated people should be allowed to vote in elections, I think, elections revolve about choosing between capable people and electing them into positions of power, in order to make this choice


, a lot of candidates quickly discuss, they abuse on economics or social and foreign policy, among other things, I believe that in order to make, uh, a good decision as to which candidate is better suited for that position


voters should be able to understand these proposed policies, and this would require a minimum level of education, if you were to to the term, , expansionary fiscal policy at and, at a person, who has not gone through some form of economic education training


the meaning would be completely lost on that individual he wouldn't be able to know what it means and how it would affect him in the future, so asking uneducated people to vote in such a situation would result in, and inefficient outcome


and , a an outcome that will not be beneficial for the entire society, therefore I I I feel that a certain level of education is necessary before allowing people to be able to vote for someone to come into power and make decisions for the entire country


you make a very good point that, , if we were to evaluate a person based on, his educational qualifications it may not, reflect how well was he is with, with, the political scene around him, and


but but but then again you see that how the minimum voter age in singapore is twenty one, I believe that they set this age because they probably thought that, by the age of twenty one there will be some level of understanding of how to choose a good candidate and that would be influenced by


the education that the person receives, so in this case I do think that, , I do believe that some, level of education is necessary in order to be able to make decisions like


voting for people during an election, , and we see that in, recent times with the latest election, the youngest set of voters, the voters that who, for whom it was their first time voting they took to social media to educate one another on politics


so I felt like this was a reflection of how, , they were able to craft political opinions because they had the educational background to read materials available for online and then they were able to share these opinions with their peers, and I feel like their educational background


help them to be able to understand what was being put online about politics and then share this information with their friends, I think it would have been, quite difficult for them to share political opinions if they didn't have a minimum level of


education of understanding, , so in this case I I think that educated people should have the right to vote in elections because they're the ones who, understand what is coming for them understand the policies that are being put forward and are able to make better decision


than someone who for example, does not have the educational background to understand, political discourse


, ya I think you make a very good point about how


if , educated people who vote for someone who would put for policies that would benefit them and maybe not so much benefit, the uneducated people, but I think maybe we can look at the flip side and look at the example of donald trump in the US


so, his election in twenty sixteen was quite, ~ed, because the the policies that he was putting forward when he was running for, the role of president, were quite


tisa and very strange compared to what the US was already doing, he was very pro protectionism he wanted to remove free trade agreements he wanted to, keep american jobs for americans he wanted to cross borders with mexico


and, a lot of the more maybe educated people recognised that this wasn't going to be very good for the US, in order for the american economy to thrive they had to be open to trade they had to be open to allowing foreigners to move into the country take up jobs here and maybe teach other americans how to do


their jobs better for exam, , the more educated people who recognise this they were very against donald trump, but if you were to look at how he won you, would see that, most of his voters came from the more rural farming communities in america faces in the mid west where people did not have as much education


, those were the people that voted for him those are the people that wanted him in power because they felt that his policies will benefit them the most they were the ones who are most scared about losing their jobs, to foreigners, they were the ones who were most scared about


, not having their goods been sold in america because they were not competitive compared to cheaper foreign goods, for example so I think, the flip side is also true, that if uneducated people were to vote for, who they wanted and if they want they would probably choose someone who would benefit them the most


, in this case I would argue that the outcome of heading donald trump as president has not been good at all for for the US, I think his presidency has been, marred by a lot of scandal and poor decisions can see it now in how COVID is being handled over there so


I think, with this example, it can be seen that if, only educated people were allowed to vote in elections, probably the outcome would be better for the entire country, there might be some people who would be unhappy


with the outcome but, I mean if you if you take a utilitarian point of view the benefit of everyone, outweighs the the cost to a few people ya


yeah you you don't make a good point the fact that there is so much unhappiness now in the US, , across the country not just amongst the more educated, parts of the countries for example , it does illustrate that, even people with lower education are realising that


having him in power is not good, and that they need to, remove him or elect someone else, in november , but this came as a result of, the four years that he was president, he


people only started to recognise this at the end of his term now that they see that he has not been able to, deliver his promises, , now that they see that he isn't very good at managing the country or making good decisions for the, people, it is only now when they see the consequences of his presidency that they are beginning to understand that they should not have voted for him


in the first place so, I'm wondering if if they had been, , greater levels of political education, in a sense, would people have made the same decision, and moving forward how do we


, equip people to be able to choose, who's right for them how do we (ugh), educate people to be sway by emotional statements, that candidates may make and to instead choose people, who are going to have


good solid policies that would benefit the country, , I think you and I both agree that looking at academic education is not a good evaluation, it's shouldn't be used to determine if a person is, is qualified to vote for an election


but I'm I'm beginning to think now that, how would we ensure that, people are, politically educated to make a wise decision do you have any maybe suggestions how that can be done


debate topic one


okay thanks stanley uh actually uh I totally uh heard what stanley mention about uh this topic happiness is an expensive pursuit today, and I totally agreed with uh stanley's definition of expensive uh but I would like to share another perspective


uh to to the, to the team that uh in fact if he uh view for another examples beside uh singapore there is one uh particular country which can show that this statement is not


exactly true uh the country I would like to quote is uh bhutan which is a very err very popular in the world that uh people know this country by , uh knowing that they have a way of life that can pursuit happiness in an inexpensive way


uh the country even have uh their own way of uh measure the happiness like gross national happiness GNH, this process uh actually uh measure GNH begin uh to uh uh in bhutan and now uh I think they attract a lot of countries' attentions


it is the measurement of uh people's quality of life and make sure that the material and spiritual development happen together, okay err there is another way of life that can pursuit happiness in an inexpensive way and it's very popular


nowadays I think switzerland even uh uh received a title like switzerland of asia which uh mean that uh people honored their efforts in uh you know uh build happiness in an inexpensive way for their people


(ppc) so uh, based on this kind of uh perspective I think the statement itself is not uh happiness is an inexpensive pursuit today in certain place (ppc)


of course uh uh, it's is very subjective at the end of the day is uh still, depends on individuals like err (ppc) like the Moscow law you know uh uh for material pursuit


is uh they have a certain limit up to certain stage uh the, material that can bring you happiness doesn't work anymore so I think uh that is what uh bhutan uh government try to achieve something which is uh a norm for most of the country nowadays which create a lot of pressure for everyone (ppc)


uh ya that's the point I would like to bring to the team today uh to highlight my point of view on happiness is not an sive safe way to pursuit today if you have a correct method


uh okay thanks stanley uh I got the point that uh you mentioned about uh to in to actually to uh visit a country like bhutan uh you need a lot of uh money to, to do that uh okay since that the case uh how about uh I I try to set an uh give another examples about happiness is not


and it is an inexpensive err pursuit, uh, uh where in singapore if you compare to our parents' generation or even our grandfather generation grandparents' uh generation I think uh back then uh they can achieved more happiness than uh the new generation uh nowadays


uh what, we are we are talking about at the same locations uh why why it can happen in this manner I mean uh, why our uh previous generation people can live longer and healthier compare to now okay all this is causing by uh whether you are happy or unhappy with your life err


in the same location uh I'm referring to a same location so uh , so uh how how do you uh measure happiness is, exactly it's not exactly uh based on uh (ppc) uh the location actually it's about contentment I believe


that our our our our our, grandparent generation they are m~more easy they're easier to contented and then they can fit a bigger families, you know err and yet they they don't have a lot a lot of uh materialistic err item to enjoy during that time yet they feel happy about it so all this thing is about individuals you know


by the way a lot of uh a lot of uh good thing in the world is still free like you know sunlight uh air fresh air, and uh uh clean water I believe certain for certain place is you still uh manage to get uh clean waters uh freely I I'm you know uh so uh it doesn't mean that you really need to uh have a lot of money to uh to uh to pursuit uh happiness uh is all it depends on individuals


uh uh, uh pursuit lah I mean ya, (ppc) yup


okay thanks stanley uh for your point of view on uh on the current situation at your perspective uh in fact uh I'm uh doing a interviewer jobs and I realise that uh it all depends on individuals uh level of contentment uh I would like to set another examples


for to their perspective , I visit a lot of uh respondents uh in singapore okay in singapore and I realise that uh certain race is uh in singapore uh they can live they can still live more or less like uh our grandparents' generation


I mean uh they have that kind of uh level of contentment still in this today's context, uh I would like to set an examples like uh I visit a malay families with still have uh half a dozen of children I find that they their income is not


uh very high but I think they can still live in a very cohesive family environment, uh why why is that so why they still can pursuit a happiness in an inexpensive way in singapore context today so this is uh really like to uh to show an examples that you know uh it's all boils down to uh individual situations


I mean uh now the final examples is in the same context in the same timing as well as in the same uh locations so uh how how does this ah explain uh happiness, you know err is an expensive pursuit today I really uh uh cannot understand why certain people can feel differently


so there must be certain things to support them to uh achieve, that uh in a way that I know uh other people don't don't really, find a way to understand their situations or you know the way of uh finding a way of


to uh (ppc) to live in uh, way that uh know that pursuit of happiness in an inexpensive way in singapore today (ppc)


debate topic two


uh okay thanks uh stanley for all the points and definition of the statements uh about diligence and success uh I do agree with uh stanley on the uh definition that uh he posted just now uh but one thing I need to err highlight is that


uh like the one first examples that err, stanley mentioned uh that diligent is a very good examples for today's event I would say that uh there's certain things is more important than, diligence is is about curiosity and openness if people don't even want to try at the first place uh the rest of the thing won't happen today


so uh I would mention I would say that uh why we go to studies is because mainly is because uh you know uh you they try to , make a person mind to be more open and uh you must have the curiosity to learn more in order to activate diligence subsequently


so uh without the curiosities and openness in the first place diligence, can lead you to uh uh another directions which uh cannot lead you to success eventually you know there is a lot of uh uh bad examples uh happened in the world nowadays uh that you know uh only rely on diligence


it may not, lead you to success if the direction is wrong, okay err beside that, okay okay uh ya that's about it thank you


okay uh thanks stanley for highlighting uh about, curiosity and openness do have their own limitations in certain manners, uh beside that uh beside that I would like to highlight that uh, diligence must be lead by something more important in order to lead to sucs~key success that's my main point of uh discussion just now uh


you know what causing a curiosity and what curiosity and openness uh main functions to lead to uh key to success is it is a starter it is a starter to, to cause everything happen you see without this starter I don't think err it's just like a light bulb you see without without uh starter in the first place


things cannot roll out okay, beside that uh of course uh that got more other factors have to have to complement each other in order to lead to success diligent alone cannot lead to success


I mean uh very classic examples is you you can see uh a lot of animals is very diligence but why they cannot success, uh in a way they cannot success uh they got other factors that they don't have compare to human you see so uh uh that is my point that uh I need to bring up another most more important uh element is the intelligence


you see instead of a diligent is uh in one of the is one of the element that lead to uh lead lead to success but, it cannot be a key it it cannot be the only key to success it you have to rely on intelligence in order to uh (ugh) uh to increase the chances of success so err I would say that intelligence


in a way is more important than uh diligence that's the why that's why I believe singapore government uh is very emphasise on education in order to uh make every uh citizens or residents here very


!aiya! okay very intelligence uh thank you (ppc)


thanks stanley for your point of bringing up bringing in uh albert einstein famous uh or very popular quote uh by the way uh I need to emphasise my stand is that I


I believe that diligent is still uh key to s~success but it is it cannot be a main key to success, like what uh you quote uh albert einstein is uh quote just now uh, somebody did mention that you know uh ya ninety nine percent is referring to diligent it as a matter of fact


the somebody did mention that einstein also say something that, not many people have the balance one per cent that's why a lot of people cannot success so uh this this lead to another reason why the income inequality in the world is very very imbalance nowadays do you know that uh l~lately uh I think


the the the what ah the, the U UN uh chief uh did mention that twenty six people in the world own the wealth is equivalent to the balance low bottom fifty per cent of the population of the world so if you can see how scary is the world nowadays


is because of uh something drive uh something drive somebody to success more than, using just diligence how can uh twenty six people in the world have the uh have the wealth


equivalent to the bottom fifty per cent of the entire global population which is close to three point five billion nowadays so that must be something wrong with just rely on diligence, to be success uh of course uh ya this ya this is a examples uh very very uh very uh uh


very attentive uh it's a very attentive uh statements that quote by the UN very recently thank you


okay thanks uh stanley for your point that highlight uh just now err ya I, need to uh reiterate that uh I I'm not going against uh diligence diligent is still one of the factors to success but it cannot be the key to success that is the statement I come over uh now


uh just uh refer to what I mentioned just now, if the UN chief is right that he mention in the world there's only twenty six most wealthiest peoples' wealth which is the measurements of uh success for most of the people is equivalent to a


three point five billions uh populations of the lower bottom populations in the world, so uh this is much more beyond the twenty eighty, percent rules so there must be something wrong with err err


something wrong with the ingredient to be the to be the key uh to achieve the key to success if the measurement alone is just uh, just based on material wealthiness and uh you know uh wealthiness alone so uh it is very again it is boil down to uh what you want to achieve at the end of of of the day


uh, I would say that uh I I just now I mentioned about intelligence uh as a one of another key to success instead of a diligent, is a primary or fundamental to achieve uh uh next level which I believe will lead to most of the people to perceive as a key to success which is the wisdom this cannot be uh just uh achieved through


learning alone you have to go through the whole life, and uh, experience certain things and conclude it yourself I mean uh in order to achieve that that will lead to the key that would be the main key to


success uh that uh , which is more important than diligent of course uh diligent has to be there to make this happen as well thank you


okay thank you stanley I think uh we left about I think uh less than twenty second now uh ya I just want to conclude that uh in fact diligence again I need to uh reemphasise that diligent is still a factors to success okay but I think wisdom is more important as a key to success


debate topic three


uh thanks uh stanley for for the definition of democracy uh which uh emphasised on uh his speech just now, uh I would like to uh re-quote, the uh uh


popular statement by winston churchill he did mentioned that no one pretends that democracy is the perfect or all wise meaning to said uh a good system doesn't mean that it apply to everyone but ironically the whole world now majority more than eighty percent of the world is


uh running in a democratic society so uh what is it trying to uh imply uh is still yet to know okay uh of course uh come to india, I would say that uh they run in a most they one they are one of the they are one of the democracy country in the world the largest democracy uh country in the world but uh it doesn't mean that uh democracy doesn't work for the country


I think err to run a country the most important thing is the leadership rather than what system you are using, you can see it uh in germany it can it run is still run in a democracy system but uh the country is run very well and then uh it's


one of the top performer country in the world and yet uh uh the system itself, has no issue with germany and then uh they even lead the their neighbouring country to join EU, so err democracies in a way that is not err


it's not a problem by itself, you know uh and then uh it it it definitely cannot be more important than other factors thank you


okay thank you uh stanley uh for your bringing up a examples that happened in uh US uh again I want to reiterate that uh democracy is a system that err work well, for most of the country in the world and US in particular


uh is the country that uh always have uh a lot of uh issues nowadays uh, but it doesn't mean that democracy system is uh is is bad in a way as what I said uh winston churchil say that uh this is not all wise system uh I would say that uh in US nowadays


it is not about democracy system failed them it's about discipline and err you know uh discipline of the society, everyone want to do the way they want to do and then uh there's no uh there's no strong leadership there to to to lead the crowd


that cause uh what US uh currently thank you


okay thanks uh stanley to highlight about, the examples uh you quoted the examples uh just now okay I would like to I I would like to refer to uh most popular uh


ya ya ya I heard that also okay, sure okay uh I would like to highlight that uh uh one of the classic examples about uh democracy happened in the world is india as well I need to re-quote india, india used to be uh colonised country uh but uh due to uh I mean uh based on uh what uh their great leader Gandhi lead the entire citizens to


to uh to make india independent and form a democratic country is a very classic examples of uh how leadership performed before the system even born so uh I would, not say that a democracy is uh system that cause it that uh causing a leadership cannot perform it should be another way the other way how Gandhi uh lead the world to be independence


ya, how Gandhi ah uh bring uh I mean lead uh india into a, independent country and run in a democracy way is a very uh classic examples of a good leadership thank you


okay thanks stanley to refer back to uh US as a classic examples for this statements uh I would like to uh emphasise on one thing at is that uh US is a great nation for the past three hundred years, for the last thirty years something wrong with US uh this this is err everybody uh aware of it it doesn't mean that uh the the previous ninety percent which prove that democracy has made a country great uh has failed currently because of democracy


how do you uh because the previous ninety percent has bring, uh uh, a piece of land to a great country in the world and lead the world for, the last uh few decades you know uh doesn't mean that uh the recent uh the recent uh


wrongdoing or the recent inefficient of the government in US currently, uh has uh rule out democracy has is a fail system thank you, ya


uh okay thank you stanley uh ya I believe that uh currently uh, US is not a good examples to prove that uh democracy is a very good system having having said that uh it doesn't rule out that the system is bad for other country as I said mentioned just now more than eighty percent of the country in the world is still using the this system to run their country


uh and it doesn't mean that uh other country do badly a classic example is like uh you know uh germany and uh switzerland is still done well in the world nowadays, uh it's just the (ugh) the government on the leadership of the particular country has something uh that need to be improved in order to make the democracy system work well uh eventually thank you


uh thank you uh stanley for your point that uh bring up uh thailand but uh again I want to re-iterate uh one of the statement that uh quoted by winston churchill no one pretends that democracy is perfect and or all all wise


uh my point is uh majority like more than eighty percent of the country in the world is still running in a democracy system why is that so uh this is something that we need to err think about it having said that err just now the the cur~the example


in uh thailand is that uh I would say that thailand is a very unique country the system is run in democracy but their culture is more like a monarchy basis that means uh their their people is listen to their king rather than the current government so is uh not hundred percent democracy in that manner


uh what happened in uh thailand is cannot, cannot uh it's not a good reflection of democracy that works for most of the country, because of uh their king is still have a very big influence to their people in uh thailand thank you


okay thank you stanley I totally agree that uh an efficient uh government is very important uh no matter what system you are using, uh but it cannot be more important than democracies because uh uh the main point that I need to bring up is uh more than eighty percent of the country in the world currently is still using this system to run the country and if let's say the coun~the system fail


I don't I don't think uh I think a lot of a lot of country has has uh dropped out this system to rule their country, okay , it it it can be uh it can be equally important uh uh you know uh as a efficient government should do with the system of democracy thank you


ya you conclude lah you conclude ,


thank you alright thanks cool alright thank you


okay ah I will start uh from the, preposition uh happiness is an expensive pursuit today, how far do you agree so for me uh as a preposition I'd like to start off in this word uh definition of expensive alright because I felt that this is the keyword for today's topic


so expensive means something is uh high price or costs a lot of money , expensive is uh most often applied to items with very high prices such as a luxury car but it can also be used to describe things whose price or cost is simply high compare to others


so uh like I say I agree that happiness is an expensive uh pursuit today now why do I say so okay the typical ha~areas that uh lead to happiness okay , example studies job uh health


relationship and uh basic security so I just want to take uh a typical example, uh living in singapore for uh as a typical singaporean uh how why I agree to this err statement that happiness is an expensive pursuit today


okay now ah since young, right I got to go through very expensive studies right from day one so that uh hoping to land in a good job, that pays me well, because I believe that they know when I have a good job you know it'll bring me happiness right so I don't mind you know my parents uh sent me you know to expensive tuition


I remember I also uh uh uh you know attend a very expensive uh japanese course uh in a very very long ago that you know spend a lot of money I have a native japanese teacher that taught me japanese basic class, uh way


you know thirty forty years ago at about hundred eighty dollars for three months, at that time that was a lot of money for a japanese course okay so now now if when I I have uh I after all my studies


I landed a good job okay which pay me well I now I got two fear either I afraid to leave my current job or I afraid to be retrenched because right now I'm happy with my job I put all the effort and money right to study


because since I had good job that pays me well uh if I'm retrenched or I leave, you know I may not able to find a job so that will hac~affect my happiness right because, after all I went through is I I have a job you know I'm happy now okay now uh


so uh ya now back to my very example so two years ago I was with this uh company doing admin uh the job is uh very stressful I have to hold on to my laptop uh almost twenty four hours a day whether I go on leave or I I MC


I have to take note you know about what's happenings but I'm very unhappy but yet I, very afraid to leave my job because if I leave my job I afraid that I would not find a job and then end of paying bills and expenses so in all that uh affects my happiness so back to my point I felt that uh to pursuit (ppc) in pursuit of happiness


ah is actually is very very expensive okay so even though that I'm not happy for the sake of the err uh welfare of my family myself you know I have to risk uh you know my health, or my uh lifestyle just to you know be secured and make sure that you know my (ppc) sorry my bills expenses are being paid


okay the next thing so after I have a job right the main aim is as a typical singaporean hope to buy a house okay or to get married, because all these thing lead to happiness now as you know that uh buying a house in singapore is not cheap whether is a three room or four room and getting married in singapore is not cheap either right a typical


uh uh uh marriage uh you know wedding cost uh you know at least uh fifty uh or even a hundred thousand depending on on how you run the the wedding itself, right so in fact uh I have example there are even other countries


right because of uh dowries right they also , have a incident of uh murder because like they they they really concerned how much they're getting paid so all in all


okay thank, okay so I at last but not least is that uh you know health you know I believe you'll agree that health is happiness but why is health a expensive uh pursuit because, when you're sick okay or worse uh let's say our own children is sick you know in singapore the cost for the you know the medical is not cheap right so ah I I take example of uh children having cancer


or even our parents having cancer you know in order for the children or your loved one to be well you actually have to pay a lot of money (ppc) you know in hospital to make sure that they're okay so all in all health, is equal to happiness but if you don't have the means ah to ah afford the the treatment I think it end (ugh) end off you know uh uh the the cannot get to work


then you are a typical parent you have to stop your work to take care of your child affecting your income and then not only you worry about your child you also worry about your finances okay so, but of course you may say that okay I can buy insurance then that itself is also another cost so


why you have to buy uh insurance because you want to get yourself secured for family then again every month you must make your monthly premium so what if back to uh the few example you lost a job or your children sick you can't even afford you know to buy an insurance to get a security to bring about the happiness


so so I think basically to, this is to my points today that happiness is an expensive pursuit today thank you, ah back to steven


okay uh thank you steven for the example uh of uh bhutan and switzerland I totally agree that this uh two country


are you know uh known for the happiness uh ratio okay but uh I would not know uh if you have uh steps to show that uh how bhutan started if they have to make their expensive uh pursuit, before this uh people in bhutan is being happy where they are I think if you can show that that'll be good but I think ah before that ah I just have a question


'kay when we think of going holiday to bhutan right uh how many people tend to go to bhutan compare to JB, uh Bangkok or nearby place, okay uh in fact uh all this while I hardly hear my good friends or people going to bhutan the so far I only heard there's one time this uh famous uh hong kong celebrity right this uh sorry I can't remember their their name they went bhutan for their honeymoon the reason why


because if you are aware that even to travel to bhutan the expen ~the air ticket is very expensive so for their honeymoon the pursuit of happiness to bhutan, is expensive because they have to pay expensive ticket today, so basically you know the people there is happy but I think basically to uh back to where we are uh for us uh singaporean uh or any any of the a country who want to go there to even have the


feel of their uh serenity and to feel their humility ah the fundamentally is that you can't take bus there you can't walk there you have to take a expensive ticket to go there so , so that is actually uh to back to the point that why I say that


you want to feel the humility of bhutan you first have to pay an expensive pursuit to feel that a happiness in itself so I think basically that is uh my take uh to where you mention


okay ah thank you stephen for your point that the happiness uh


happiness uh is from contentment and you actually uh use an example of our parents in uh which I totally agree, but I think uh you're not answer uh basically you know my point about you know this uh basic security that bring about a contentment even uh our parents uh is the price of you know the the infrastructure expensive infrastructure that was placed for example


uh HDB right so if you could remember before HDB took place ah our uh parents in you know some of them they stay in Kampung houses eh and uh and the reason why of this shift is because of their the poor infrastructure that leads to


fire right because of the the nature of the the attic you know the wood and things like that so so basically yes you can say that they are contented but without the basic security, you know it bring about uh the a series of issues like health


uh injuries and accident and what if their family you know they don't have the means to pay for all these things and then of course you may say that okay I have insurance but that also needs money so I agree with contentment but before you have the contentment the basic security


need to be established whether is bhutan or in singapore that is a result of a heavy uh expensive pursuit that have to take place before even contentment can uh become I'm not saying that you know we uh the topic here we're not talking about pursuing


millions of dollars or a hundred thousand dollars but basic uh expensive pursuit or the fundamentals is needed in order for you know thing ah so you mentioned also about clean air uh you know things like that (ppc)


so I believe you realise that uh for the town council have to ensure that singapore is clean alright singapore is known for a very clean country, they actually spend a lot of money in terms of utilities, in terms of employing the the sweeper


so right now ah if you okay I give a very good example because of the COVID nineteen right, if you go out you noticed that the grass is very long like a jungle right it is because of the all the money spent on the or the labourers you know they're not active so it is the invisible thing that is being spend that cost us that this clean nation


ah you got clean water you know clean environment so again what that back back ups due to to in order for uh happiness you know you have uh have an expensive pursuit to start off with before you know we can reached uh can have where


the happiness that where we are right now thank you


(ppc)


debate topic two


okay so as a preposition for diligence is the key to success so you know I'd like to start off again with the keyword which is the diligence, K now what is the definition of diligent is the constant and earnest


effort to accomplish what is undertaken a persistent exertion of body or mind right so a very good example of uh preparation for today's debate for example so very in a beginning uh should uh myself


stephen or even rachel did not uh (ugh) facilitate this take diligent effort, to make sure that uh you know we installed the apps right fill up the consent form send out wake up on time get ready the debate will not be possible right so even earlier you know uh you know we took a lot of effort to make sure uh rachel took a lot of effort to


you know remind us you know about timing you know uh different areas or distraction to make sure that this debate uh is successful so I think this already itself is already


a very good point to to indicate that diligent is the key because without diligent this debate even cannot start in place okay so back to the right uh uh uh general phrase okay uh you know when you know that yearning for success


is a very basic human nature and almost everyone wants be successful in their life, but success is achieved only by those people who knows what they want from their life and then stick to it no matter what success is not accidental


you have to put in time and effort to achieve it , as life is not a smooth journey so is the power of success hurdles are bound to come out on the way to success and discourage you or me to stop following our goal but if we are diligent


okay we will have the ability to handle the tough phrases of life to our advantage for a smooth and early completion of task, so to be successful in every sphere of life, we need to practice diligent, okay so again uh the definition of diligent is the application of focus and persistent effort to complete a task


now the advantage of a diligent person is the person have a extra edge to put on more dedicated hours towards realising their goal okay just for example today's debate right we put a lot effort inside and that becomes deciding factor for their extraordinary success in life


the diligent p~people are highly motivated to turn their dream into reality they choose to follow their goal rather than sitting idle doing nothing the fact is that an ideal person is known you know you know the word


to mention that is good for nothing or did not add value to society but if you want to add value to your life and to society at large, okay we basically have to be diligent, uh uh in what we do okay so so so basically to me


I agree that diligent is the key to success thank you


thank you stephen uh for raising up uh two areas uh to success which I totally agree which is uh curiosity, and openness I think uh basically of course uh just a joke aside right uh you know when talk of curiosity I always remember this uh saying call you know curiosity kills the cat okay I mean this is just a joke lah but I think it also have uh not a very positive connotation of curiosity


okay basically I think err earlier we mentioned the key to success, meaning that is uh in our meaning that is as you play a fundamental uh point to success, so uh curiosity I think both are if you are uh we understand most of us we have curiosity in one way or another right for example a cause and interest and many many things in our in our life so even today uh we could have a curious


uh for example when ah you know for example I were being notified about this uh, project but the things that if I do not have the diligent to make sure that it happened, that this uh uh so this uh in uh debate will not take place because curiosity is only a very beginner just a very first stage or a beginning phrase for me to pay attention to this uh it uh debate topic


because I think if you understand where I'm coming from uh like uh I give a very good example in in our life we have curious in many things for example of food right you heard somebody say eh ah this place so and so ah have very nice Hokkien Mee or chicken rice you are curious about it


but if you never step out of your house or even uh you know travel to the place you will never know how nice the the chicken rice is, you will never know how good the successful of the chicken rice because that's only curious and I think same thing openness is also a same thing you are open to an openness mean you are open to an idea


for example today we are open to this debate, right but question is that if you do not take the diligent to make sure that this uh debate happens did not follow uh the guidelines uh even uh for the the few thing like uh cutting your handphone in five minutes you know


it won't it won't successful because curiosity and openness can only lead you so far is the action that leads to success so this is uh my point thank you


okay thank you for uh stephen for uh uh, uh explaining that the curiosity and openness is one of the key and you also bring in the point of uh intelligence as a factor towards a success uh and not exactly diligence


uh I believe you know the famous quote by uh albert einstein he say that, ah ninety nine percent is hard work one per percent is intelligent, right and also you give example of uh government uh that intelligence


ah yes so if you back to what albert einstein say ninety nine per cent is hard work one per cent is intelligent so again intelligent is just like curiosity and openness is only, the uh front uh initial stage you have to put your intelligence to work I give you a scenario for example let's say today I could provide intelligent in ah learning language like japanese


okay or any any dialects but the things that if I do not put effort to learn how to pronounce how to write, you know uh how to communicate after some time I literally forget uh how do I use the foreign language no matter how intelligence I am so intelligence have its limitation like what you uh like just like you mention curiosity and openness


but is the diligence that is the key to ensure success, happens just like back to the quote again and albert einstein say ninety nine per cent is hard work only one per cent is intelligence thank you


okay uh thank you stephen for uh you uh quoting the example uh basically uh if


uh I get it correct you're stating the twenty eighty rule whereby eighty percent or what the success of the world is due to twenty percent, uh people out there okay so (ppc) you're asking why uh maybe your I think you're uh relating this twenty percent success is due to their intelligence rather than the eighty percent


okay based on the twenty eighty percent rule or statistics mention, the twenty and eighty percent they both in fact the hundred per cent they have to have the uh they use a uh the fundamental is the diligence but the difference between the twenty and eighty percent is a twenty percent they're diligence enough to find out why they did not succeed


when the eighty percent stop so both ways, so in both way twenty eighty the fundamental is both are diligence, just that the twenty percent they put more diligence to find out why they fail they learn from uh mistakes


alright they they take the time to learn from mistakes they uh get feedback you know before they become successful in fact uh beyond twenty eighty there's also a seventeen three percent whereby the top three per cent, is even more successful because they put in more time than the balance seventeen percent so your example of this twenty eighty fundamentally is proving that diligent is the key just that the twenty percent they put in more diligence and the three percent they put in more diligence


uh than so curiosity or openness or intelligent is a factor but okay but and this is the bonuses to add on but without the diligence or the additional intelligence they would not be where they are today thank you


okay thank you stephen uh you bring up a very good point about experience uh being of uh uh listing lead to success but you realise that uh in order for us to able to gain from experience, basically a typical person will have to take time to reflect what they learn from experience just like hi~history right


uh when the historian they wrote about in the the past because they took down they took time to uh review, to write down so that people can be aware and learn from experience so in order to do that it takes diligence you know just like uh in example uh our work uh could be interviewer or even this debate I'm I'm sure that after this debate


you know we have to take time to learn you know what we've done well what we have not done well so that in a in a future such project we can improve right maybe uh shorter time better tools, so that itself is diligent because with without the diligence to reflect to learn from experiences


you know it will not lead to a greater success so uh that is to on my point to what you mentioned by experience thank you


debate topic three, okay I think we've come to our interesting uh this a very interesting topic about consider the view that


efficient government is more important that than democracy a democracy right so okay ah the keyword is today is a efficient government and democracy so uh let me talk a bit about democracy, uh is democracy is a word that an idea that reached up and create idea of emotion and idealism in people all over the world uh while there's no perfect or universe definition of democracy is generally accepted that it refers to a political system


in which all the citizens have a say in who govern their country and how the country's government so uh of course a typical example be singapore where we just have our election right we actually vote uh which party we want the country


to uh take charge right, but to most people democracy is also a belief in a freedom of the individual to express his or, her opinion and uh wishes freely in a form of free speech, and even a public protests and demonstration however uh the problem is that arise with democracy is that despite is lofty aspiration ideals right could be freedom ah you're able to decide which government to vote for you or for for the country


is often does not deliver an efficient government which this essay ah which is defined as uh the government, that is effective in giving the positive long term outcome which most people de~deliver such as uh prosperity stability and good health with the resources that are available to it in fact many nation that are considered to be highly democratic


and also among the poorest in the world and their people have a very low quality of life example would be india philippines conversely some countries they're either ruled by autocratic regimes (ugh) such as china or only marginally democratic


okay such as singapore enjoys greater economic prosperity than india, so our democracy brings many benefits I believe that efficient government is more important than democracy thank you


okay uh thank you stephen uh to, mention the uh the point of democracy uh working well in, few countries you mentioned germany as an example uh compare to the india that uh earlier that I bring about I think uh you know that one of the country that who are emphasise on democracy is US right US is a successful country but you realise that uh with the democracy


uh in a way also bring about uh various uh societal issue for example the uh the arms law right that everybody have the right to own a arm such as a rifle a gun


okay so if you will just take about this point of a gun law okay every year you know you heard about campus shooting, right uh that have uh killed a lot of innocence uh people, and then the the you know most recent uh riot uh you know uh due to this uh death of a black uh citizen you know right now up to today uh US is still


are suffering as a result all these riot you know because when everybody have uh uh free say uh you know they can do whatever they want there is no boundaries uh be it even in terms of faith or moral anybody can do what they want democracy


a full democracy means that they can do practically what they want ah and they may not have any even consequences to it so this is a I I listed some examples for your


okay thank you for stephen bring about the issue back to US that uh, you know the result or what is happening is due to uh leadership but cause uh basically leadership fundamental is a result of the system that uh delivers the leadership that ah they broke uh democracy


or you know other form of uh government system so uh you manage okay so a very good example is that you as you are aware that uh US is going through the riot because of the full democracy uh whereby everybody have the right


to say and do what they want uh including faith, morale so would you want to ah stay in a country like this or being in singapore are you okay if a riot happens in ah just in singapore just like US because ah fundamentally that you know we are you are not we are not in US


but we are in singapore and we enjoy the peace, because ah you know of the system that singapore deliver okay uh the that the the the system whereby in our government deliver uh according to the system the leadership


deliver according to the system whereby bring about the uh prosperity and the security that we have in singapore that we're staying we don't have a full fledged democracy we are able to open up to vote but then you know we still have to comply to the rules and regulation uh of the country


so thank you


(ppc)


okay thank you stephen uh for your sharing about Ghandi but I think basically it's important that we stick to the point uh that we have been talking about the system uh and not that kind of uh that kind of leadership because in a in an example that you bring about the leadership of Gandhi


he believed it no uh violent protests that is his leadership but where a system is concerned is uh basically not working well for the country okay let me talk bit uh more about democracy right, so democracy often obstruct the uh uh goal of uh efficiency in terms of administration of the country and long term strategic planning


especially when there's too much uh democracy because when the voices of the people and the voices of politician who claims to represent them grow too loud and strengthen or worse when there's democratic liberties are taken to extreme, and violence erupts a country can be paralysed or worst torn apart so the constant political uh and frequent policy gridlock in okay example america illustrate this point well


okay good example when president obama sought uh introduce health care reform two zero zero nine the republicans bicker with mister obama democrats so intensely, and competitively that it took one whole year before both side agree on a healthcare plan right even then it was a a


heavily watered down version of what mister obama had wanted as he wanted uh make a huge concession to appease the uh republican who control the house of representatives so ultimately this america, healthcare system which is why regarded as broken and exclude tens on millions of american for access to the american treatment


so this is a very good drastic example of, how democracy bring about the down the the breakdown of the of the you know the healthcare system


okay uh thank you stephen you know in fact uh you talking about the last thirty years


okay ah basically I ah initially very beginning I bring about the very classic example the gun law which have uh , place since the beginning and since the beginning uh of the time up to now every year you saw newspaper of uh shooting


right so (ppc) so this is not uh uh a reason or whether is thirty years or currently the this thing happen throughout you know this democratic system since the beginning just to highlight on what I want to add on


(ppc), okay


thank you ah stephen to emphasise again that the democracy work well in other countries so since you mention about other countries uh I will not (ppc) skip US I let's go to, thailand (ppc) so now a thailand is a a country of of freedom of assembly alright so what happens the in a massive political upheaval and turbulence uh example two zero zero eight two zero one zero


okay high degree of freedom assembly protester wearing red yellow shirt okay depending on which political faction they supported staged massive rallies and even block important building public building such as the airport parliament, right and not to mention even the recent hong kong


uh remember all the riots that happen street rallies often turned violent streets of Bangkok descended into chaos and bloodshed hundreds were killed and thousands injured so by on by contrast (ppc) some country are less democratic ah but have more efficient government capable of providing their people a high quality of life


which is singapore where the people enjoy only not only the rudiments of democracy, okay but beyond that singaporeans are given hardly uh okay freedom of assembly very limited freedom of the press, the only place in uh in singapore where you can allow to stage protests and demonstrations


is in #hong lim# park right so if anyone take his protest one step outside the park he can be arrested, so government media government owned and the content is tightly control so in short we are devoid avoid what we are facing example like in hong kong or in in in thailand whereby they have this uh full-fledged democracy


uh in the sense that you know they uh missed out the the efficient government that we're talking about


okay thank you stephen for uh pointing up to thailand uh exception but the fact is they are experiencing the chaos that we mentioned just like hong kong whereas in singapore where we don't have a full-fledged democracy we are uh as join the


enjoying their efficiency because the key word today is efficiency government uh versus the full-fledged uh democracy we talked about, and just to add on when democracy is taken to extreme government had to constantly fight in the arena of politics and have therefore less time and energy to devote to governance which is far more central for the well-being of people so this is the key topic we're talking about which is efficiency government right


so this is something that we need to focus on uh uh which is uh the matters for today's debate thank you


okay ah I think we left with ten minutes ten seconds so in fact I have a website, I have the website to prove uh to show the statistics but is uh too late so I think we can just end here thank you for uh stephen for the exciting discussion


part, one debate topic one


, okay I don't really agree with the proposition he mentioned previously that, uh


the humble leaders that they actually understand the importance of acknowledging, and , the proposition actually mentioned something about, uh, people not liking loud and egoistic


uh people naturally but I feel that there's always a need to strike a balance in everything and actually having too much humility sometimes in leaders


it can actually often downplay the powerful experience of positive affirmation, so I think we would, have experienced how it feels like to you know be encouraged by people and to actually know that


uh somebody actually tells you oh you've done a good job, that kind of thing , so actually many successful managers right have been found to use the power of positive affirmation to motivate their teams


so like what kind what I mentioned earlier uh when you actually receive a compliment for something you have done very well uh your brain actually secretes uh several feel good hormones about yourself and that


ultimately you know brings you to better productivity you become more efficient and when you're doing your project you tend to speak up more , and think about it like if someone actually, caution you to be humble right after you've set a new personal record for yourself let's say in the gym


or as a runner you run further than you ever thought you possibly could, and, but then in the end you don't get a compliment but actually people put you down for it


would that not actually leave a sour taste in your feel good moment, and, I feel that actually kind of impacts you more, because to yourself it's like you know that you did well but because as humans we tend to also seek affirmation from people


it kind of brings you down even further, so I actually feel that humility is definitely a good trait to have like you can't be too boastful and you can't be too egoistic


but, you actually also need to learn how to stand up for yourself how to , know that sometimes not everybody's words, uh


are that beneficial to you like you need to learn how to uh censor people's words and particularly now you know in such a fast-paced society and when we are all working adults, eh at work


too much of humility I definitely feel, , uh it will downplay the experience of, uh receiving good and positive feedback because people will just take you for granted


, uh you, it's like, people are trying like let's say people do actually praise you and stuff but because, you you actually show


that amount of humility like too much you know they will actually feel like, this person probably doesn't need it as much or like he or she , thinks that uh they have set higher standards for themselves so they probably wouldn't need this amount of


praise and good feedback and I think in the long run it will really effect you a lot because like what I mentioned earlier humans I think we also actually thrive on getting encouragements and getting good feedback about ourselves


so I think it's similar to like a study done if I'm not wrong with plants I think so this scientist right , he actually did he actually , did this study with plants so with two plants uh he actually he actually spoke good words to a plant and that plan actually thrive and actually grow really well


but for the other plant he actually kept mentioning like bad stuff to it and then in the end the plant actually withered, so I feel it works the same as humans uh and I would say that again that humility is important you wouldn't want people to say that you are too proud or you are too full of yourself but sometimes you ought


to have, that encouragement for yourself sometimes and I don't find anything wrong with that


okay so for this point made by the proposition uh I, actually feel that if we were to show, too much humility in the current world now I feel like


it will reach a stage whereby no one will actually know your true value , so why do I say that is because often times uh when we actually display humility in whatever we do right eh we always have this assumption that


our actions will speak for ourselves like with whatever that we do right we don't have to say anything about it like we we will do it and then people will see from there and then they will know that


this person has done, a good thing so uh we actually assume uh that if we just stay focused and we work hard uh we wouldn't have to fuss about how good we really are


and I feel that this is a really, wrong thinking that we have, that, sometimes people are not that sensitive to this kind of things and that your actions will actually go unnoticed it's just that we chose to turn a blind eye to it so this old way of thinking


is literally just saying that you leave your chances of success up to luck because it depends on luck who sees it because you know if someone of the same position as you see it nothing's gonna happen because


that person's probably not gonna speak up for you but, if let's say your boss sees it and he acknowledges you for it then that's good for you but ultimately right you are still leaving that up, to luck, so I feel that if you are too humble right people may not know what real value you bring to the organisation


, so definitely sometimes you might have to use your words, to create opportunities for your actions, and what do I mean by that is like what I mentioned earlier


eh we assume that, people will know what we are doing, but that is not the case so you would have to voice out what you've done and what, are the good things you think you have done or value added to your organisation instead of trying to be humble and try to go unnoticed and just hoping that somebody will actually spot you


for uh what you are actually doing good, so, probably the most direct effect of being too humble is that your peers will actually underestimate you, they can choose to shine they can choose to you know step on your head and and try to overtake you for that because you are trying to downplay your successes


and if nobody actually hears about what great things you have done or what promising projects you are working on, they may just actually assume that you are not, you're just not doing anything significant because you don't say it


and, people in the working society probably, won't have that much time to , note down one by one you know what are the good things that you have done and whatnot and especially not your bosses because they would have even more work to do themselves


so, of course I'm not trying to say that everyone makes, false assumptions , but, in in in this current world I do feel that there are definitely many people who do


and they will actually judge your abilities based on what you have shown or to others so if you have not showed, obviously or told others of what you have done and you know try to be humble and downplay yourself then ultimately


you know you will feel even more hurt because, , eh you yourself know that you have done something great but people don't notice and and and that's when you really start to spiral down


okay so to what the proposition has said that you know being humble is easier to solve problems uh


being ya being humble is actually making it easier to solve problems I find that, on the other hand people actually love humble people sometimes for all the wrong reasons that they might have


so, why do I say that is because if you have too much humility in the workplace, people might be compelled to take advantage of you, , so then it's not so much of


how do I say it's not so much of , doing good for others it's more of you helping others and you getting hurt as a result


so don't be so humble that uh you find yourself with longer hours to work and soul drenching workloads , uh ultimately right don't let your humility turn into resentment


so too much humility , may have you tagged as someone not ready to lead, because you're always like taking a step back you're not willing to step up because you choose to be humble


more often than effective leaders don't just have to make tough and unpopular decisions they also have to be willing to take full responsibility for the consequences of those decisions


so if you are actually too humble at your job, people may simply feel that you are not ready for such pressures and you will forever be stuck rock bottom, so being overly humble can actually result in you being a follower rather than a leader


constantly being soft-spoken or letting others dictate decisions with their input or not fully utilizing your abilities to provide value can actually all lead you to take a backseat in your career


so more often than not the individuals who are willing to speak up, or prove to people what they can do, or show others what they have achieved, they will normally ultimately be the ones to lead and to continue to strive


part, two debate topic two


okay with what, the proposition has mentioned, that , he agrees that we live life based on the very choices that we make, , there is also a missing piece uh whereby


he failed the proposition fails to take into consideration that there are choices, , that although it is our lives in the choices that, we make, uh it may not be entirely right


and it may not be beneficial to us, so, that's why uh we need others to actually guide our choices for us so instead of just relying on ourselves I feel that


uh there are definitely external factors that is also , that must also be there to guide us through our life as well so it's not so much about depending on ourselves but also those around us


, so take a classic example when parents actually make decisions for their children they will never tell them to do wrong


why is that so it's, obviously because no parent will ever want their child to go in the wrong direction and be hurt later, , which is why parents actually show so much caution


so parents are actually their children's caretakers, and they have all the right to make decisions for their children and you know as their child


we should always learn to obey them, , children especially teens in high school, often feel as if they have no freedom whatsoever and it is especially during this period


uh whereby children who feel like they have no freedom uh can actually make bad decisions in their lives when their parents allow them to do so, and


you know without proper hand-holding and guidance children especially in their teenage years are bound to make mistakes and and that's okay like it's it's alright to make mistakes you learn from them


but I feel that it is definitely necessary for childrens to have, you know their parents or their caretakers to make decisions for them sometimes of course having the assumption that


, their parents or their caretakers will never, , do anything wrong to them, , so parents should make decisions for their children, because children should


have, boundaries set for them, and they need to be guided in the right direction by their parents, because as children, you are young you don't know what is out there in the world that might actually hurt you or


, may actually you know uh affect you and you will definitely need someone who has more experience, , eh who has done life for many more years as compared to you to actually dictate and to guide you in the right direction and that is why I say that even though it is your life


but because you might not make the right choices that's when you will need someone beside you to guide you to , eventually to success ya so a child actually develops into what his or her parents have taught them to be and they will continue to grow


based on how their parents have taught them and with whatever decisions that their parents have made for them, and so ultimately when parents actually make decisions for their children


it helps the child grow in a healthy lifestyle to go, on the right path, and to not make uh wrong decisions in life which would actually lead to bad consequences for the child


so parents making decisions for their children , will only set their child in a better, direction and I believe that the child will slowly and more naturally develop into the person whom their parent has taught them to be in terms of what is right and what is wrong


so just allow me to reiterate my point I feel that , although what the proposition has said that, that he believes that since it is my life it is definitely my choice


I feel that eh more often than not, in life we are bound to make mistakes and, we are very much dependent on the community around us or the friends that we make to sort of


, nudge us into the right direction in life it may not necessarily be, parents or you know someone older but, sometimes even, friends of


friends of the same age or, , even someone younger than you can can actually , sort of provide an enlightenment to you and that is why


, you know we shouldn't be too dependent on our own decisions sometimes because , we might often get too carried away with what we are thinking but we fail to acknowledge that there is also another aspect to things which uh we didn't take into consideration at that point in time


and that is why we would have friends and family with us to help us, uh make that decision for ourselves


as to what the proposition has said , , I think that he, didn't, , take into consideration this point that with whatever decisions that an individual makes uh


, or with whatever choices that an individual makes it does not necessarily only affect, our own lives and there are, a lot of times whereby our personal choices actually affect more than ourselves so


to the proposition's point of stating that it is only with bad decisions or wrong choices that we can grow I feel that there is a need to quantify that amount of bad decision


because if it's going to result in a catastrophic consequence then I feel that, it shouldn't even be allowed to happen simply because, of the amount of damage that it might bring to the wider community


, so the choices that we make it will definitely always affect someone else at times a choice may primarily affect the person who makes it


but, more often than not it is never exclusively, in, every choice a person makes, be it whether it is large or it is small, from how, time is spent to which career to pursue


it will definitely, have an effect on another person, , uh it could be a seemingly miniscule repercussion, , or one that is you know large enough or catastrophic enough to change everything


regardless of the degree, uh, someone is always always definitely affected, by the choice of others , and, it is impossible to avoid and that is why I propose that because of this decisions


should always be handled with the thought that these varied decisions will definitely have an impact on the lives of others, there is an attitude in many people today that promotes making choices with little to no regard for others it is not selfishness


but more of self-centeredness through ignorance, the individualism obsessed culture, seen seen today actually encourages people to only think of themselves when it comes to decisions


and not to worry about how it might involve someone else, it is applauded, when you know people actually say that they are living life for themselves of course sometimes this is appropriate we definitely do need to live for ourselves we need to you know have a purpose and not live for someone else


but, not always it is not always so because the truth is that, other people are involved our lives are interlaced in millions of different ways and, there is no way to escape the influence that one has on others


, this does not mean though that choices should be make without giving thought to oneself there are definitely times when it is necessary, to make a self-centered choice and it does not necessarily make someone a selfish person


because you would definitely also need to care for yourself but whether to go to college, and where to go for college studies and many other choices should be based on the best interest of the individual


and sometimes decisions should be made with the best interest of self in mind but we also need to accept and understand, , and come to terms with ourselves that it will play a part in the lives of others too and that we therefore need to be a lot more


cautious and mindful of our choices in life


part three debate topic three


okay as to what the proposition has proposed I feel that he has actually failed to take into consideration that as women


there are, there are stereotypes that , , are currently present in the world that you know may put them down uh as political leaders and why do I say so is that I feel that


women may be weaker in terms of crisis bargaining, and why do I say so is because like what I mentioned, earlier , women are bound to face stereotypes


we have, we have a lot of social stigma surrounding women joining politics mainly because, women are faced with two stereotypes


that, actually hinder them from pursuing peace over war in the office, so firstly, uh people tend to see, women as a more communal being and what do I mean by communal is that women are naturally more warm more gentle and more nurturing


but, leadership stereotypes demand agency and what do I mean by agency is that leadership often requires you to be aggressive to be ambitious and to be dominant which is


not what women are, perceived as eh normally these leadership traits are, often more associated with men more than women so


when women actually, you know enter politics and they try to take on agentic roles to take on leadership roles, , people will definitely view them as less competent


because these are , , decades long or even generations long stereotypes that, hasn't been overturned or overthrown yet, , and it would require a lot more


time and effort, to actually overturn these , stigmas that surrounds you know women entering politics, and this is actually uh, sort of


exacerbated, by the stereotype, that women are more emotional than, men , so just now I mention, that , there are two stereotypes one being people seeing women as more warm gentle and nurturing


and then there is also another stereotype, that, in general women are more emotional than, men , uh I quote richard nixon the thirty seventh president of the united states he actually said before that I don't think a woman should be in any government job whatever


I mean I really don't , the reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic and emotional, men are erratic and emotional too


but the point is that a woman is more likely to be, , so from what richard actually mentioned, , the stigma is there, that


you know women are seen as more erratic they make decisions based on their emotions and that is not something that is not something that you would want to see in politics that we should not be you know making


huge decisions purely based on our emotions but, people actually view that, women, are actually driven by their emotions to make decisions and that's why


it is a big no-no, for women to be involved in politics or that somehow the world would be a better place if more political leaders were women,


and because of these stereotypes uh, audiences actually view women as ill-suited to handle situations related to national security take for example, uh


men may be better prepared to respond to a military crisis, , than women uh of course mainly because those going to war or you know those doing their national service are mostly men and in most countries it is compulsory for


men to do that, but not for women, , so the perceived strengths of women, which was what the proposition mentioned earlier which is their ability to strike a compromise is actually seen as a weakness during a military crisis because more often than not during this kind of military crisis


what, a country needs is not someone that can come to a compromise but more of someone that is ready to, fight for the country, so take for example in nineteen seventy one #indira gandhi# who is the india's first female prime minister


she made it extremely clear, that india would wage war, unless pakistan liberated bangladesh, and pakistani's president who was #yahya khan# and at the at that at that time


actually responded , to india's threats, uh, which was one of disbelief and he actually mentioned that if that woman who is #indira gandhi# thinks she is going to cull me down


I refuse to take it, and if she wants to fight I'll fight with her, so, pakistan actually resisted #gandhi#'s threats, but, india defeated pakistan's army in thirteen days this example has promptly shown that gender bias within the foreign government actually causes a foreign government to resist women's threats


so consider how this cycle might actually translate to future decisions about war and peace a female US president condemns russia for its aggression


and to demonstrate a resolve she threatens military action, but because of uh women's you know perceived stigma of being gentle, and being weak the russian president will think that it's a bluff


because she is a woman, , uh russia continues to invade and the united states actually goes to war to avoid looking weak


, okay I think that the proposition actually didn't take into consideration the fact that, , there is still that stereotype and stigma that is surrounding


women even in the working world like if we don't even talk about politics even in the working world , there are still many social stigmas and stereotypes that women have not overcome


so, I would like to bring up the point that, , more often than not strong female leaders they are either liked or perceived as competent, but, they are rarely both so


no, okay I wouldn't say no but very very little, , female leaders, they can actually be liked, by people and be deemed as competent at the same time


, so if a female leader behaves consistently with the feminine stereotype, and is a sweet, kind and nurturing leader, then their citizens will often lighten


but, they may not actually think that they are competent, because being sweet being kind and being nurturing is not something that, a leader leading a country might actually possess if a female leader exhibits unquestionable competence and strength


, then there is a good chance that she will take a hit on her likability, , because that's not necessarily what is expected from a woman,


uh if you were to think about it on the other hand strong competent male leaders, they don't actually have to face this double bind situation, , and they are often both liked and viewed as competent by their countrymen so


it actually makes it even harder, for, female leaders to you know stand up for themselves and , , to actually make a stand for themselves in this case because


they will always have , to strike a balance between being liked and being competent because being too much of one will actually hinder the progress for the other


uh, and especially let's say when a male leader, uh actually makes an unpopular decision we would often say that he is actually doing his job


, but when a female leader uh actually does the same thing, , she may actually be perceived as someone who is careless and uncaring, let's take for example hillary clinton


, she was actually labelled as being nasty, for aggressively debating with donald trump, so, it could have been


it could have been a very you know productive and good debate and it might have been a debate that was on very good grounds , but because, she was a woman, she is supposed to be you know kind caring and nurturing


her being in a debate with you know with donald, trump actually did not portray her in that way, and, this is the difficulty I feel that women might face you know when they deal with politics


and, you know not surprisingly, , none of these you know nasty terms, were used to describe uh male leaders, ya


part one debate topic one


so I think, uh humility, is still desirable today, because uh humility is the key to exceptional leadership I think we are


the most repulsed by, loud egotistical authority figures figures who lead from, narrow mindedness uh the my way or the highway fear tactics uh shame uh


threats and intimidation to get the results they want, think rank certainly brings, status and power but uh humble leaders do not use uh their rank as a platform to abuse


they actually use their position to encourage others and to delegate authority and responsibly and responsibility to those capable of doing the work


when humility is present leaders act more like a player's coach, so I think humble leaders focus on the strengths in their team members


and acknowledge them with an unwavering belief, the more a leader acknowledges the strengths of the team members the more, motivated team members will the more motivated team members will be to succeed and


criticising and cutting people down, to drive success may show short term results, but, it will later prove to produce, uh high levels of burnout and employee turnover


leaders who operate from humility would uh would never consider bullying their team members to produce uh fear-driven successes so when when people feel acknowledged uh they


feel successful uh furthermore I think humble leaders, understand uh importance of acknowledging when something didn't work


they will coach their team members individually and collectively on what went wrong uh they will develop new strategies and send their team back into the field to try again


if the thing went wrong, , humble leaders know that, they were part of the equation, yes


visible , for me I think that uh, humility is, still desirable today because other people trust you


and probably open up to you, uh there's this uh word called, hubris HUBRIS, which is uh known as false confidence and it is it is something that is super unappealing


but humility works like a magnet cause it attracts people to you and, it helps them feel comfortable and cared for when whenever they are with you and there's a reason uh that


hubris leads to downfall of, a character , and uh false pride can actually lead to poor judgment, and bad decision making and people don't like to be around loose cannons plus if you're always uh busy building yourself up


currently also kind of putting others down of all putting others down all the time and people are drawn to those who make them, feel good about themselves and so so bringing a dose of humility the your interactions with others uh helps to get them


uh I think that humility is still desirable because it's, uh it's easier to solve, problems, uh it's easier to solve problems when you


understand them accurately sometimes pride and ego can really get in the way of seeing things for what they are really are if you


back up, and internally de-emphasise the collates and admonishments uh you could receive as a result of all your actions you'll be able to better see past your own role in the problem


and, get at the heart of what's really going on, uh a lot faster, so ego clouds judgment, and on the other hand humility