from uh treatment those people on palliative care, uh on hospice, who are just truly waiting for death to come and they want what if someone really wants death, this should be an option being given to everyone


part one debate topic one


okay my turn, is it my turn, K , uh to Kristen's point I think that uh I think that


schools should not consider subjective and non academic factors for, ~ssions, okay why is because from an administrative standpoint I feel like this would be something very difficult to coordinate by the schools, how does how do the schools weigh and balance out the number of sports to allocate the student


by academic achievements and the number of sports to allocate through non academic, ~tions , the reality is that this would be a very difficult task to accomplish, the landscape of our current singapore's current education system is one such that at the end of a student's journey in a particular school we will have to take uh major exams such as the primary school uh leaving examination and O levels and GCE O levels


in which students will be highly stressful, so it was so , children in singapore experience high stress levels from primary school already and, and uh result of competitive pressure from schools and parents so


it was thought that non academic factors like the CCA performance in admissions would help to reduce the emphasis on academic grades alone and perhaps stress from exams however the inclusion of such factors may stress the students out even more as parents will pressure their


children to excel in this to excel in this areas as well as in their academic areas so it's just adding on to the stress of singaporean students, in a straits time article it was mention by an interviewee by the name of madam Lee-Hui-Ling her daughter was shocked when she joined her secondary school


yeah so she has CCA practice three times a week , of a total with a total of twelve hours there is even more more practices and trainings during performances and competitions this was a jump from her once a week chinese orchestra practice of five hours in primary school


her daughter ends up going home around seven PM by the time she goes to bed after completion of her homework it is past one it is past midnight uh one AM which is very late, yeah and she needs to wake up at like five AM to go to school uh six AM to go to school like her many students involved in CCA which is compulsory for secondary school and primary school students thus they will up having little time for rest


and homework, in order for a students to use their CCA for admission they have to perform exceptionally well in their respective CCAs in order to in order for them to get good reviews from their teachers and stand a chance to use their CCAs for their admission into their dream school


however it is exhausting and stressful for a students to cope with exams competitions and performance in this article a parent mention that their children are humans and not robots so what are CCAs


they are recreational activities for students to discover their talents in more areas and explore their interest, if it were to be considered or use as a ground for admissions then every CCA is yet another competitive platform for students and parents as they will fight for places to be admitted into the school that they desire and for parents they will be like competing


uh whether their daughters and like their sons are which one is who is better as much as students treat their CCAs a form of relaxation the students might be prone to neglecting their studies and defeats and it defeats the purpose of using non academic factors for admission because


even if you have exceptional results in your CCAs but your academic results is a disaster you won't be able to use your CCA to your advantage, non academic factors are inherently more subjective than standardised exams scores for comparing relative performance across applicants


furthermore such factors are hard to quantify and might reduce the objective of direct school admissions , so the hope of the DSA scheme was to allow top schools to draw students who are talented in sports or in CCA


students who are not academically inclined would be able given a chance to be admitted into the top schools as well so with this scheme it was anticipated this students would inject more diversity into the student bodies in the top secondary schools


it also appears that in the most competitive schools such as raffles institution at least half the student that admit through CCA are academically incline, so many parents complained that many of these students who have gotten into their schools of choice based on their PSLE scores anyway so what is the use of direct school admissions it's needless


clearly the DSA scheme has become another way for exam smart academically bright students to secure places in the private schools premier schools early ahead of their major examinations they will decide which school they will be admitted into, this contradicts the core objective of the DSA scheme which is meant to give those with other talents a chance to shine even if their results are insufficient


for them to admit into a school of their choice, all in all I think that schools should not consider non academic factors such as CCAs for admissions purposes because it will only add on to their add on to students stress for singapore in in singapore


as, because the education system in singapore is very stressful and, and with that we we shouldn't uh add the add the CCA in into consideration for admission purposes, yeah


okay, , so I have some statistics that supports my view point of schools should not, uh should not consider non academic factors such as CCAs for admissions so in twenty fifteen there were a reported twenty seven suicides among ten to nineteen year olds in


~pore double that of the previous year in twenty fourteen and the highest for more than a decade , in may twenty sixteen an eleven year old boy jumped to his death from the seventeenth floor of a flat block fear fearful of sharing his exam results with his parent


it was the first time the child had failed a subject, so, the problems are very inherent in singapore education system as is highly competitive and also focus on test results and so if we add on the CCAs


to their burden it will only it will only add on to their worries and they will only be fearful of , if they have to if they cannot if they are unable to be like Isabelle which you have mentioned to be to cope with their studies and their CCAs at the same time then then they will just end up like this boy who just you know


just, jump to his death from, uh from his block so I think that, uh a child's welfare is more important than anything else so adding CCAs, to the admission purposes


sometimes is not the best as I have I have experiences with my table tennis CCA as well where I couldn't cope with , I couldn't cope with my studies and the CCA hours at the same time especially during competition periods


yeah, so, so in this highly competitive, singapore education system, I strongly believe that, uh it shouldn't schools should not consider direct school admissions


into their admission scheme


okay


uh I think, I think having , CCA admission uh CC uh non academic factors for admission into consideration can be good and can be bad as well it depends on what the students uh prefer and what the students uh want so I believe Kristen we can come to a


common point whereby we can both decide that CCA can be good and can be bad as well okay, so all in all as long as the student is able to cope with their studies and CCAs at the same time I believe that CCAs is not a very bad thing


to uh to add into admission


yeah I agree to , , but, err we still have to consider uh our singaporean's children welfare yeah in case


yeah in case, yes


okay, , yes


okay, back to, part two debate topic two


oh, okay, okay so my point is that, ~at, I think that chinese dialect should not be offered as a mother tongue language


why is because it hinders the learning of chinese which is our default mother tongue language, affecting the bilingual policy established by the singapore government in nineteen sixty six, in nineteen sixty six the singapore government implemented a policy of bilingual education where singapore students learn both english and their designated mother tongue language which was mandarin for all


singaporeans by default, so the goh report and evaluation of singapore's education system by Goh-Keng-Swee showed that less than forty percent of the student population managed to attain minimum levels of competency


in two languages, which is english and chinese means they are not able to, to speak both english and chinese language very well, it was later determined that learning of mandarin among singaporean chinese was hindered by more home use of native chinese dialects varieties such as hokkien teochew cantonese and hakka


hence the government decided to rectify problems facing implementation of the bilingual education, ~cy by launching a campaign to promote mandarin as a common language among the chinese population, ~tion and to discourage use of other chinese dialects


~ties, it was launched in nineteen seventy nine by then prime minister Lee-Kuan-Yew the campaign aimed to simplify the language environment for chinese singaporeans, improve communication between them and create a mandarin speaking environment conducive to the successful implementation of the bilingual education programme


the initial goal of the campaign was for all young chinese to stop speaking dialects in five years and to establish mandarin as the, as the language of choice in public spaces within


ten years , in according to the government for the bilingual policy, it to be effective mandarin should be spoken at home and should serve as the common language among chinese singaporeans they, they also argued that mandarin was more economically valuable and speaking mandarin would helps chinese singaporeans retain their heritage as mandarin supposedly contains a cultural repository of


values and traditions that are identifiable to all chinese regardless of the different dialect groups, some of the recent campaigns includes </mandarin>华文话语多用就可以:hua wen hua yu duo yong jiu ke yi</mandarin>, where schools will invite local celebrities to the schools to share with students the benefits of chinese and their own stories of using chinese and why is it so fun to use chinese the use of local celebrities will encourage the students


to listen during assemblies and be engaged as some might be even fans of the celebrities invited, real initiatives like the theme song contest and short video clip competition were introduced and targeted at students so that they can improve their


~nese, so, why did I say that because of this bilingual policy that singapore has has established uh dialects are not are shouldn't be offered as mother tongue language is because


singapore singaporeans singapore students have barely mastered both english and chinese language, ~ge because they are barely competent in speaking both languages at the same, time some might be good in english because but they might not be good in chinese and some might be good in chinese and they might not be good in english so is vice versa thus we should not offer dialects such as hakka cantonese hokkien as a new mother tongue


~age as it will only add on to the burden of our students to learn more languages, we should master what we have first before we embark on learning a new, which, yup


yes


okay , okay so you are coming from a business point of view for future singaporean students, okay okay, so I will go to my point, so, so singapore is a as you can see singapore is a multiracial cultural country with citizens and students of various ethnic groups


so it will be regarded as unfair for dialects to be recognised as a subject in school when dialects of other languages are not recognised, so it is important for us to first understand the basis in which mother tongue was introduced as a subject in


~pore so as I said earlier the bilingual policy which was launched by MOE ministry of education in nineteen sixty six with one particular objective being to ease social tensions between the various ethnic groups


in singapore by establishing the english language as a common language, ~se for communication while mother tongue was a subject to allow for students to remain rooted in their culture which their ancestors grew up in and developed for centuries


as a result through only introducing chinese dialects it could be easily interpreted as an act of racism and not respecting the culture of the other ethnic groups in singapore such as the malays and indian


as there a there's a multitude of dialects in their culture too, so uh as for example uh there is a racial riot in twenty thirteen in little india whereby , the indians and malays are are very unhappy with the chinese


so this is an example that uh, uh in order for us to live harmoniously in this multicultural racial country we should not uh have this kind of like, uh introduction of chinese dialects into uh in as a mother tongue language because it will only add on to the misunderstandings between chinese malays and


~ans so err, uh if we were to add on the chinese dialects in their in our mother tongue language it will only be seen as an act of racism and not respecting the culture so before we go to the business standpoint of singaporean students we should actually look into our domestic


singapore whereby we have to first solve the racism problem first before we can even go to the other countries and , and speak chinese dialects to them yeah and furthermore


err furthermore , china is already, uh the students in china is already learning english and both chinese so I believed that even without the chinese dialects they will also our students will also be able to communicate with the china students with english and chinese


err so, so I still stand uh to my point whereby singaporeans have even barely mastered both english and chinese, language so we shouldn't offer dialect as a, a new mother tongue language because I think that it is needless and it will only add on to the burden of our students to learn more languages I still think that even uh if if only they can cope with their with


learning chinese and english then we can add in chinese dialects as new languages but at the same time we also need to add in , the dialects in other races as well from malays and from, both for both for both indians and malay


~ys err, yes that's right


yes I strongly agree to what you have just said and okay so so to compromise with your with what you've just said I I think that


as long as singapore has enough measures in place to prevent racism from occurring I think that to complement the economical aspects of uh as china began to rise in the business sector and so that we can promote singaporeans to hold on to their roots


knowing their own culture well I think that it can be compromised to have chinese dialects be part of our education system and to be offered inside to uh, but but err but is, but is with the condition of singaporean students are being able to speak both english and chinese very well before we implement this new chinese dialects despite of the mother tongue language because we don't want them to be very stress out about


learning more languages, uh yeah because the education system in singapore is already very uh very very strenuous for them, so yes


okay, hi Rachel


three debate topic three


oh, , are you done with it, yeah okay so, my stand is different from Kristen I strongly believe that learning is not the best outside the classroom so before I move on to my substantive I would like to provide you with the definition of this topic learning is defined as the acquisition of


knowledge or skills through study experience or being taught, now onto my substantive learning can range from enriching your knowledge on certain


on certain subjects to emulating moral values I believe that learning in the classroom has many more uh positive attributes as compared to learning outside of the classroom that will be shown on the various reasons that I will be


explaining now, so firstly I believe that the benefits to learning inside of classrooms are manifold, in this digital age it is to important to acknowledge that students are more interested and engaged in using technology thus this creates many amazing opportunities for schools and teachers to benefit from integrating some forms of


technology in the classroom and to make teaching and learning more effective and more enjoyable I believe that learning inside the classroom with technology is more effective than learning outside the, ~room and I also personally think that students would prefer learning in a cooling environment which is a air con air conditioned classroom uh rather than learning outdoors while perspiring and sweating a whole lot


when technology is integrated into lessons students are expected to be more interested in the subjects that they are studying, technology provides different opportunities to make learning more fun and enjoyable in terms of teaching the same things in new ways


for example delivering teaching through uh through playing games taking students on virtual field trips and using other online, learning resources, what is more technology can encourage a more active participation in the learning process which can be hard to achieve through a traditional lecture environment


such as learning outside the the classroom, and furthermore, with with countless online resources technology can also improve teaching teachers can use different apps or trusted online resources to enhance the traditional ways of teaching and to keep students more


~ged virtual lesson plans screening software and online assessment can also help teachers save a lot of time this valuable time can be used for working with students who are struggling which means, which means that


which means that teachers can get a clearer idea whether students are following what has been taught or whether they require further explanation by the teacher at the same time students can get their doubts clarified before moving ahead in the topic immediately, a teacher's guidance is essential for a student's learning immediate support is given by teachers where ever whenever the students need it a teacher can not only answer all your queries and concerns immediately in the classroom but also give you that gentle push to improve yourself in aspects of the language that you may find


boring , where as in a outdoor environment the teachers might not be able to immediately answer your queries and concerns because, it obstructs learning because err you are unable to take down notes immediately by a by a teacher on time and the teachers might be


busy with administrative stuff like getting the students in line and everything, yeah and adding on to my point, the tendency of succumbing to temptations like using your phone will increase tremendously why simply because there is a lack of supervision outdoors with no school and no classrooms available for a learning to take place parents will


uh teachers may not have the time to watch over their children, however uh there are there are students in the outdoor environment however in the classroom a teacher is able to keep an eye on the on everyone and they would they will they will be able to strive to ensure that that students are


are are are listening to what they are teaching, yes, yes, , uh yeah yeah you can continue


, okay so you you are saying that the skills the soft skills cannot be taught in class it can only be taught outside of outdoors in the outdoor environment, however I beg to differ because


classroom teaching err is able to help in calculate complete uh resolving skills presentation skills when in comes to presenting their ideas confidently in front of peers and


and it also develops team spirit between the students and teachers them to get along with those from different cultural background, such experiences are valuable in shaping students' communication and listening skills as well as growing and maturing


~ly and students will have to step out of their comfort zone to take the leadership if their peers if their peers are unable to do so, so this is able to help them develop their soft skills too such as the leadership skills, and also


uh, if I'm not wrong class uh secondary schools and primary schools nowadays they have they will have a class called the character development class whereby there will be a period whereby students will have a teacher to talk to them about life


and also to develop their character as a person, and furthermore when students are placed in a live classroom they also can experience social interactions with their peers and establish rapport with their teachers helping children develop socially is an important aspect within the rim


of their academic education, uh classroom teaching environments also is able like outdoor environments also is able to help students figure out how to resolve conflicts work in teams get along with those from different cultural backgrounds as well and give presentations in front of


peers which is not, able to be done outside the outside in the outdoor environments, and such such experiences are valuable in shaping students' communication and listening skills as well as growing and maturing emotionally


so , and furthermore classroom teaching has been consistently upgrading, so in a article on seventeen june twenty twenty, or it is stated by the education minister Ong-Ye-Kung to bring forward the plan of having students all secondary school students will receive a personal laptop or tablet for learning by next year


seven years ahead of the original target , okay is because they want to keep social mobility alive and ensure that every individual is afforded the opportunity to do well in this tech savvy in this tech savvy digital age and furthermore


laptops are good uh are going to be given to them so with just a click on the mouse they can get all the information they want unlike being in uh outdoor environment where by they have to take down notes and go back to ask their teachers or


type on their laptops to find what they need so, I think that classroom teaching in classroom teaching is more effective than learning uh classroom learning is more effective than learning outdoors


because it is able to help shapes students communication and learning skills for them to grow as well, even though learning outdoors is also able to do so, yes


okay yes okay in order for us to wrap it wrap the whole discussion up I strongly uh I I I strongly believe that we can compromise each other by saying that learning is best outside and inside of the classroom because, I think that learning outside the classroom is also very good as well as they can get into get in touch with the nature


and which is very uncommon for a students nowadays and also they since students have smart phones nowadays they can also take down notes by the teachers very fast so it is possible for us to incorporate technology into outdoor learning as well


so as long as students are equipped with electronic gadgets such as tablets they are able to learn everything and and yes and I think that learning is good both outside and


inside the classroom yes okay


part one debate topic one, okay, so for my stand schools should consider subjective and non academic factors for admission


uh every child has a different set of strengths and weaknesses and it would simply make sense for schools to recognise the skill sets that students have beyond that of academics, the ministry of education has promoted that one of the fundamental principles that he runs on is to promote a holistic education experience for the youth and students of singapore


to be holistic entails having a wide range of skills and abilities that goes beyond just the mere ability to secure a good grade in school, many students worldwide are simply not suited for the academic rigour of attending full days of lessons only to come home late in the late afternoon to evening to complete their assignments and study for test and examinations


many of our students have talents and skills that cannot be represented by the grade on their test and exams scripts from talents in the sporting field to that in the artistic sense


it is high time that our education system recognises that there is more than one route for success in life, there are also multiple avenues that can be taken to pursue a meaningful profession in the future


there have been many steps taken in our society in the right direction for this, one example would be in two thousand and four the ministry of education mister Ng-Chee-Meng actually announce the launching of the direct school admission programme also formerly known as DSA


the DSA aims to promote holistic education by giving participating schools greater flexibility in selecting students while holding to the key principles of transparency and meritocracy


the DSA programme also helps to fulfil a student's potential in his or her passion it has provided students with more paths way pathway in the education system so academic results are not overly emphasised this also helps to


to discover their potential interest and talent, the DSA was implemented at different stages such as during the stage of when a primary six student has just completed his or her PSLE and from there they can seek admission to a secondary school with DSA based on their talent


there are a wide range of talent where students can naturally use such examples would be sports and games visual literacy performing arts debating public speaking science mathematics and et cetera


other than implementing this for primary school students secondary school students can also use DSA to enter the polytechnic of their choice, and it has been a rather successful programme as there are many success stories from our fellow singaporean students thus we can see that singapore should continue to move forward to include non academic factors into our admission


yeah


okay so with in rebuttal to Leona's points I disagree that CCA should not be part of the DSA programme and that it has been a that it has been a failure so yes it has actually seen many success stories from fellow singaporeans


there are many examples but I'll just state one so for instance Isabelle Chew she is a final year student reading psychology and sociology at the singapore management university, she was actively involved in a concert band starting from the time when she was in primary school so that was quite a young and tender age


so being in a band has actually provided her with opportunities that she would have never received otherwise for instance she went with the band to Genting in malaysia for a performance when she was only in secondary one


she also took part in the singapore youth festival when she was in secondary two which was an event that appears in the same year would not have been ready to participate in yet and yet she could do it, her involvement in band has allowed her to experience growth as both a team player and also a leader she actually recommended others to take this DSA route so that they can be into their CCA for interest like her


saying that the DSA programme had actually helped her to stand out from the rest of her CCA mates, so DSA as a means for certainty in your future and also serve as an opportunity to further excel in the area that you are interested in


there are also much more success stories beside the one I talked about if the education system solely relies on academic results these success stories wouldn't have been a success and many students talents would continue to be hidden


and remain unpolished which is really a waste of talent as the education system fails to recognise, I would also like to add on another point


a strong and healthy society also requires sufficient balance and diversity schools are in place to allow student to receive a thorough education to prepare them for the working world should all schools merely focus on producing academic results


this could compromise the balance in society as it cultivates a culture of being predominantly driven by the need to do well in just examinations and down the road we could be left with a society who might be academically and book smart


but lacking extensively in other areas such as their soft skills, many non academic results in life such as sports helped to develop team work and communication which in the real world could be much more important than achieving a good result of the examination basically having a society solely focus


on academic results could be detrimental to our society and country down the road, education is not just about lessons within the four walls


learning outside of a classroom also allows students to feel a sense of freedom when outside of these restrictive walls, , uh sorry I should have just ended there yeah, yeah yeah I should have just ended there


okay I think for this point right I think we can take our general perception of singapore into consideration we can see that in uh sports event such as the olympics or the annual sports events conducted by various countries right


singapore have been rather inactive or rather we have not been winning uh medals and awards uh and honestly we can say that this is due to the reason why that we have been putting too much emphasis on academic results


such that you can see that it has an impact on the culture of singapore such as the sports culture the arts culture while we can see that the arts culture has been increasingly uh becoming more significant in singapore this is actually largely due to the


influence by other countries uh by other countries however the lack of art culture and sports culture still exist in singapore and I think it actually boils down to this to this stand that schools should actually consider all this non academic factors for admissions


otherwise students would actually have this have this idea that you know sports CCAs uh other talents are not important at all and the only thing that actually make sense would be just the piece of paper for qualification and I think with regards to this we still have a long way to go


and it is imperative for singapore to consider subjective and non academic factors which can be which can be seen as plans are actually in progress with the ministry of education yeah


, I believe uh change comes with stress if there is no stress one wouldn't be able to mould into a better person or even grow throughout what they have been through so I think this stress factor can be treated with other with other factors


however it shouldn't let it affect the point that schools should still consider subjective and non academic factors because the pros for this actually outweighs the cons a lot more yeah


yeah, I yeah I understand so maybe it can be going forward it can be uh it can be incorporated slowly such at students can actually adjust to the new change yeah


, because if yeah


yeah


part two debate topic two, if it's not green the whole time round is it okay, oh should be okay okay


oh I think I speak too loud oh no oh no okay okay so debate topic two uh chinese dialect should be offered as a mother tongue language, singapore is an immigrant nation with settlers coming from all parts of asia some of our forefathers come from different parts of china and bringing with them the different chinese varieties such as hokkien


teochew cantonese and hakka based on their own dialect groups, this is the reason why many of the older generation converse in chinese dialects, chinese dialects have been a part of singapore culture from the very start our chinese ancestors who migrated from china initially communicated in dialects such as hokkien cantonese and teochew in fact


many of our grandparents still communicate through these dialects and regard it as an important part of their life and culture, with the diminishing number of dialect speakers in singapore it is of utmost importance that such subjects are actually offered to students in school so as to preserve the language and the culture


should no efforts be made now to combat the situation we will one day arrive at uh uh predicament where fewer and fewer speakers of dialect exists in our country and the language would even become extinct


eroding an important part of our culture, this can be seen when uh in singapore the younger and the older generations are starting to have communication gaps and it is so terrible to the point that even dialect speakers converses translators are needed


to communicate between the younger and the older generations and we can see that these translators are usually of people of the older generation, this damage could be irreversible and hence it is paramount that action is taken now before we go down this slippery slope of losing our roots and our culture and yeah having a detrimental tone


okay, yeah


okay, while I can see where Leona coming from so to summarise your points you are basically saying that chinese dialects should not be offered as a mother tongue language because uh singaporeans can barely meet the minimum of competency for english and mandarin


yeah however I think that this policy is flawed because uh I heard you mention previously that mandarin should be the main language in five years and this is set by the government stating that dialect should not be used at all is that right


yeah so okay so if you were to back try and count five years uh I believe many of us of our of the children in singapore have their grandparents and this generation of grandparents are more especially the ones who


typically speak dialects chinese dialects if it would to be five years later uh the chinese dialect culture and tradition is still there and to suddenly change the chinese dialects to eradicate chinese dialects and change it to mandarin


would be very inefficient and the time frame of five years is too is too fast if it's too fast for this older generation of people to adapt to, yeah and I would also like to add on that many singaporeans many students in singaporeans are actually learning third languages such as japanese and spanish to improve their linguistic abilities and communication when they go abroad


this can be this programmes can be seen to be implemented in a primary school or a secondary school education where students have actually the choice to take out a third language of their preference, picking up a chinese dialect would have the same impact as the language I mentioned earlier as there are hundreds of thousands of dialect speakers abroad in countries such as hong kong taiwan and china


and this is imperative to international relations as china has a growing influence on the asia pacific region due to its growing economy we can say that china and the USA's


almost on par with regards to the uh GDP of their economy and more especially with china where many chinese in their country still speak in their regional dialects and not just purely mandarin


thus if singapore were to incorporate dialects as one of the mother tongue language for singaporeans it could significant greatly enhance communication between partners from singapore and china which can actually in turn


build better relationships they are actually beneficial to our country, yeah


yeah


okay so I think for this point I really strongly disagree for the social fabric part not that not that it is not an issue I acknowledge that it is an issue that we have to consider if we would to offer chinese dialects as one of our mother tongue language


however if we actually consistently fear that the social fabric in singapore would tear due to this uh factor is very short sighted of us to think this way because incorporating chinese dialects can offer singapore many economic


benefits, yeah with regards to this I think uh the government has to take another step of measure to address this social racism issue should chinese dialects be offered as a mother tongue language yeah with however I don't think that it should be a reason why chinese dialect should not be offered as a mother tongue language, yeah which however I don't think that it should be a reason why chinese dialect should not be offered as a mother tongue language


and although I agree that we can still communicate with people from china just using the language of mandarin I believe that in a business trade good relationships has to be established is uh


a business relationship can be established by building very good friendships or business partner relationships with the other partner which can bring about economic benefits also I would like to throw in a stats here so the singapore's largest trading partner is china


standing at USD fifty one point six billion dollars so we can see that uh singapore has been actively uh having a good trade relationship with china, and that uh we can also see that we can also infer that many uh there are many behind the scenes factors of this trade relationship with china uh such that uh maybe singaporeans have been flying over to china to conduct business and china has


china people have been flying over to singapore to conduct business as well and then uh vice versa so we can see that uh many meetings has been established to meet each other for this kind of business opportunities and I think that to build even better relationships


dialects can be incorporated because why it would seem that uh singaporeans have the uh goes the extra mile and effort to actually familiarise themselves with their business partner which is a very important factor to conduct a business relationship with them


, , I agree that I I agree that , you have to actually meet the bare minimum of competency for both languages of english and mandarin before even incorporating chinese dialects so in this uh case right I think more can be done to the education curriculum of both languages such that singaporean students are actually better equipped


with the main languages and can and can actually hold additional chinese dialects to their modules yeah, okay


part three debate topic three, okay so for my stand it will be learning is best outside the classroom so I would like to start off that different students have different styles and methods of learning and confining them to a classroom environment would limit them to one particular style of learning dictated by a teacher


it is a known fact that different people learn in different ways be it visual auditory reading or writing and kinestatic, unfortunately through our teachings in the classroom we are limiting our students to the methods of teaching sets by the teacher


which in most cases involve the teacher verbally teaching which could not be which would not be an optimal studying and learning experience for students who depend on writing and kinestatic methods of learning, on the other hand outside the classroom students would have the flexibility of adopting their preferred methods of studying and would allow them to pick up new information efficiently


furthermore within the classroom when the teacher is attending to a class of thirty people the pace set by the teacher would not be optimal for all students as some students would find the pace of teaching to be too slow and hence the learning that takes place


would be inefficient after all while some students struggle to keep up with the teacher and end up falling behind, allowing learning to occur outside of the classroom would allow the students themself who knows their ability best and their pace of learning to study at their own pace and make learning an overall better experience for themself


yeah so I would also like to say that education is not just about lessons within the four walls of a classroom learning outside of a classroom allow students to feel a sense of freedom when outside of these restrictive walls


they are also being able to express themself freely and find themself to be more engaged and positive about the learning experience, evidence suggests that learning outside the classroom can help raise achievement improve classroom behaviour and improve the engagement of students including those who are hard to engage in the classroom environment these could include students


who have been diagnosed with uh symptoms such as ADHD where it can be difficult for them to actually settle down in a classroom environment and thus the outdoor learning environment would have been a a better alternative for them


it enhances numerous positive effects such as being able to communicate effectively experience what it's like to trust others and be trusted builds the confidence to develop creative ideas


with uh sorry, and also most particularly managing risk learning outside the classroom experiences defer from those that arise through conventional teaching methods as students may be encouraged to engage a broader range of soft skills


such as team work leadership and their compromise learning experience, which can be hard to cultivate in a classroom setting which is almost like a safe bubble for the students, thus I would like to re emphasise that in an outdoor learning setting the overall learning experience is definitely more impactful as students are more positively engaged and their soft skills could be further enhanced


yeah


okay, okay , not impactful okay so you said that, uh learning in the classroom is good enough and is best in the classroom due to all the technology devices that has been provided to the students right yeah I do I do understand that this point is coming from however I know that


however learning outside of the classroom the experience of that cannot beat the technology has that has to offer in a classroom so conventional teaching focuses on repetition and memorisation to educate students


and it is beneficial for sharing new knowledge and teaching students who learn best by listening however I think that method of teaching does not encourage students to actually develop critical thinking problem solving and decision making skills


and these skills are actually skills that are highly sought for in the working force if you would to , if you would to like look at the jobs on the linkedin or even some resume requirements you would see that jobs often put out uh these skills such as problem solving critical thinking skills as one of their requirement for the job


yeah, and these are skills that cannot be learnt inside the classroom but when you do so outside of the classroom you are able to have a deeper understanding of all these skills through all this challenging concepts it can also provide a context for learning in many areas


it gives students a real world learning experience that set them out for success in life beyond school because I believe that that education in school uh is prepared is is over there to prepare students for life uh in the working force


learning outdoors also helps students to push themself from individual and group comfort zones into the stretch zone where learning takes place, with bigger opportunities for experiential learning opportunities when there is no right or wrong answers


and that's when the value is in the process the learning process the current system is very results driven and fixated on the right answers given by the right given by the student such that the process of learning seems to be very undervalued in the education system


yeah so I would like to reiterate my point that learning outside of the classroom brings about more benefits to the students because in this modern society it's no longer about your academic results anymore jobs and employers out there are actually looking for soft skills


and they believe that this soft skills cannot be cannot be taught in the work force it is something that the students has to develop on their own throughout their education years however uh if you like to ask a employer to choose between a technical skills or soft skills


they are highly likely to to choose soft skills as technical skills can be actually taught by them in the work in the work force where else soft skills are not teachable at all and soft skills actually comes from the character development of the students


with regards to their education years yeah


, yes


okay while I acknowledge your point that these technological devices and character development classes have been incorporated to the students' classes to improve their learning and it is by no means an improvement


for their kids learning I personally think that classroom teaching has become very spoon fed where all the information are just given to the students and you know all all the students have to do is just study and read the and read out the


the materials and then they will excel in their studies however it is not this case anymore and also when you talk about presenting confidently may I ask where does the confidence from the student comes from it it is literally putting them in the classroom setting and asking them to present straight away


and you have to think that not all students have the same confidence level so if you have to throw them a presentation right away they have to uh how to say put on a facade of confidence because otherwise they would have failed the presentation outcome


yeah and while I know that classes have been, uh there are character development classes I would also like to question the effectiveness of these classes so do students really take away any lessons from this kind of classes and are skills really cultivated from this kind of settings


because in character development classes is usually scenario based questions given to them and they will have to answer accordingly however a real life simulation would definitely beat classroom scenarios uh uh in a better way


yeah and when you learn outside of a classroom you are not really sure of the exact things that happens so students are able to have a better evaluation of risk, also we can see that there are many leadership camps that happen during the primary school and secondary school phase of a student so I think this is one very good example that leadership skills are mostly enhanced during this camps and actually recognised


students who actually do not know that they have these particular set of skills they can actually discover it in an adventure or the camp that is organised by the school yeah, and we can see that many students leadership skills or the skills that they have are actually recognised in situation such as the leadership camp that they are placed underneath because in the camps itself there are really uh real scenarios and situations for the students to actually go through


yeah so uh for my point I still think that learning is still the best outside of the classroom and technology technological devices cannot replace learning the the learning environment outside of the classroom yeah


okay uh okay


prom, prom one over four


okay uh, thanks glen so I oppose that view that in age of the internet TV and newspaper have become, (ugh), relevant but in my opinion


the news, for example the news industry has had a rough decade obviously we see print readership steadily decline according to statistics


, newspaper uh newspapers are closing , and obviously journalists are, uh with decades of experience are being laid off as the age of internet is coming up


so, with, the age of internet I would say that, social media sites such as twitter and facebook or even instagram


has seen an uh much increase in terms of uh, uh news being shared across for both news and information , and obviously if you see the


acceptance has increased in social media users has increased over the last decade , and in terms this has affected uh traditional means of , newspaper and TV for people who are seeking information


, I would say for your point that , even, for today the age of internet is not , widespread across the globe but according to statistics this is increasing over time as the years pass and if you see the uh


for, viewership of TV and newspaper has seen uh decline over the last decade and there's a increase in , , use of social media's sites for information on news increasing so if you plot a simple graph


, TV and newspaper might be irrelevant in time to come, so this all from my first , point yup


, I I, I agree with some of your points , uh however as really times are changing and the world is moving forward , I do see research or even like obvious uh


uh, examples and evidence of newspapers switching to, switching their traditional , uh, traditional methods, of uh


uh publishing news, to online platforms to also diversify their businesses , and I feel that on a business that point these firms this uh


uh networks or newspaper uh companies , have to, are already in the reading in the news industry and uh, uh they have already changed most of the traditional uh journalism model and have incorporated uh changes in like business technology


uh, in as technology into their business model , and they for example straits times , you see straits times already on a


uh iphone they have a app over there and for example myself I have uh, uh garner my news mostly on , uh, like newspaper or network uh, apps as well as uh


news on social media because uh I feel that uh, a huge percentage of my time per day is, on spend on social media and that is one of the main out outlets that I'm receiving my news


, for people according to also like my observation with uh, uh, my generation, , that , we do not really seek TV and newspapers


uh for any information, but increasingly uh we are more relying and relying on, the age of internet , as well as uh, uh it has really become a part of uh


uh my generation's culture, and I believe that uh this culture is here to stay, and as time progresses uh TV and newspapers would become


up to you glen


okay I hear your point , however I feel that , there must be assumption meet that for the, for the people who read news, from uh as the people from areas which have


uh low penetration rate of internet, uh there's some there need to be assumption that they also have access to televisions and newspapers , uh for example there's obviously a population in the world that would never have uh


access to newspapers television or internet , , I guess for this debate uh, we should uh, uh have eliminated these groups of people at the beginning , and for and actually narrowed down uh


uh into certain countries or used in case studies , to uh to show how, as in the age of internet, TV and newspapers have become irrelevant in most areas


obviously if you measure uh country's development in improvement in line with uh their penetration rate of the internet, , if you use these countries as case studies uh and you use uh


like for example statistics if a country has a higher penetration , of uh percentage of internet uh you you can see at decline in both uh, uh TV and newspaper, uh


viewership , uh this form has become , relevant ya, that's to sum up my, in point thank you


prompt two or four


okay thanks glen for your points, uh I realize uh your first two points get order in whistleblowing , they were they are more related to, uh legal, and going back to the question on how people have the rights to remain anonymous when portrait in the media


it might not be relevant , and bringing back to your point about uh, having that uh freedom of, each for LGBT, movement for example


ya i uh I'm a champion of that and i believe that freedom of speech is important but also uh, freedom of speech has a dark side , recently obviously you'll seeing a lot of uh racists and hate speech


being portrait on the media, , protest going on around mostly in US and around the world i guess if, people have the right to remain anonymous, when


they have done uh, uh for example I mean I have given the racists comment or given hate speech, these people are protected


to stand trial for uh, for their for the crimes for example , and also this could lead to uh a lot of other problems from uh


uh from, if like for example like , the person, uh the person, is allowed to carry on racist comments and hate speech but, be capped anonymous


uh, in under under the, under media, for example , , coming to my point uh believe that , anonymity has a dark side


for example I have a study from uh, so basically fifty-three percent of interviewees admitted to, uh malaysia's activities like hacking or harassing other internet users


or media users or engaging in socially undesirable activities like visiting sites that depict violence or pornography , or downloading files illegally uh, so for example


uh, uh that that is for example that is uh, child pornography that is uh huge , problem it's illegal so uh basically if, these people uh have the right to remain anonymous


, they cannot be uh found out and they cannot be punish for their crimes, uh, uh I do believe err, !wah! obviously certain information such as uh bank accounts and medical records of a person should be kept anonymous


ah but, that's uh but, but sometimes sacrificing through anonymity uh, for a perceived category uh might be the direction to go


uh then more benefits arising from that, I guess another point I would like to make uh, is that, for example, , big brother is watching uh for example


over the last decade uh terrorism has really , uh strike, uh the fear and the global population uh, and and, and for example if for example some certain countries have uh


government anti-terrorism policies , that kind of infringe on civil liberties such as, online privacy, uh


so, there is a dilemma between, uh basically maintaining rights, , having uh, having the option to remain anonymous, or


ensure national security, and remove uh, people's rights to remain anonymous so uh when you weigh this two options up i believe that under the under the face of terrorism


ensuring national security is more important than , then giving rights uh, uh to to the people to remain anonymous, uh, this comes to the end of


and you talk about discerning people and the the assumption that , all human beings are decanting, however I feel that as you mention


the benefits of being anonymous , i still feel that , , accountability is very important uh, uh in this world in this day and age, and i still (ugh)


I still stick to my point that uh, the dangers of anonymity , file, , outweigh , , outweigh, outweigh the right to remain anonymous and and if you think


about , if you think about, this day and age, , I would feel that with, the internet of things and, like in any case efforts to completely anonymous


, for example our day to day activities (ugh) are more less futile , , as in this in this age of internet we have used more we have used different devices that require us to give our personal information


for it to function like for example facebook or even , our smartphone so i guess, (hmm), in the sense I'm saying that , personal information


(hmm) it's, like giving personal information it's really uh, giving personal information it's uh, uh it very prevalent to in our day to day life , for example


the latter's being uh COVID nineteen where singapore we have to scanning uh, uh wherever we go and we have to give personal information for the safety of uh, the country , and if people have the right to remain anonymous uh


for example COVID my uh, uh uh, uh greater disaster would be upon the nation, yup, so uh come to the end of


opposition


three out of four


i realise that you mention, no information and how it might be unsafe , but obviously social media companies have very high security level , and best practices


to safeguard uh, a user's personal information , I feel my main point that I'm trying to bring across is the choice is up to the, consumer to jump on the band vegan of social media or the other hand reject it completely


so obviously the core values of social media is a basically like openness, uh contactedness uh, and sharing for example and, this is this uh this is just a few


examples of how social, media can be, be really, uh, positive for example if you look at social media , it has helped uh, as help


for example uh a lot of, people meet and for example and relationships have came out of that , and all these relationships are form base on the collection


based on , uh similar interest which are recorded which are personal information uh recorded by social media so if you look at, like dating app on facebook for example uh, is really even though you allow facebook to store your information but it's to your advantage as you can also look for someone else with uh


similar personal information , , which might uh end up being friends or, uh uh, married , any, in the future , and I also another of my point is that


if you look at uh let's say social media if there is uh, social media market please , where you can buy and sell goods maybe on facebook uh, to safeguard transactions


, social media, uh it will be safer that the market place social media has, uh the right to store your personal informations , this is to


also verify users uh, in this market place and to also catch scammers , coming to my point on scammers that recently , I agree that yes a lot of scams come out uh from the use of personal information but those are more fishing so the scammers


uh, uh obviously ask the consumer for their personal information rather than uh, getting it from social media for example , , and to your point about uh,


to your point about uh social media using uh personal information uh for example selling to third party for example uh, I feel that it's, a win win because if there's a collection of personal information


and if you convert them into big data this would allow for example uh, uh brands, to approach their costumer, and uh, more personalized way so obviously through personal data brands for example could understand oh


uh better would understand their customer better so giving them more options and choices , , and also with uh, , smart apps which is relied on, the collection of personal information


into data into big data , it makes for example uh, uh shopping much more uh, uh much more convenient as, so as these uh firms or these social media platforms already know your demography your a lot of your personal informations that would allow them to give uh certain recommendations


uh we should benefit the consumer as a whole , also, yup , I think for example if you talk about social media marketers


they also can effectively use all this personal information to, judge the, uh like, the cart consumes buying patterns , , and, it really increases the certainty of what consumers want


and this uh might lead to businesses creating new products for example so I guess to sum up uh, I see for example as you said that uh, uh social media can sell uh


uh personal information but, to, but I see that through selling uh personal informations it can lead to a main two key benefits which is , uh help with customer uh personalisation as well as would help in


customer receiving more better and more and, improve products, , and, to on my last point I feel that


yes uh social media, social media should have the right to use our personal information because they are safeguards and best practices in place, uh such as your privacy policy that you'll accept the terms still at the beginning


and obviously best practices for example like safeguarding your password on facebook or, uh, don't connect with strangers or don't give out uh information to


uh, people who are asking for personal info, information for no particular reason and obviously, uh have, uh, certain security software on your PC would safeguard, gangs people


filling your personal information uh such as , just uh, anti-virus or anti-spyware and uh firewall , yup and , yup I guess also is more about uh, uh uh


social media has also tried to obviously educate it's consumer, uh and, my previous point mention , and it was also explained in the privacy policy about


uh how it stores and how it uses our personal information , uh which, to conclude I feel that is not detrimental and, and in


that negative from, from uh , misusing of personal, nation, uh with that uh pass the time back to you


ya I guess uh, agreed with your point however I it really comes to the ownership of data for example facebook obviously had ownership of the data and obviously they will punish uh I think they'll fine five million dollars


uh because they have breached privacy policies, and uh, so even though they make a mistake they would punish accordingly , uh by the loss, and I feel that


obviously, to my point that if, but it's all it come to all about to ownership who owns the data so obviously in layman terms like if a responsible accountable uh like goods toward of personal data owns it for example


and has safeguards and practices in place that I think social media , uh should have the right to store and use our personal data but obviously , key examples of


uh how, detrimental examples are really based of uh, misuse of data from, uh basically bad owners of data that misuse personal information


so, obviously uh, uh I would say that , social media are, responsible social media uh firms should be allowed, to to have rights to store and use personal data


yup, and with that uh come to the end of the debate, thank you


from one out of four


okay hi shawn uh my name is glen (ugh) for your opposition for the proposition uh shawn would be for the opposition the topic at hand today, the first topic would in the age of the internet TV and newspaper have become irrelevant


so I would begin by stating the context of this debate topic uh, this debate topic largely deals with the media traditional media in the form of TV and newspaper as well as modern media in the form of the internet


uh the statement that in the age of the internet TV and newspaper that have become irrelevant uh is false I submit the TV and newspaper are still relevant, even into this DN age


for a few reasons the first reason being that uh, although TV and internet uh are less used now uh in terms of doing the news, receiving the news and interpreting the news uh they are not irrelevant uh according to statistics


uh not more than sixty percent of the world has even access to the internet, uh at least forty percent do not have, uh internet penetration and this this forty percent can come from uh developing countries third world countries as well as the people who are older who are less tech-savvy


and generally people who, uh unless uh financially sounded, TV and newspaper are not irrelevant also because uh


they, there is a notion of credibility and reliability when it comes to TV and media as compared to the internet, on the internet you see lots of things uh anonymous post credible post from anybody you see videos


all over the internet, uh in this the information provided on such uh platforms may not uh, be credible as the sources have not been verified in certain circumstances, so on relying on the TV TV news as well as newspaper uh there is some form of reliability and credibility to it to the news that you receive


also, although many of us in new generation are have really access to smartphones our tablets our laptops uh to receive news on to go


we must also understand the fact that they are, a significant number of people, especially in many countries with the aging populations, uh that these people do not have access to the kind of


devices that we have, and it such these people do rely uh on traditional forms of media such as TV and newspaper, TV and newspaper, would not replace uh internet news for this particular group of people


uh with that I conclude my points


okay uh thanks shawn uh basically what you, I would like I would first summarise the gist of your, the argument for the opposition which is that uh there is, statistically proven a declining trend in the in the usage of


of traditional forms if of media such as uh TV and and newspaper uh, that is a point that uh is definitely acceptable uh however it does not uh point to the fact that uh TV and newspaper uh has have become irrelevant


uh, at least I would say in the in the next, couple of decades or so where, I I I hear your point and I agree with your point that uh that in time to come


uh TV and newspaper may become irrelevant, uh that is when the internet of things uh start to replace, uh all forms of black and white in terms of bring uh so to the extent that


that uh the internet of things, do not or have not yet uh replaced uh, physical hard copy forms of media or television, uh


TV and newspaper would still, have relevance, uh in this world, and, as I mention uh it would take, it would still take a considerable amount of time uh for this to happen


we have a penetration rate of sixty percent fifty plus to sixty percent now uh, uh and the internet has been around, for more than thirty years, so


for it to fully penetrate to a hundred percent rate uh I think , it would still take uh, a considerable amount of time and a such uh, TV and newspaper consumption uh is still relevant in today's world uh


in the near future, but, uh but of course uh not forever lah (ppc), over to you shawn


thanks thanks shawn uh I I take out points uh, you, as stated that uh, it is basically uh, TV and newspaper would progressively start to face on become irrelevant uh


err what can be seen is that for people uh by by observations from people uh now generation uh, that uh internet has, has largely taken out, most parts of our lives and that we do not uh actually need to rely on uh traditional forms of uh


media such as TV and newspaper, I I take your points on that but uh, ultimately, it is it is a matter of whether it has become irrelevant then then to that end


it has not uh which brings me to my next point on uh, how and why it can become irrelevant, uh, internet is consumed uh basically from a


mobile device, such as a computer or a a smartphone, to the extent that people are unable to have access to a computer or a smartphone or an equivalent they will not be able to access the internet


and they would still be, they would still have to rely on the TV and newspaper to, the a tool to consume uh the news so what we see uh, what we can observe from different countries for example err


a developed country like singapore, and united states uh we we can see a contrast uh from these countries to that of uh developing nations for example uh vietnam indonesian and china


so one observation I made is that uh , although the GDP in those developing countries are significantly lower than than what we see in singapore and united states , uh these developing countries actually have a very high penetration rate of using the internet


so one of the factors that comes into play, as I mentioned earlier is the accessibility to, uh mobile devices and


it can be observed that uh, in developing countries as compared to developed countries the , mobile devices there can be, the sorry the smartphone developers actually market different products base on


uh to to this to different countries based on their GDP or based on how uh affluent the users are so for example in developing countries , the, mobile the electronic devices that are sold there are not sold in for example singapore australia


or japan, for example your iphones that you use here, uh, sorry we got smartphones they use here, uh are are not so fully in developing countries and what you see being sold in developing countries you actually do not find them at all


in for example singapore, so, in that sense, it can become the penetration of internet can become actually quite high even though , uh


the GDP of a country is low however when you uh talking about a, sort of an affluent country like singapore where smartphones are extremely expensive, you you get to see that some people are just being surprised of the market


and that such uh there is still there would still be a proportion of people who were not have access to the internet, and, therefore would still have relied on traditional forms of media such as the TV and


newspaper, so in conclusion for myself for the proposition , uh, in the age of the internet uh, TV and newspaper


are and will become less use but they will not be irrelevant because, sorry they not have become irrelevant, because of the fact that


the accessibility to the internet and the accessibility the means of consuming the internet which is through uh electronic devices, are still being priced out to a certain uh proportion of consumers thank you


prompt two out of four


the debate topic number two uh is that people have the rights to remain anonymous when portrait in the media uh my name is glen I will be proposing this statement and my opponent shawn would be opposing


this statement, I would start by defining (ugh) , uh I would what I would see as the key word in this statement, which is anonymous


and the concept of uh anonymity so what you mean is that uh, it is actually a state of uh being unknown, or unacknowledged, uh that's roughly what uh being anonymous means


so in this regard uh I would submit throughout the course of my discussion that people do have the right to remain anonymous when portrait in the media


the basis of my reasoning would be, stands from two two simple uh examples and two example uh tenance that we see uh you know lives the two examples are firstly


what you see and what we know as a get order, another example, uh of why people have the right to remain anonymous , is also seen in whistleblowing policies


for companies and you know society, so the whole idea uh, remaining anonymous, it's actually it offers uh it gives protection to the oppressed it gives protection to victims


and also to ensure that uh people are not afraid of back latch uh, uh when speaking out for something that is wrong or it seem to be wrong, so, this


so this uh important principle I feel, would awake any possible disadvantage associated with, anonymity


the next line of reasoning would be, uh, it is in line with the freedom of speech and expression, and people should and can remain anonymous because of the advantages that lie with the freedom of speech and expression


uh, the obvious disadvantages of, freedom of speech, of remain anonymous, is there are person who build the system, of anonymity


uh, uh this can be seen in people, who, uh for example, use anonymous profile, to engage in harassing, as well as uh other forms of activities


so free speech and anonymity uh are increasingly important uh, in the today's evolving world, uh


because, with freedom of speech, and the ability to remain anonymous, people are able to speak up


on issues that are possibly sensitive, but remain relevant and remain, and need to be addressed, these issues can involve uh


sensitive issues, in conservative societies such as singapore, for example uh issues of sexual harassment , uh LGBDQ issues


there are somewhat still, uh vigorously debated in conservative societies, and it such uh , if we were not allowed for example to remain anonymous


there is always uh there can be a few of back latch from people who are in disagreement with your point of view, and in line with the whistleblowing policies


uh, it is clear that , people have the right to remain anonymous, in the rules respect the right to remain anonymous, in a such uh


it is clear that these are rules in, uh and anonymity is a concept is already widely accepted, uh in the world


and therefore, people should, have the right to remain anonymous, uh, when they are being portrayed in the media be it uh, on TV or on the internet media


and that's all for my introduction thanks


uh thanks thanks shawn I hear your points


anonymity and free speech, uh firstly, it is because uh, uh, the people who abuse the system


of anonymity, are the minority and we should not uh, uh , forgo, the benefits associated with anonymity, uh, for the minority that abuse


the system, with this with the disadvantages of anonymity uh, one, way that people can deal with


this these advantages they simply , to make an assessment on, what kind of information, is being put across, which brings me to the other advantage of


remaining anonymous is that uh, you don't judge the content base on, uh the person who produce the content but you judge the content base on it's merit , so, this can only be done if with identity should remain anonymous and


and not under a mask of, of for example uh uh uh very established or high profile person see making a statement that that statement could very well be wrong , but some people


there are times where, advantage is taken over a person's identity to put across a message, or information that, is not objective, so ultimately it is for the receiver


to assess the objectivity of a statement, and this is best, uh, uh facilitated, by, allowing parties in the media, to


remain anonymous such that uh viewers consumers are not unduly influenced swayed by the identity of, the party who is putting across uhsuch a information


so the internet the media as much is it as it is, uh


should, give people the right to remain anonymous, because with the, freedom of speech does come with uh all source of problems and it is not


the issue here is that this is not a uh unique problem to the internet, uh, free speech, unpopular speech, uh is an inevitable consequence of uh free speech


and, ultimately, consumers should still be discerning to enough to to assess that kind of information that is being put through , uh


and anonymity should, the right to anonymity should still be given, because of the benefits, that can be derived from


uh remaining anonymous, ya with that I conclude, thanks


ya I think to to just report on the few points, I don't think that err it is necessary to uh abolish any form of anonymity in the media


internet media including, uh technology technology does exist to, to see out to kill any, uh


uh form of content that users may find uh offensive, so with technology around in internet it allows individuals it allows consumers like us to filter out, uh, this anonymous post uh spam post


or whichever, uh, uh disadvantages of uh anonymous post which stay dislike while still being able to read the benefits supported by uh, uh, uh the right to remain


in anonymous thank you


prompt three out of four


so the debate topic number three is that uh social media should not have the rights to store and use our personal information uh my name is glen and I'll be proposing this statement uh with me is my opponent shawn who will be opposing this statement


uh, so for context we will start by, uh, defining certain terms used in the statement , uh, the first of which will be social media


so what essentially it means is that uh I mean socially social media is essentially eh source of uh communication between, uh, parties


the data owner and, and that's why the viewers, uh, uh for online communication collaboration sharing , uh and in so doing you actually create a virtual community, which is called a social media network


so this what this uh network does is that it represents uh, relationships between uh, uh users , relationships between, users and organisations uh


uh as well as the social activities that these uh users as well as organizations uh engaging, so, on online social networks what we see is that uh end-users


such as myself and yourself, uh, tend to, create uh social networks relationships with the other end users who, uh, are connected base on interest activities views or


uh, in more common sense uh real life connections, and the second key term in this statement would be personal information, uh personal information is, a very broad term


uh then encompasses uh, a lot of uh information about, individuals, such as your name your age


it can also be in the form of photographs, uh, uh your life style, your, or browsing patterns, so, these such examples of personal information or what we call data , that are submitted to this social media


uh platforms, uh, as uh a cost so to speak of using the platform , so more social media platforms, essentially at least basic service is completely free


but what the users pay, the cost that they bear is in the form of providing , uh data about themselves, while interacting, end using the social media platforms


when you create an account, when you, create a social profile when you create a profile foruh a game, on these platforms, uh, uh you are required to submit information about yourself


when you consume content of these platforms, you are also providing, uh information to, to the network , who is tracking your use patterns who is tracking your interest


uh, who is able to track your location when you do a geotech , uh, yup so in the sense a lot of personal, and privilege information


uh is in the hands of a server which is the social media , uh network itself, and how social media networks uh make money because you don't pay such a tuition fee for the use of social media


uh the number one way of generating revenue for the social media platforms is through advertisements, so is this networks uh sell, the most priced uh information which is your data to third parties


who are advertisers who are developers, and now, in so doing uh your personal information is now not only in the hands of the social media network it has also flown to


the aforementioned uh third parties, and that creates an immense amount of exposure to personal information , uh, uh with such great amount of exposure


uh brings also an immense amount of risk, or, of hacking, of people wanting to, access and use your information, by illegal means and to do illegal things


so that sums up my introduction on why, social media should not have the right to store and use our personal information, thanks


uh in relation to data protection, uh, data protection or the quality or lack thereof is specifically a key reason why


uh social media should not have the right to store and use of personal information , uh data protection although being there is not uh, is not uh completely, uh


is not full proof and it does not prevent any data breaches, uh, it, it helps to a certain extent but as we seen from multiple examples of data breaches uh it is clear that


uh social networks big social networks , uh they prioritize , uh, the gathering the storage the use and the sale of personal information , over


protecting personal information , for the sure reason that uh of the amount of economic benefit that they can be, eat from, uh the transmission and sale of uh, personal data


so uh another point is that once uh this information is provided do an online social work, social media platform it is , electronically stored uh, uh and instead for


uh permanent, uh it is also replicable, and it is also uh resharable, and , these social media platforms have also changed the way we interact with our personal


uh, and our professional lives, uh it, place a significant role you know social lives uh it also place a significant role in many businesses uh, but the same time uh


they bring along a very high risk of uh concerning, uh data privacy and and security, so one of the obvious examples of the risk uh


of these networks storing and using personal information as we all know would be, the face what facebook what happen to facebook , and the cambridge uh analytical data breach


that was back in nineteen twenty eighteen, when uh millions of uh facebook users' personal data , uh harvested without consent by cambridge analytical , and it was predominantly used for political advertising


so the data was collected through an app, and this app not only harvested the personal data, of the, users


but it also harvested the data of, uh friends of these users , so from this you can see the level of exposure and the risk is not just to the person , uh who provides the data but also to the network to his or her own network


part one debate topic one, okay so (ppc) starting off I strongly believe that the cross island line should be built under our nature reserve so I'm first going to lay out some of the benefits that will help us Singaporeans if we choose to take this uh


take this step so first of all it reduces commuting time by up to six minutes which means more time to sleep and more time to rest and Singapore is already a sleep deprived country where most of the people are not getting the required eight hours of sleep so while this six minutes doesn't seem like a lot


for most people it can actually have a kind of long term impact and you add it up across the days and across the months secondly we are looking at lowering transport fares by up to fifteen percent on average which allows public to save money on already increasing public transport costs


now many people in Singapore are constantly complaining about how the public transport cost is constantly going up and they're kind of is getting more and more unaffordable one MRT trip for an adult can range from up to ninety cents to one dollar , so it is absolutely ridiculous that we should give up this fifteen percent cost saving for every public commuter (ppc) third


it actually lowers the construction costs by up to two billion dollars which allows taxpayers to save money especially considering the current environment where the government has just utilised one hundred billion dollars out of our own singaporean reserves , to help the residents cope with the COVID nineteen pandemic now uh some things that people always think about are how do we get this money back and where can we find this kind of cost saving where can we find hundred billion dollars uh to to replenish our reserves within the year end


projects like these are the way to do it two billion cost saving is not an amount to laugh at by any means, and number four it also reduces the impact on residents living around the nature reserve so in uh for the second alternative in order for the government to be able to skirt the MRT line around the nature reserve it actually uh has to built it along the roads


that are surrounding the nature reserves such as Lornie and Dempsey and it will heavily impact the people who are currently staying there in the sense that the construction noise the uh construction sites itself so uh it will pose a dengue risk to singapore now which is already facing a


currently a lot of dengue mosquitoes and it will also you know ya like cause a disturbance to all the people living around there, and (ppc) so this finally also makes the, the this cross island line itself have lower energy consumption and make it more environmentally friendly both during the construction phase and during the operational phase because it requires less energy to transport the people it requires less construction materials requires less money


and so the benefits are very very tangible here and so with that I think I rest my point and I pass it over to the opposition, (ppc)


so (ppc) to summarise your points that you gave you I think you mentioned a lot about how there are intangible benefits of the nature reserve as well as uh if we construct this if we go ahead on this project we will disrupt the eco system and I accept those points those are very valid points but what I have to say here is


that uh the government has consulted many several consultancy groups as well as nature protection and nature advocates and they have actually uh gone up beyond and out of their way in order to try and minimise the impact that the environment will feel and the flora and fauna will actually feel from building this uh


the cross island line so the cross island line would actually the entrance points the work points will actually be outside of the nature reserve itself and the cross island line will be built at a depth of seventy metres below ground and seventy metres below ground and that is twenty five HDB storey blocks uh


in below ground and so tunneling this far below ground in the granite big rock actually minimizes and uh more or less the makes the impact on the flora and fauna actually negligible if uh it's actually very very minimalized and


this way we are able to have a cross island line without disrupting the nature that lives there so I accept the point that we might uh disrupt the nature that lives there but at the same time you are arguing if you're arguing as though


uh we can only have our cross island line or we can only have our nature reserve, but I believe that this project thus far is build in the sense that we can have both our cross island line running below the nature reserve with all of the tangible benefits and we will minimize the impact on the animals and the plants that live above inside the nature reserve


and so we are able to have sort of the best of both worlds, and so (ppc) this two stage environmental consultation actually make sures makes sure that the impacts are eliminated on the local flora and fauna and the and thus like these impacts now we can know that they are almost unquantifiable we know that they are unknown


and but at the same time we know that the benefits are very tangible they are very known so knowing this with the benefits uh being so obvious and the drawbacks being so so called negligible, I think there is uh no reason for us not to support the


running the cross island line under the nature reserve, and so engineering wise it's actually been done before and I believe that it can be very easily done in singapore in the sense that running the train lines seventy metres underground because if we take the second alternative and we actually skirt through


skirt around the nature reserve we're actually looking at building the MRT line in between two existing MRT lines that is the circle line and the, uh downtown line ya so doing this in this way we are actually looking at possibly an even greater or even more difficult feat of engineering with even higher chances of uh higher chances of something going wrong


ya because tunneling in between two MRT lines is kind of a very delicate procedure and anything that goes wrong could potentially lead to an MRT collapse in not just one but both tunnels , and, so with that I pass it back to gordon


uh so on one last point just to answer uh the points that you raised on the A one W one animal crossing and as well as uh issues on soil erosion and soil stability I


I believe that those are valid and legitimate concerns but at the same time I think the issue of soil soil stability in a place like natural reserve I don't think it's that big of an issue that we need to worry about because uh the roots of the trees within the natural reserve I think still hold the soil fairly in place


and as I said the seventy seventy metres below ground we're tunneling in granite bedrock so the impact of uh the construction on the soil I think has been factored in when their uh when ministry of transport is uh doing their consultancy


together with the environmental experts but at the same time I agree that there's probably no way we can completely eliminate the impact of noise pollution as well as uh the impact of on the areas that the animals use to cross


but I think at this point we are looking at uh cost benefit analysis and when we think about, how much cost versus how much benefit we'll be getting it is probably, in singapore's best interest to grab that benefits where we can because two billion dollars is not a sum to laugh at and at the same time noise pollution to affect the animals as much as it might be an important or it might be a


how to say it might be a kind of, uh a heavy factor I don't believe that it will result in driving the animal population out of the natural reserve at all and, hopefully they have accounted for this when doing their


consultancy research and to ensure that uh you know like the impact on the animal population is still as minimalised as possible, and ya I think that's all I have so, do we proceed to so


I'm not very sure about the open debate, okay, ,


your, camera was a bit laggy yeah, do we just start okay so debate topic two, we're arguing that man is helpless in the face of climate change and as the proposition I believe that man is helpless in the face of climate change and the reasons for this are


quite uh mainly because we have already gone too far past the the certain kind of limit that we can have and now it's already a bit too late to turn back and the reason for this is because there is such a thing called time lag


when it comes to climate change and global warming so or even if we as of today we just cut every single emission of, uh fossil fuel every single emission of greenhouse gas we are still not going to be able to instantly kind of reduce the impact of uh sorry we are instantly going to be able to reduce the temperature that the that the uh the world is currently at


so scientist have already predicted even if we by today cut all of our greenhouse gas emissions the earth is still going to experience anywhere up to from zero point six degree celsius to up to one degree celsius uh climate change


sat global warming and more it might not seem a lot to most people like zero point six degree celsius and one degree is doesn't seem a lot, it can actually lead to a a lot of increase national disasters it can actually uh have a very and very impact very heavy impact on those vulnerable populations of the world such as those living in third world countries


those with inadequate infrastructure to support themselves against disasters and as such it's very it's very we've we've gone too far beyond that we so no matter what we do now we are actually


going to face the impacts of climate change we're going to , face the like the past oh the music of what we've already done, so and also and also because of this time lag we are also seeing that uh the arctic ice is going to melt at this stage like as of a few days ago it was actually colder in Jurong east singapore than it was in the uh arctic circle somewhere in Russia


and so this kind of temperature dichotomy should show you that we're actually going beyond that point and we're actually kind of at the point of no return already and as the arctic ice melts the oceans kind of uh get higher the seas rise


and it is much easier for the arctic ice to melt than it is for the ocean to freeze and form glaciers again and not just that and at the same time there are deposits of carbon dioxide and there are deposits of methane gas trapped below these icebergs


there will be released as the earth continues to warm as the ice continues to melt so even if we stop all these emissions all uh the the all these trapped gas beyond these glaciers and all the glaciers that will continue to melt will actually lead to an irreversible


kind of damage that we will face on the earth, and uh with that I'll pass it to gordon


okay so I accept your point on the ozone layer depletion and how we are currently you know striving to recover the ozone layer uh trying to patch back the holes in the ozone layer but at the same time


I'd like to bring up the point that currently with the hole in the ozone layer the density of carbon monoxide and sorry not carbon monoxide the density of carbon dioxide and methane in the air right now is actually , are shielding us from direct sun rays so in a sense it's kind of a the fossil fuels that we have been burning and the greenhouse gases that we have been emitting are actually everything acting as a cloud to kind of uh redirect the sun's rays


and so we are in this kind of catch twenty two situation because if we completely halt the burning of uh fossil fuels and we reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses in the air the earth will actually heat up even more before


you know that the effects uh of depleted greenhouse gasses like before we actually feel the effects of reduced greenhouse gasses of cooling the earth temperature and that's especially so as the ozone layer is still not fully recovered


and because of that even if we currently stop, like yeah even if we currently stop we are not going to be able to turn back the clock on the damage that has already been done , and on another note you mentioned that through uh if governments were able to cooperate will be uh able and since the UN has released directives and if the governments were able to cooperate will be able to fix the damage that has already done to the ozone layer and uh the kind of atmosphere


I just like to point out that having several world governments cooperate on something that you know everyone gets the benefit of but only some of them need to pay the price we're going to essentially be looking at a free rider problem where countries don't want to contribute to helping the earth recover


and but at the same time they're kind of reaping the benefits and also at the same time we'd just like to point out that at the start of donald trump's presidency in twenty sixteen uh a year after that he actually pulled the US out of the UN you know the Paris court he's completely


against the idea of, doing something to help reduce the impacts of climate change and so my my rebuttal for that is kind of saying your plan relies heavily on if the world governments were able to come together and solve this kind of problem but we've already seen from


previous examples that the leader of one of the uh earth's most industrious countries the united states has already pulled out of accords meaning to help to reduce the impact of climate change so what guarantee do we have that you know these countries are


going to be able to help each other china and india have just started have just had a small skirmish on the borders of in the mountains and now they're kind of hostile tensions between the two of them south korea north korea north korea and japan


and so we're still looking at a lot of different conflicts between some of the strongest nations on earth and because of that we are unable to kind of really band together and uh utilise all the resources that we have on hand to kind of actually fix, this problem that we are facing and so because


of these uh we are kind of really helpless in the face of climate change because we need a plan that can be agreed on by all of the world's governments and we need a plan that all of the world governments have to contribute to these but, I don't see it happening in the near future because all of them are too busy with their own countries' interest and let me give you another example venezuela uh the saudi arabia we're looking at and even russia and the united states so all these countries' names are actually fossil fuel producing


countries and in the case of venezuela and saudi arabia their countries are actually dependent on the sale of oil to uh for their countries revenue and they use this revenue to improve their countries now, if we go out there and we try to convince them that


fossil fuel burning is bad and they should stop selling fossil fuel they should convert to green energy and at the same time they're telling them to take uh kind of maybe a fifty percent reduction in the amount of money that they get per year to help their citizens , and at the same time these countries are third world second world they are already suffering from poverty they're suffering from poor living conditions and other first world countries are reluctant to step in and assist them with the financials then it is impossible for us to expect


countries that are dependent on oil production for their financial economy to kind of wean off producing oil or exporting fossil fuels to uh to to for the sake of the for the sake of the global for the sake of the climate


and yeah that's my point for that can I pass it back to gordon


right


ya which is my point exactly because in this way you're arguing that we're kind of leaving the third world behind in our quest to uh improve the climate because we are not giving this third world countries any alternatives uh to to replace their economy that's built on fossil fuel exportation


and the thing is if you tell someone who's living in the third world would they give up half of their monthly income in order to make sure that the the earth, the earth would survive something intangible as that they're not going to do it because their monthly income they're living in poverty that monthly income that few dollars is the difference between starvation and kind of feeding their families and with this I get I accept that if there is no


kind of demand for oil in the first world then maybe the third world won't produce oil but at the same time renewable energy projects are very expensive to get going and they're very expensive to set up and for some places there are not uh in adequate conditions to have


uh renewable energy and so for those citizens of those third world countries we're kind of leaving them behind we're they don't they're kind of going to be even worse off in poverty they're going to be even more than uh reliant on humanitarian aid and it's going to be


kind of ya like the situations going to get even worse for them because of issues like these, and ya, that's what I believe


(hmm)


(ppc) but right now we're looking at, survival as sort of an intangible concept right like education , uh global education sorry climate change education, is lacking in the third world and it is being refuted by conspiracy theories in the first world and so as much as (ppc) people start to get more and more educated like let's say in the first world like developed countries people start to get more and more educated on issues regarding climate change you have


more and more people coming out and saying that climate change is a hoax like for god's sake the US president doesn't believe in climate change and his disbelief of climate change will actually I feel like will actually result in a lot less people to adopting the mindset that climate change is something that is uh


important and you know it's very very difficult for more and more people to kind of adopt the mindset that climate change is important and then because of that there're less people campaigning (ppc) against climate change there are less people protesting against the actions of oil company


and as for that as I'll say that in that sense we cannot create the kind of base of support that we need to combat climate change properly and that's why we are helpless and uh but, uh ya in order to to wrap it up is just that is uh uh just that the points are extremely valid that we are still in a kind of stage where it uh where our actions matter more so now than they do in the past