and as for the third point uh that art can help promote social cohesion uh amongst different culture racial groups uh I do agree but uh also that ,


ya I agree okay, should we move on to the next topic


to summarise proposition's points uh firstly singapore is very small uh and because of land scarcity culture sites have lost their relevance uh proposition's second point is that not all culture and heritage sites represent


today societal views and perspectives some culture and heritage sites might have negative connotations and that are no longer relevant in today's today's time and that thirdly


culture and heritage sites have lost their relevance due to commercialisation because we now prioritise profit and economical viability instead of , uh culture and heritage


in response to that uh I will like to posit that no culture and heritage sites still retain their relevance many significant and famous culture and heritage sites such as the great wall of china


the #taj mahal# #mont saint michel# and #chichen itza# what all these things have in common are that they are all cultural and heritage sites that are famous uh for being and and preserved by their respective country they are famous


uh as tourism uh attractions while they still retain uh their cultural significance and sentimental values, the unique cultural uh and sentimental values that cultural and heritage sites bring can help boost tourism which results in increase economic activities in the country


in twenty seventeen three point two two million people visited the UNESCO heritage sites across the globe uh and, we see that uh in terms uh and we see and we see economic uh and we see these economic activities benefiting the country uh the respective countries


uh financially, uh another example of , cultural and heritage sites bringing in economic benefits would be uh


Greece uh being a country that has many cultural and heritage sites having tourism uh being their life jacket, as tourism is Greece's biggest foreign earner the mainstay of an economic that has otherwise contracted by twenty seven percent since late two thousand and nine


this is the same in singapore where tourism uh contributes foreign uh foreign economic, visit economic activities and tourism is a huge mainstay and takes and contributes a significant portion to our economy because of how small our country is


and because these culture and heritage sites there are only one of each in the world and it's not something that is available that is possibly available uh in other countries each country has their own unique culture and heritage sites that mix


these uh, unique places uh these places unique special important and thus relevant, to summarise my first point uh heritage sites can help boost tourism which results in increase economic activities and thus it is still relevant uh today


my second point is that culture and heritage sites remain relevant in helping to educate and remain us not to repeat the same mistakes of the past, cultural and heritage sites can create awareness about the cultural values and memories that it represents and reminds visitors of


every historical site has an important story to tell and these stories have inspired many people to strengthen their convictions and commitment to to fight


social issues such as injustice and oppression for for instance in singapore the kranji memorial landmark honours the men and women from Britain Australia Canada Sri Lanka


and many other countries who died in the line of duty during world war two the kranji memorial landmark reminds us, about the impact and devastation that war can bring about and


that we should do everything to avoid letting war be an option to resolve conflict, because cultural and heritage site create awareness and reminds of us of


of uh our history and our past it remains relevant in helping to educate uh people today and it serves as a reminder uh for us to not repeat the same mistakes that our predecessors did


and thus it remains and thus it is relevant and thus I would like to agree uh I would like to argue that it has not lost its relevance, lastly from a social perspective cultural and heritage sites have not lost their relevance as the preservation of these sites can bring about a sense of belonging of an individual in a society


the sense of identity and intimate knowledge of self can be derived from long standing cultural and heritage sites, for example the #Sri Mariamman# temple built in eighteen twentys even for worship by immigrants from south india is the oldest hindu temple in singapore today


it is located in the heart of chinatown and the temple boasts an ornamental tower entrance that's a true singapore landmark, such a landmark can give hindus a sense of pride knowing that the temple still remain even after more than one hundred years and served as an important token of our sense of identity


and it allows us to remember or to be reminded of the fact that we belong to a particular society, , in and in conclusion even in the modern era while


in the modern era cultural and cultural and heritage sites uh remain relevant due to the various benefits that bring about to the country be it economic social and at a individual level uh as well as to society


uh hence there may be a need to , uh uh ya and to society


going


uh to summarise preposition's views and argument uh first is that the arts both reflect and contribute to a country's economic progress by achieving macroeconomic aims of creating jobs and lowering unemployment


the second would be that the arts while being non essential to basic human survival is a status symbol and can signify that a nation has attained


a certain level of economic wealth and stability, and the third would be that arts reflect a society's progress in the form of uh the population's education level literacy and ability to engage in intellectual discourse


err in response I would like to first uh put into context that progress can be categorised into many varying uh factors and types or categories ranging from social to economical and in the and as well as individual progress


uh which proposition uh has touched upon in uh quite a wide range uh but I would like to argue that while the progress of a society may be reflected through the arts is a possibility


but it is not the best way to represent how far a society has come because there are many other ways for us to check on or to signify the progress of a society


uh my first point will be that the progress of a society instead of being reflected through the arts would be best reflected reflected through technological advancement, groundbreaking technological advancements such as the invention of smartphones uh the more recent creation of three D printing and the rapid development we are seeing currently in the field of artificial intelligence


are all very significant and major indicators of a society's progression throughout the years in my belief this technological and also medical advancements , can suggest to us that our society has been successful in progressing it's economic stability it's uh


and prowess as well as it's uh it's, ya uh and they suggest that the human and this technological advancement this concrete uh a physical technological advancement which we see has benefited at which we experience personally and have seen


its benefits in our daily lives, suggests that the human race has come a long way since the days of the past where we would have to where computers such as the ENIAC the electrical numerical integrator and calculator the first computer


in humankind uh were for military used only or when uh there were days where smartphones did not actually uh exist, and uh global connections were not as simply achieved as the click at as we do uh experience now at the click of a button


secondly uh oh no at in order to uh and to summarise my first point I would like to argue opposition would like to argue that progress of a society is best reflected through technological advancement instead of through the arts because


technological advancement can provide , concrete and physical, uh benefits that we are reaping in our daily life, my second point on that the progress of society is not best reflected through the arts it's that a progress of society is best reflected instead through changes in social behaviours


and one significant example would be the black lives matter movement that we are experiencing right now the black lives matter movement is an organised movement advocating for non violent civil disobedience


in protest against incidents of police brutality against american african american people, according to a new york times article published on june tenth twenty twenty


a monmouth university poll found that seventy six percent of americans consider racism and discrimination a big problem and that is up twenty six percent from uh when the poll was conducted in twenty fifteen


and this poll was conducted because of the black lives matter movement and thus this, can prove and suggest that social behaviours and uh social events such as the black lives matter movement and other


movements uh suggest or reflect the progression of a society, uh furthermore there are other polls that show that a majority of americans believe that the police are more likely to use deadly force against african americans in recent times and that there is a lot of discrimination against


black americans in society back in twenty thirteen when black lives when the black lives matter movement uh first began a majority of voters actually disagree with all these statements, the black lives movement uh black lives matter movement is a systemic fight it's it's it's a significant fight against systemic racism and a significant hallmark as well as a checkpoint that we may use


as, it's a significant hallmark that we may use as a check mark for societal progression and thus opposition would like to argue that instead of the arts the progress of a society may be better reflected through


social event, such as movement, my third point on the topic that the progress of on my argument that the progress of a society is not best reflected through the arts is that the progress of society is best reflected instead


through concrete institutional changes uh I we have many examples of that for example uh new california laws in twenty twenty on minimum wage we have


singapore's PDPA the personal data protection act that was legalised in twenty twelve uh we have Brexit and other examples uh the PDPA in singapore suggest


, a rise in awareness of , rise in awareness and progress in a country whereby personal information is becoming , more and more important uh because of more and more important and valuable because uh of progress that we are experiencing in terms of technology and


other non uh physical assets we also uh see institutional changes reflecting a societal progression in terms of taiwan legalising same sex marriage on twenty fourth may twenty nineteen


and becoming the first nation in asia to perform same sex marriage, taiwan's uh move taiwan's move to legalising sex marriage is a major and critical factor in suggesting significant uh societal progress


and uh, and another example would be uh the me too movement, which is which has variations of related local or international names but , it is known to be a movement against sexual harassment and sexual abuse where people publicise their allegation of of crimes committed by powerful and or prominent men


and, in relation to the me too movement which is a which err in relation to the me too movement institutional changes , a series of institutional changes have been exacted uh across the globe uh states are banning non disclosure agreements that cover sexual harassment uh as seem uh in california in september twenty eighteen where agreement in


where uh agreements have been banned in cases involving sexual assault harassment or sex discrimination new york and new new jersey on enacted similar laws and the federal be heard act also banned some types of non disclosure agreement


other institutional changes such as states introducing protections for more workers and as well as federal sexual harassment laws , where most state laws do not curb previously do not protect independent contractors uh uh the law uh now it also uh it also covers people who are self employed from actors to makeup artists


and and now they have at least some little legal recourse if they were harassed on a job, uh last but not least , the me too movement has resulted with americans changing how they think about power as seem from a twenty eighteen poll


in in December but the research firm Perry Undem uh those hearings , make fifty percent uh hearings on the me too movement make fifty percent of voters think about men having more power than women in government and this suggests that


institutional changes , uh suggests institutional changes can be , a good and significant way to reflect uh the progression of a society in terms of feminism


as a societal , as a societal perspective and, and that institutional changes can be uh and that progress of a society is best reflected through institutional changes to summarise all my points firstly the progress of society is not best reflected through the arts


it is better reflected through technological advancement which provides which uh which provides concrete and physical , benefits that we experience in our daily life uh second is that the progress of society is better reflected through changes in social behaviours as well as social events instead of arts and a third will be that the progress of a society is best reflected


through concrete institutional changes


okay, debate topic one, oh so we start talking ah


okay, so before I go into the discussion topic of whether goals should consider subjective or non-academic factors for admission please allow me to share some background information so basically in twenty sixteen MOE announced a new PSLE grading system which reduces that emphasis on academic scoring


furthermore MOE already has in place non-academic admissions like the direct school admissions skim which is commonly known as DSA for short, so essentially DSA say is a skim that allows schools to consider non academic factors such as the student's sport ability or student's artistic talent for admission


while it is commendable that schools have taken into consideration some non academic factors for admission the question still remains, should schools go a step further and consider subjective factors like adversity part time performance notable side projects or achievement as well


so err before I dive into my stance allow me to elaborate more on this DSA scheme , so err basically in today's context admission to secondary schools junior colleges and other post secondary institutions such as polytechnics are based on academic grades there is however a small percentage of student that apply for admission to this institution


based on their CCA talents and this scheme is known as DSA, while this may seen as those schools are opening up to considering students based on their non academic factors it is actually not successful admission to school via DSA would have to meet a certain academic criteria by the school before the


students are officially accepted students that failed to achieve the academic grades set by the schools are then usually not given acceptance therefore this shows how schools in Singapore actually unwilling to pay students purely on their non academic factors


for admission, so with that being said for me personally I'm for schools considering subjective and non academic factors for admission because I feel that grades alone are a terrible gage or ability or our future potential


according to an academic study conducted by the graduate management admission council it was found that there's a very small correlation between grades and future performances hence this is why many universities have in place of more holistic assessment to determine


who to admit so for example Singapore institution of technology or SIT for short so from what I know SIT uses a series of assessment such as essay writing interviews and role playing to determine who is the right fit for their school


I believe that this method of assessment is more meritocratic , err because now everyone will be given an opportunity to show case their talent regardless of their academic background therefore I feel that schools should consider subjective and non academic factors for admission


okay so, err okay thank you Tian-Siew for , for your point so but I still stand with my point that schools should actually consider non academic factors for admission so the reason why I I would say this it is because of the immense shares that students face


academic stress is something that many students around the world faces and singaporean students are no different in fact students in singapore face a higher level of stress as compared to their peers in other countries like indonesia or malaysia this can be attributed to the competitive nature of singaporeans


the increasing trend of tiger moms and more importantly the expanding million dollars tuition business in Singapore with that being said allow me to share a daily schedule of a typical Singaporeans student so the day usually starts at six thirty where students prepare themselves for school


and and about seven fifteen AM schools officially start and students then begins their daily routine of learning until like three PM so depending on the days in the week students might either have to stay back for CCA or go for enrichment classes these additional activities would last them through the afternoon


and they'll only return home by evening or night by then students will have been drained on energy and yet they're unable to rest until they've completed their homework for the date this means that their sleep will be reduce to about six hours assuming that they finish everything by twelve AM


however according to a study done by UCLA teenagers needs an average of nine hours of sleep to feel energizes yet some students in Singapore do not even get to rest on the weekends, because they will have to attend more tuition classes


uh furthermore with Singapore educations system gearing towards a more holistic one it is more often than not that teachers tend to forgo the quality of work in order to fulfilling the task as a student myself I have experienced many different types of holistic educations


and an example is the hands-on learning in the classroom, this type of learning is actually more interactive and engaging for students but often I found myself questioning what exactly was the concept being taught this question will never answered because of time constrain eventually all these gaps in learning will never float and they start to snowball


as such the only solution is to turn to tuition classes, through these additional classes I was only then able to equip myself with the necessary knowledge to deal with the upcoming events or I might be lucky to be able overcome such challenges others are not in the recent years the immense academic stress faced by students have resulted in a


increasing chance of suicide among the young, it was said that the high expectation from parents on the children to score well have resulted this trend, therefore I believe that the academic stress faced by singaporeans should be reduced by allowing students to be considered through subjective and non-academic factors


okay thank you jess for your point on, the stress being inevitable but I believe that, like stress might be product from many different factors one reason might be the inequality get they might cause stress on the student


so for me I believe that developing and recognizing a child potential in art music or sports, is what matters because maybe this child might come from a low income family with nothing much to offer in grades and maybe like


this child might even be a, people's person and a leader so there're like many global examples of school drop outs or, that are in the top performance top top performance list this not to say where about fifty years ago like when they go to


they have like high grades but they didn't become leaders like they graduate from Cambridge but, all they had was like grades ah, so err basic education and a and a certificate does not guarantee the person to


doe not guarantee a person's future so , so I believe that we should look towards talents and not only high grades


and, also another point is that, since Singapore has a very prevalent tuition culture in schools due to the strong emphasis on academic grades and admission with almost seventy percent of put


parents responding to that saying that they sent their students for tuition as it seems as a necessity in singapore context due to the high due to the highly focused academic


results so the while the tuition industries generates a significant revenue, to further distinguish their children, I believe that this is where children actually face faces the most stress


so because academic grades right they're such, or such important in singapore context , parents will then also want to send their children for more enrichment classes to let their children stand out like to stand out among the other students ah so like children might be sent to additional classes like pianos or ballets


be it, and this might also, can't be attributed to both the students and parent's desire to be enroll in top schools


debate topic two , okay that's that, okay, okay so the question is should chinese dialect be offer as a mother tongue language


first let me define what it means by a mother tongue language a mother tongue language is a language that one has been exposed to from birth or at critical age and traditionally it's compulsory for Singaporean students to be taught a second language based on their


ethnicity oh my god oh my god can't pronounce ethnicity , so as so like for example a person of Chinese descendant will learn mandarin a person from a Malay population would learn bahasa and so on and so forth however a person that's of a Indian descendant would be given a choice to learn Hindi urdu


Bengali Punjabi and guravi instead of purely just tamil these a rare of languages offered to the Indian students it was often the cornerstone of many discussions many were quick to point out that there're so much to mandarin itself


and the Chinese dialects like Hokkien Cantonese or Hainanese should be offered as a mother tongue language, and I'm no stranger I believe that Chinese dialects should be given as an option for students to learn, so ever since Singapore gained independence the late prime minister mister Lee-Kuan-Yew has enforced the compulsory learning of mother tongue languages


of course I'll not disagree with this bilingual policy in Singapore and as a Chinese myself I strongly believe that mandarin is a powerful language to possess mainly because the Chinese market is one there's there has great potential and it's growing exponentially in the


world today however we also need to consider our roots which is our dialects it is true that only a small percentage of the younger generations in Singapore is able to speak their dialect be it the basics or at a conversational level


it is indeed worrying that the bilingual policy enforced have resulted in the evolution of the diversity of Chinese culture, the young generation in Singapore has recognized this problem and understood the important of learning dialects in order to connect with their love one especially their grandparents therefore with the demand of young wanting to learn dialects a group of final years


university students have decided to start a campaign called my father tongue, so my father tongue is a campaign in encouraging young people to pick up dialects where free like free dialect classes are taught at the series of community centers therefore this shows how the younger generations are willing to pick up Chinese dialect as a way to connect with the pioneer generation


hence I believe that students should be given the chance to decide whether they will want to pick up Chinese dialect as their mother tongue language


okay so err thank you TX for your insightful knowledge however I still stand firm with my belief that chinese dialects are beneficial and they should be offered as a mother tongue language, for students in Singapore, ever since China opened up to the world and gradually put itself that on the map of major global powers the ability to speak Chinese has become an ever valuable skill the Chinese language has more than two hundred distinct dialect


for which only a handful are useful these dialects are mainly Mandarin Cantonese Hokkien and Hainanese, since Mandarin is taught in school today I'll skip this and elaborate more on the other dialects, in the case of Cantonese it is actually spoken by about hundred million people in #Guang Dong# #Guang Xi# Hong Kong and Macau


since hong kong is known to be an ideal place for business wanting to stretch far it will then be recommended to learn cantonese because of the vast majority of people in hong-kong converse saying cantonese, according to a report done by PWC and the world bank it said that the extremely pro business environment makes it easy to register a company


furthermore Hong Kong simple tax system with low rates and favorable deduction is the most business friendly in the world Hong Kong financial institution chambers of commerce venture capitalist and trade organization connects businesses with


people network and resources across the region, with an unparalleled appetite for entrepreneurship ~nism Hong Kong is constantly keen to welcome new businesses and access exceeding, and access is exceedingly simple therefore there's an increase in the number of people that have flock to Hong Kong to set up businesses


with that being said possessing this ability to converse in Cantonese would definitely be a plus in the keys of Hokkien in Singapore it's actually dying like I wouldn't deny it with the younger generation they unable to understand or speak dialects


couple with the fact that the pioneer pioneer generations are more comfortable conversing in dialects mainly Hokkien it has resulted in a communication break down or it may seen as the Mandarin would be the solution to this problem it's actually not because the older generation are not as fortunate as us to be able to learn Chinese


as a result the majority of them are only able to converse in their respective dialects that they were taught from young, so allow me to put this into perspective imagine yourself being in the shoes of the seniors, you're able to express yourself in your own language instead you're reduce to new gestures and simple words like yes and no maybe at the start will feel okay but eventually in the long run you lose out yours you will lose your sense of belonging and connections with the surrounding world


in short they'll feel like an outsider in your own country and gradually you give up talking to people, not only have you lose your physical mobility as you age it also seems as those you're losing your right to speak yes Hokkien is a dying language as based on the standards of UNESCO at expert group on endangered language


but what about our seniors do they not matter anymore, with these questions in mind I'd like you to take a minute to digest and consider the importance of introducing Chinese dialects to the younger generation, therefore I would agree wholeheartedly with chinese dialects being offered as a mother tongue language because the death of any dialect will be the death of a culture


okay, so uh just now you mentioned about how , like the there's this policy that you're suppose to speak Mandarin right so and, yes


yup yup yup that so from what I know right actually for that policy to happen right there's actually a ban on the dialect and actually this ban on dialect actually isolate seniors citizen from like our community, so let me build on my previous point so


so achieving community integration and fostering a new sense of identity the ban on dialect has marginalized the senior citizens in singapore, so many elderly Singaporeans are highly dependent on television because they have difficulties walking and are confined at home


and also because like the younger generation they do not they're unable to speak dialect with their grandparents so there's actually a kind of communication like break down between them so what the elderly in Singapore actually


have to do is like, watching TV so television actually plays a crucial role and in enabling them to maintain an ongoing sense of participation of society, it also combats feelings of alienation and loneliness and it is an important window to the world and a basis for share experience


older people experience problems with seeing and hearing, also prefer television over radio or prints as television provides both of verbal and visual information together however many senior citizens are unable to understand entertainment programs and news in Singapore adequately due to


poor literacy level with a total of eighty-six percent of elderly women and seventy-one percent of elderly males having below secondary school qualification, and it was found that the majority of them also converse mainly in chinese dialect instead of mandarin and this brings us to a question is how our elderly is going to meet their needs for entertainment and even like feel a sense of participation in society if they can not even grasp the concept on television well


so I feel that by letting the younger generation have an option to learn chinese dialects as a mother tongue option it'll be better and also they're able to make like more television programs


convert more television programs in the different chinese dialects so that the elderly won't feel won't feel isolated , another point to add is that


based on the general household survey in twenty fifteen actually only twelve point two percent of Singapore's population speak Chinese dialects at home, so, I feel that by offering like uh mother by offering chinese dialects as a mother tongue option right we're able to allow


more interaction and also if you're taking on front-line roles such as like maybe retail sales real estate or insurance agent or even medical field like interacting with the elderly is uh, is a you like you often you interact with the elderly often so maybe by having of by learning this dialect right they're able to form


they're able to like converse with the elderly and build a rapport, yeah


(hmm)


okay okay, debate topic three , okay let me start, so the last topic is learning is best outside the classroom so before I start explaining my stance allow me to tell you a little bit more about Singapore's education system


so for more than a decade Singapore along with South Korea Taiwan Japan Shanghai Hong Kong and Finland has been at or near the top of international league table that measures children ability in reading math and science


in the case of a small country like singapore is considered a great achievement however , this achievement are often comes at that expanse of the students physical and mental health because of it academic legal, teaching in Singapore primally focus on coverage of the curriculum the transmission of factor and procedure knowledge and preparing students both of their end of year and national exams


since the education system revolves around examination teachers heavily relying on classroom style teaching where they teach students through textbook worksheets examples and with lot of drilling and practice, educators in Singapore strongly emphasize the importance of being able to grasp certain concepts especially in the case of mathematics


as such learning in singapore is rather teacher dominated and generally avoid expanded discussion or even learning beyond the classroom, however this type of learning is slowly becoming irrelevant for this ever changing world and twenty first century we live in


therefore there is a need for students to able to apply the concepts being taught in their real-world context by letting students to learn outside of the classroom, I believe that learning is best outside the classroom for many different reasons


firstly it makes learning more engaging and enjoyable for students especially for those in the primary schools, according to brain balance it was found that the average attentions spend on students is shorter among primary school students and those in secondary


school this means that younger students needs more than just learning in the classroom they need to have some handsome experience, since it can be difficult to keep students on task in the classroom, when all they want to do is like try it first hand by themselves one optic in learning outside the classroom and let them do just that


take math lessons outside and have children estimate them time how long it would take to run across a field they can discuss it outdoors and graphic back in the classroom wouldn't that be a win win situation, by taking learning beyond the classroom you'll find that there're many concepts


you'll find that there're many concepts which seems too difficult to grasp in the classroom would suddenly seems a lot easier to understand, when you do it outdoors this is mainly because students are more engaged and motivated to understand and learn when they're set in contacts


therefore I'd like to agree that learning is best outside the classroom


okay so, because I'd like to agree that the classroom is necessary for learning but I still think that learning is best outside the classroom, mainly because like it nurtures creativity and imagination, since students are still in a process of growing we must not confine them just to the classroom we should let them discover themselves and develop learning through play and experimentation


we all know that students learn more when they are happy and engaged so by bringing learning outdoors it will definitely increase the amount of knowledge they can adsorb also experimenting is a fantastic way to learn because


children learn a huge amount about volumes and textures through simple things like maybe sand and water while older children will enjoy becoming nature detective and learn about insects missing tag and their habitats if they're given the opportunity to learn outside the classroom


honestly like which children like do not want to be like experience or see what they learn from their textbook in real life so for me if if I were to give a personal example I remember back in primary school like we're taken on many like learning journeys and also


it was a time where we just started learning science so I guess an this learning journey I really it was really an eye opener like it really taught me a lot of things, that something our textbooks can't really, do lah like cause as it wasn't really as engaging as to experience it first hand


and also another point why learning beyond the classroom is more beneficial is because it helps to reduce behavioral problems while learning beyond the classroom means implementing a whole new sets of behavior management process, on the whole it can also mean a general improvement in behavior where children will be happier more engaged and motivated


this improvement in emotion will then result in lesser students acting up as compare to learning in the classroom, outdoor learning also expose children to new opportunities, learning outside the classroom does not mean to just wander around the school grounds there're different places that students can learn from


for example museums gallery and zoo can be of great interests where students can find out how things are made and maybe even try out themselves by letting students try out for themselves it will provide them with the learning experiences


that they won't forget essentially after a positive experience it will then let them think that learning is fun as such this will then leads to students being more willing and motivated to learn even when they're back in the classroom therefore these reasons are why I strongly recommends Singapore education to take on


the benefits that students gains from learning outside the classroom, technically out ways those learning in the classroom


okay so, I would say that learning outside the classroom can help teachers create enthusiasm for learning provide a real world context and expose students to a range of careers


students who experience learning outside the classroom benefit from the increase self-esteem and also more become engaged in their education, there are actually evidence suggesting that learning outside the class can help raise achievement improve classroom behavior and improve the engagement of students including those who are hard to engage in the classroom environment


so an extensive report published by the Oxford, from learning outside the classroom, contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupils personal social and emotional development


in twenty sixteen the school travel forum conducted a survey to find out how school trips and learning outside the classroom impacts the development of students, they actually found that sixty percent of teachers noticed and increased in student's confidence resilience and well being after participating in a school trips and sixty one percents of students actually achieved higher than their predicted grades


so this can actually show you like how learning beyond the classroom is actually more beneficial for students, so if I'll to do a cause benefit analysis actually actually they they done it already


, cause benefit analysis that place when deciding to organize a school trip or other learning outside the classroom activities the causes involved in coordinated learning outside the classroom may includes like maybe a accommodation transport


insurance learning workshop fees and time taken to fill up paperworks, or the benefits includes what students are expected to get out of the trip such as better understanding of a concept or topic, well this cost benefits analysis can be helpful in making decision teachers often forget to include the many external and intrinsic benefits that arise from learning outside the classroom and these benefits may include like the reduce behavioral problems


a more accepting attitude towards culture differences and diversity and like a curiosity in future career prospect, all these are examples of benefit that have a positive impact but can not be easily quantifier because of this organizing like a school trip or like learning outside the classroom experience


may actually, appear like more beneficial than learning in the classroom so if I were to give an example right in secondary school like my school actually allowed us to go on this small Malacca trip is actually a learning journey where we go to like Malaysia and then we


to like some few work for a project so from what I gained from that experience is that it was actually really fun because it was like my first time travelling overseas with my friends and being able to


take our learning outdoors from that I actually learn a lot of stuff cause, that project actually like incorporates many different subjects together so for example geography so like they taught some concepts in the classroom then they made us like collect the raw materials and stuff then after that we're supposed to do like do up some table


and also, another subject that was actually involved in this learning journey like mathematics , so from, that experience already , made me want to learn more about the different subjects involved


so that's why I think that learning outside the classroom is better for more majority of students I'd say


debate topic one


thank you thank you jolin i do agree with you with a certain extent as to how subjective and non-academic factors play a part in the consideration for school admissions, however I believe that an academic achievement is and should be the main criteria for school admission because it is relevant in evaluating the likelihood of success for the student all candidates


as mentioned by jolin the DSA scheme enable students with commendable sports or artistic talent to have a higher chance of successful admissions, into polytechnic junior college or university only if applicants meet the academic criteria this shows that academic achievement is still a relevant factor to be taken into consideration


however it may be useful to note that DSA may not be the best option for talented individual since there are other institutions they're more relevant for example if one is interested in sports one may join the sport club and make a professional athletes


career career out of it or simply apply to singapore sports school to follow their passion, similarly if one is artistically inclined, such as a gifted model singer actor musician et cetera, he or she can apply to Singapore school of the arts SOTA for short to pursue their interests


to clarify my point I'm not implying that the DSA scheme should be discontinued or is irrelevant what i mean is that there're other better alternatives or institution, for students who are passionate about or interested in the sports or arts field to build a study foundation


furthermore I understand that current admission are based more on the holistic approach, however there're many other factors to consider there's a student with lesser extra curriculum involvement in school make him or her less deserving of a sport in let's say junior college admission the student with lesser curriculum involvements in school may be a national athlete


but due to the obligation to commit to national training regularly he or she may have decided to fully utilize the time in school to focus solely on academic, hence lacking the involvement in school activities, furthermore there may be students who are financially unstable who are unable to afford the basic necessities to even start an extra curriculum activity of their preference


for example a sport CCA requires gears and footwear, while in art CCA may require instrument and equipment, all these may be deemed affordable to most of us but there exist minority find it hard to persuade their passion due to financial constrains


but does these undermine their capability, capability in that respective, few, hence to join a link back to my stance there still exist many issues hindering the full potential of students in many aspects, yet the only common among every student is their academic achievements


all students go through a similar education route and sit for the same national examination with minimal inequality furthermore schools do provide financial aid to those financially underprivileged, students to assist their education needs and even cover their meal expenses in school


hence it is only fair to judge students objectively in terms of their academic's performance for school admission as it is the main factor that truly proves, the capability of the respective


, to sum of what jolin has mentioned many students experience immense stress, in the process of achieving academic excellence where stress is the key leading factor for the few suicide cases among students, given this admission should be based on subjective and non-academic


thus to reduce stress, well I beg to differs with jolin's idea according to the Samaritan of Singapore one of the main suicide prevention helplines in Singapore, they mentioned that suicide may be the leading cause of death for those age ten to twenty nine years old


however majority of the reason for suicide includes mental health conditions, serious or chronic health conditions this stressing, life's event such as divorce job loss death death of close ones, prolong stress factors such as bully


being abused unemployment, et cetera, stress from academic may not be the main reason for the high suicide rates in Singapore , but the case of the eleven year old boy who fell seventeen floors from his bedroom window on the day he was to show his parents his mid year examination results does surface in this given content


it was said to be deliberate it was said to be a deliberate act of suicide out of stress, however should one such case represent the whole educational cohort of Singaporean students, probably not as not every students has the mindset of this


unfortunate eleven year old boy it is understandable that this is a one one case wait no sorry, it is understandable that this one case had shed like on the vigorously, stressful education, system in Singapore and let to authorities stepping out to ready


use academic competition among students by taking non academic factors into consideration for school admission, however academic factors should still be the main consideration as students should be trained to adapt to stress and pressure since young in order to be well prepared for the future workforce


according to the reasons for suicide stated above many are due to young adults entering the workforce and being unable to handle tremendous amount of stress they face hence if students can't handle academic stress it will eventually lead, to instability of their mental or emotional state as they enter in working force in the


future this may in term cause mental illness or others worse consequences, furthermore there are measures put in place to reduce stress among students, putting a academic measures aside example of non academic measure includes physical education PE lessons where students get to go outdoors and relieve their stress


presence of readily available school counselors, where identifying and helping students, who are mentally and emotionally unstable is an important way to prevent suicide I believe that school counselors are more than ready to support and assist these students in their recovery journey


hence to conclude my point stress is inevitable in Singapore's highly sought after education system, system however it can be limited or reduce by various measures already in place, hence as much as non academic factors can be taken into consider


consideration for school admission, that emphasis should still be placed on the academic achievements, of individual student


okay, oh


okay can i just argue like both your points, together because you mention, that , you you first mentioned that , inequality is the reason and that, some people in like there's a gap between


low income and high income right, but then i just want to mention, that , that's, no way that, a low income person, can actually , develop their talents in the first place for like music and arts


because, they don't have they're financial unstable in the first place, so is very hard for them to actually, find the passion for it when they didn't even try it, and another reason to your second point right you mentioned that tuition is


, you mentioned that tuition is, uh the rising industry in singapore and is also a boost for education among students but back to the inequality, problem


is where I know that there're a a few schemes in Singapore that actually providing free children err I mean free tuition for those underprivileged children , but I feel like, the Singapore there's nothing they're doing nothing to breach the gap between the rich and poor in term of education other than providing them


financial aid in school, and also another reason with tuition, is let's say that even if I'm a rich right, is quite, impossible for me to do well just because I have plenty of tuition classes, you must take into consideration their self discipline


the way they view education and how important education it is, is to them so , can I just mention that you you you did mention that a lot of you did mention a lot that


grades are grades don't matter and their talent matter right so can i just say that , I'll just support myself with a example so , I did some research and they say that after the release of the NAPLEX study


in polytechnics and ITE review the aspire committee, project uh report in twenty fourteen right it was actually announced that non graduated in the civil service who perform well and are ready to take on larger responsibilities will be able to progress faster in their careers based on their performance at work rather than a academic performance


the the expired community also shares that importance of not relying on grades and paper qualifications in the hiring process, but, most civil jobs posting still indicate a bachelor degree as a prerequisite, so I just wanna say that as much as yes talents passions and interests do matter like in a child's future


I feel like in the Singapore education context right they still place grades emphasis on, the paper cert


debate topic two


to sum out what jolin has, mention the dialect culture has eroded simply because we can not revert back to the past, us we have already lost the majority of our dialect culture and, heritage but in return we gain unity the ability to understand each other and a common sharing of culture and heritage once thought to be distinctive


of separate dialect groups, we see ourselves as Chinese and not #teochew#s, #hokkien#s and cantonese, we do not divide along dialects group, with that i stand firmly against Chinese dialect should being offered as mother tongue language


to provide some background information, when singapore gained self-rule from britain in nineteen fifty-nine, singapore chose to become an officially multi-lingual state selecting four official languages, English Mandarin Chinese


malay and tamil, English was promoted as the working language of Singapore for inter-ethnic communication, while the other official languages would consider mother tongues of the major ethnic groups in nineteen sixty six


the government implemented a policy of bilingual education, where Singaporeans students to learn both English and their mother tongue Mandarin for Chinese Singaporeans, however by the seven nineteen seventy the continuing use on dialects among the majority of the Chinese population was hampering the successful


implementation, of the policy, the government then decided to overcome this challenges by launching the speak mandarin campaign SMC for short to promote mandarin as a common language among chinese singapore, singaporeans to achieve the following objectives


mention, from the nineteen ninety, the campaign begin targeting English educated Chinese Singaporeans to entourage them to speak Mandarin in their daily lives over time the SMC has also come to encourage all Chinese Singaporeans to learn and speak more Mandarin and in-calculate the


and depend and appreciation for the Chinese culture heritage and language the objective of this bilingual education policy is, to preserve national identity such as simplifying the language environment for chinese singaporeans, improving communication and understanding among


Chinese Singaporeans, furthermore knowing Mandarin is still in, important for doing business, with China this is supported by prime minister Lee-Hsien-Loong who argued that Mandarin is economically valuable, so to support my whole argument a survey conducted in twenty sixteen actually showed that seventy two percent of people are against the idea of Chinese dialects being offered as a mother tongue option hence Chinese dialects should not be offered as mother tongue language


which as singaporeans will continue have a sense of national identity and belonging in their own ethnic group, with a simplified language environment for easier communicate, communication and understanding , I support and believe that the bilingual education policy will be beneficial for the decades to come as generations will be able to communicate easily with


each other and all problems


thanks for the interesting, facts you're stated jolin as much as dialect is important to preserve it's culture, it should not be offered as a mother tongue language that is consider a subject to be graded, however dialects can indict be taught as an optional subject in school for the sole purpose of leaning I'm not against the idea of dialect being taught but having dialect


as our mother tongue, language, having to be graded and examine will lead to extreme fairness issue as examination will have no specific standards to follow, to elaborate on my point, taking up this third language to be graded as an extra subject will not be fair for those who are genuinely interested in learning the language when compare to those who are born and raised in the family that speak the same dialect language since birth


the later would've bee more familiarized and definitely is of highest standards in terms of the death of knowledge for the dialect compare to the former, hence if there really comes a day when third language , such as dialect is optional as a subject in school it should not be following the grading system in the Singapore education system


with that aside it is argued that the varieties of a language play an important role in an educational context, in this connection learning is claim to better and more successful when conducted in the specific dialect variety spoken by students


there's general consensus, in fact among educationalists and social linguistic alike that valuing dialect in the classroom makes real difference to our to educational achievement of speakers


it is also argued that the use of the students dialect variety in education enable the students to use their own potential and help them to achieve deep learning, beside is the besides the consideration of dialect in education


enhances the social, cognitive, emotional and linguistic development of learners, in and out of school, however selecting and compromising, the different varieties in different spheres of life such as in education


politics social et cetera seems complex and controversial furthermore given the highly stress at, fast pace education system in Singapore school should refrain from teaching different dialects as a language because it is unnecessary


students only need to master the standard variety of a language which is English and their respective mother tongue, the purpose of public education is to prepare children for uh career and having to learn unnecessary, with dialects will only take time away from more useful subjects


hence to sum up my point, as much as dialects can be use, useful for an individual student, academic persuade it is complex and difficult to compromising on a national level as not everyone can comprehend, comprehend each other's dialect furthermore the success of singapore's education system for many decades have already proven the point that dialect should not be incorporate


the into a mother tongue language as learning Mandarin for Chinese students is


the bilingual education policy, ya


okay I do actually I do agree with your point that like in order to communicate, with the older generation, generations in our society right, err dialects pretty important, like uh I have an example last time I used to go to this old folks, home right but then there's these communication barrier cause apparently i don't understand they're speaking in dialect and i don't understand that particular dialect so i i i understand how it can frustrating for like communication like let's say between


in like nurses and, like hospital patients or those working in the old folks home or those who just want to go and volunteer but they can't comprehend what the older generation are saying, but I believe that in a let's say in a family setting


right because your our parents have their own dialect to and if we hear it on a daily basis right, right the dialect don't have to be taught as a mother tongue language for you to roughly understand like to learn the dialect so if someone really want to learn a dialect right i believe that they can learn it even in their household setting and not necessarily in a


school setting, because i believe that , communication with the elderly, in generation right wouldn't be a problem id they're family, I think it will only be a problem if they're outsiders that come and communicate like example like the outsiders uh visit the grandparents and then they communicate then that that there might be a communication barrier but i feel like for entertainment purposes right


it the responsibility lies on the, like on the, later generations to actually talks talk to them older generation and like entertain them and i believe that


I know that dialect is a very important thing and the the dialect is actually dying but i feel like if a language is dying then it means that it is not well preserved by people who speak that dialect itself so if


, I feel like okay I feel like humans do not preserve dying plants and animals in nature because nature has its own rules and it might not be the best idea intervene on nature causes of things, so I do not believe in false preservation of languages


and, , people should then then like that right then people should have preserve sign language and not evolve since stone ages right if you want to say that a dialect shouldn't be preserved I mean should be preserved


yes


okay, debate topic three


less lessons provide


firstly face to face interactions, an easier communication secondly , in class lesson, promote collaborative learning and, enhance critical thinking skills, lastly


in class lesson, keeps students, same same peers in class every session, they get a chance to form friendship, in the case of higher learning


if students don't understand something they can always ask the instructor


the for clarification, the faculty, so in case of an of having any questions they may find it difficult to ask their online instructor, as communication is often very in-personal


this may hinder their learning ability and in turn lead to a tremendous incline in their grades, I'll be providing a personal example for better illustration purposes, I've been experiencing home based learning for the past few months, and to be brutally honest learning was one sided as only the lecturer was speaking


questions can only be asked and answered through online platforms like emails or apps like, Telegram or What's app, which requires waiting time that in turn make me lose, focus and sort of forego the doubts i had, some more challenging concepts that require critical thinking are difficult to grasp without consistent guidance and visualization through in real life interaction


this adversely affected my grades as it is evident that my grades have declined this semester, compared to my previous one, hence face to face communication is essentially and best for learning, secondly a classroom environment is essentially to promote


promote and stimulate collaborative learning, collaborative learning increases a student self-awareness, about how other students learn and able enables them to learn more easily and effectively, transforming them into keen learners inside and beyond the classroom


room , in class learning also enhances, students, critical thinking skill, as teaching in a classroom gives, students the opportunity to engage in life discussions, in which day i forced to use their critical thinking skills to formulate opinions or arguments


lastly, the physical presence of a teacher, keeps student stimulated through the interactives and interesting activities, this enables students to retain more from what they've learned during a session and do better in examinations


hence in conclusion in classroom learning has it, is perks that outside of classroom lessons can never replace and that includes the take away of face to face interactions, promotion of collaborative learning and enhancements of


critical thinking skill, and the ability to keeps students engaged in the lesson process


though I agree that outside of classroom learning offers many benefits, they're not right and suitable for every students, apart from learning outdoors, one of the main challenges with outside of classroom, learning such as, learning through an online platform


is that you you require a great deal of self discipline for students, students especially for those teenagers and young , as the course work is available online the students can choose when to access, it and they have the flexibility to work through it at their own pace


this is great for many students but some students still prefer the structure of a classroom course where materials are presented in, in a traditional lecture format, quizzes projects and homework assignments has set due dates which force the students to work within a set time frame


for students like myself who have trouble motivating themselves, this may be a better option than the freedom of an online course, not only to online classes require a great deal of self discipline, but they often result in reduced social interaction


the actual structure of an online course varies from one institution, to another and among different professors of course , some professors require online students to interact with each other in forums and online discussions, even so this isn't quite the same as the social interaction one would experience


with other students in a physical classroom, setting , some students simply learn better in a collaborative setting than they do on their own, to better illustrate the idea allow me to bring in another of my own personal experience


so one of the key challenges of online learning for me is the abundance of distractions that are not necessary, really present in an, on in class learning environment, learning online offers online distractions, such as social media web browsing email


chatting, and video sex, just like any other students , i tend to get affected by my mobile phone each time it receives a, notifications which results in might, in me losing my focus, furthermore learning from home offers distractions


such as households chores, running errands family responsibilities, and the telephone, with all that being said given that I'm someone who lacks self discipline learning outside the classroom is not the best essentially hinders me from


reaching my fullest potential, to add on online classes tend to make it easier for procrastination and minimal participation, however in classroom learning, people are expected to show up for every class session


professors use attendance as part of a student's grade where's the professor is better able to control participation in class, online learning puts more accountability on the student, to participate, students may do only enough to complete the assignments


some online learners struggle with managing their time to do the course work with restrictions at home often cause focus difficulties, hence I argue that in class learning is still the best way to obtain knowledge and learn


okay i think like okay i think that experience is, that experience you gained through outside of classroom learning, right is the reason why our , opinion may differ, cause like remember you said something about the cost benefits analysis


where they where they, where they analyze the objective what students have learned after the, trip and everything right, so personally for me right I still remember vividly that when back in secondary school or primary school when they brings us out on learning journey


is cause I believe to that in the Singapore education, system right , schools are it it learning journey are compulsory things for schools to do lah so basically for me right what i experienced a wasn't wasn't that much fulling as how you put it


so I remember going to like heritage sides like Kampung Gelam , China town and apparently I feel like online i mean outside of classroom learning, is just distracting is like they bring you out of the classroom and they bring you around i know that it may be knowledgeable and the main purpose of it is to gain knowledge out of the trip but i feel like most of my friends and i were just talking


we were just like doing our own things like at the end of the day it wasn't take away from , outdoor outside of classroom learning like outdoors but for a fact i do agree that in the current situation that outside of classroom is actually beneficial in terms of online learning is


because that in this hour in this need of the hour, err conducting visual classes , is because the situation cause of it such as the current COVID, nineteen pandemic, but in my opinion classroom teaching will always be preferred over virtual classes


as i believe that because of second point I've given juniors and young adolescences they learn much more in classroom learning in classroom setting because of the lack of self discipline that they have , so


so i believe that in this situation of a global health crisis right the virtual system of learning has definitely proved its merits, as the technology advances this system is here to stay for sure but i believe that accepting the virtual method doesn't means rejecting the traditional classroom


room learning method and the convenience of an low cost model of virtual learning can not replace that experiment that the experiential learning of human values and character development in a classroom


setting , also we have to take into consideration the financial needs such as the access to internet and gadgets is also an issue for most most minority of the people I'd say in singapore but there's still are oh wait


oh wait, okay, okay ,


debate topic number one, okay uh uh for school


topic number one will be school should consider subjective and non academic factor for admission, I agree that schools should consider subjective and non academic factors for admission, based on my understanding, academic factors refers to the result of student based on academic subjects like math and science


subjective and non academic factors are factors that are not academic based and can mean a broad area of skills and aspects such as uh soft skills life skills and character development et cetera, uh firstly uh not all students are academically inclined but they can be very talented in other areas the education system should


uh, uh help students to discover their strength and weaknesses, and uh, uh not just focusing on the academic factor that, uh we are giving uh the students, uh giving uh focusing only on the academic factors means that uh


we are giving up on students who are not so academically inclined, uh I think no one in the world is perfect right, if a student is doing well in his sports but may not have the interest uh, or be as good as in his maths as other people are you going to give up his talent in sports and just because he could not do well in other academic subjects


are we gonna give up a future athlete just because he couldn't become a doctor, also in many occupation in the world we do not need uh academically smart people, uh, such industry will be like the athletes service industry artist uh cleaners waiters and more


occupation, and they are all very important roles in the world, uh I, I'm not saying that the knowledge is not important to occupation like this it is that we should not just focus on academic knowledge that the school, uh impart to the student, uh school should help student to explore their interests and not force them to be smart just to fit into the social norms


and by looking at uh academic result uh during admissions will give student especially the young children the impression that only knowledge based job like doctors, uh and lawyers are important while other occupations are not as important which is uh very untrue


we all need cleaners and uh service staff in our lives and they deserve the amount of same respect, uh, as doctors and lawyers, uh how the, education system structured will teaches the student uh different values as well


uh thus I think that it is important that uh school should consider subjective and non academic factors for admission


uh from my understanding uh you are trying to say that student who, got DSA that got in and, as compared to a student that uh didn't work hard and get in they will feel demoralised but I feel that uh schools should always look at uh holistic uh approaches such as the student conduct and his motivation


which is also uh non which is also a non academic factor that the school should look at, , thus they should also look at students who are not, uh, who may not do as well but with good conduct and motivation to do well and at the same time help this student to develop his interest and talent may be in sports or in


arts, I believe that this would encourage other students to be less motivated by just the academic competition and only focus on their result and also start reflecting, themselves in other uh non academic aspects, so another pointer that I pointed out was uh life skills and soft skills uh which is more important in one's life than any academical uh knowledge a person with a strong social skills can network and gave themselves opportunities to


in his career, but if a person that is, uh highly knowledgeable but lack of social skills would not allow him to have the same opportunity as the person with a more social skills, uh thus I feel like, it is important to ensure that a student learn non academical skill as well to help them in their life


uh especially in their future career, another pointer that uh I feel it's important uh another factor that I feel that is uh, that the school should consider would be character, uh character is also another non academic factor that I feel


is important and should be an in uh priority, for any individual, misconduct can ruins uh one's life and I believe we have seen many, uh, example in the real life, uh


this is very often seen in today's society and a recent, , example would be the new PAP candidate ivan Lim which he he was very successful in his life and career but without a good character he


uh the impression of him can, uh the impression, uh it can shatters people impression for him and the trust for him as well, I feel that uh, character is a very subjective factor that uh


that's no uh, book rules or like you know theory to actually, , criteria to be a criteria but it should be considered carefully when the school admits their students to the school


what I'm saying over here is that uh, when, uh for students who actually, are interested in the school which when they will apply for the school, and so when they're actually uh interested in the school they can actually use like other


uh, other talent or like interest that they have for them to go and apply into the school that they they want so in this case they might not be as interested in like sports schools for for student but he, he or she may


may want to go into like a dream school that he or she always wanted to go in and he can then use this uh, opportunity which the school can, uh, which the school can, revise and and uh


and consider when they admitting the students based on like his uh testimonial or like the conduct that the students uh his classmate or teacher give whether he's a motivated person to, to do well in his studies while juggling the


uh, while juggling his interest in sports


so, like like like like I mention, the base character and conduct is a very subjective uh, factor which is actually , up to the school and how they can actually


uh look at the student like how how can they measure, uh, the student right will be based on like maybe testimonials from uh, ya classmate or teacher or even the school can actually, , go back and have a interview or have a talk with the previous teacher that the student have


uh, that the student is uh schooling in, and I believe through the, the interview or like the testimonial from, the, classmate and teacher it will help the, school to decide whether this student is actually motivated and well conducted


enough to, actually be, admitted to the school


I believe that this is a, big issue in education whereby everyone just want the convenience, uh I feel that, the education system is focusing on the wrong, wrong factor uh


shouldn't the education system be, grooming the children and, students uh for their for their life and not just for academic and, I feel that if, they are willing and they are genuinely trying to help students right they won't find it a hassle to actually go and


make sure that this student is a suit to their school


uh that's why I feel that it is a issue with the education system in this society lah , schools and even parents are more, uh focused on whether the child can be, be good be talented in


and like win like in a competition, , I feel that that is not right, like, education system should help a student discover their own strength and weakness and to help them develop into better person with a better


character thus I feel like the education should actually be changing, according to the society as the time now is quite different from last time uh we are more


for, children and students we are more, uh, we are more likely to be motivated if the teachers and, and parents are not as, like not don't want us to do as


how do I like, students and, students will feel better if, the parents don't ask them to focus, on their result as much and also look at other talent that


uh, that they have and not just focus on the academic result that they bring back to home, which I feel like it's a, a major issue with today's uh society norms


okay uh from, I understand your points on uh parents but uh I feel like this is a very, uh broad issue that can't be solved within a day so, why why are parents focusing on only on result is because schools are


admitting students based on result, which is why uh parents set standards for children based on the result that they are having like or if you want to go to this uh good school you must have a certain result which is why parents start to focus on the result itself and not other like talents or


soft skills that the children might have once school starts using all these subjective and non academic skills it is likely that the parents will shift their attention to other aspects of uh the children as well and not just focus on results


all in all I just feel that, although we are not, we should not , prioritise any of it but we should have a balance between academic and non academic aspect and factors when the school


, when the schools select their students, uh, they should also look at the overall performance uh based on like maybe their CCAs or or like uh any leadership roles that they have taken up in a previous school and also based on the, uh based on the academic subject so they might not have to do like extremely well in their academic uh subjects but they can


be like on the average side but yet they have like better conducts and and maybe better leadership skills and the school, uh can consider this


debate topic two, uh debate topic two will be whether chinese dialect should be offered as a mother tongue language in school, uh for me I agree that chinese dialect should be an option as a mother tongue language


uh mother, tongue language is known as the language spoken by a person since birth and speak speaks the language since uh, throughout growing up, uh in singapore MOE's uh, purpose is to incorporate


uh, mother tongue language is to implement a bilingual education system, as well as to add values to the student's mother tongue language, so as a chinese I believe that it is important to learn about culture and the history of chinese uh china have a rich culture as it is one of the earliest ancient civilisation and dialects are part of all these culture


thus why are not why are dialect not an option for mother tongue language, uh many people and even young children back in my days are speaking dialects at home with their grandparents and parents even more than mandarin and it is their mother tongue they speak it uh since birth


and why should it not be an option in school, uh this is of course a changing trend as uh more people starts to speak uh english at home, uh thus the culture is losing bit by bit


I'm someone who is, uh I'm a proud chinese who value the chinese culture and I spoke, dialect with my grandparents when I was young but since going to school and taking mandarin as uh as my mother tongue language I start to lose the expression in hokkien and is no longer as fluent as I was when I was young


isn't it uh important to help to preserve such language and culture especially a culture from one of the earliest civilisation


correct if I am wrong but, uh mandarin is actually one of the most spoken language in the world with uh, nine hundred and eighteen million native speakers who speak chinese and based on, uh, uh other than the mandarin that they speak to


uh, they also have their own dialect based on where they come from, and yes there's actually more than thousands of uh chinese dialects but it can be separated into five main dialect, group, which is the Yue Min Wu, hakka and the mandarin


these are the, commonly known one in singapore as well with Yue referring to cantonese Min to hokkien hakka to <mandarin>客家:ke jia</mandarin> and dialects okay dialect may not be a written, language, but they are also uh important spoken language used by chinese to communicate in their daily lives


giving the option, to learn the spoken language as a mother tongue, will allow students and young children to preserve their own culture and heritage that is passed down by our forefather, I feel that although it


does not have a writing, uh system that uh that is standardized but it it is a spoken language that a lot of chinese are using today and it has been passed down by, thousand of years ago and


I believe that one of the, main purpose to speak mother tongue and the school to have mother tongue is to, preserve culture and to ensure that, we know where, where our culture and heritage comes from and I believe that this


, dialects uh as spoken language is one of the major factor of a culture and from, a culture the most important factor will be actually be language lah like how people communicate since past and how


uh how the expression are are are are being, expressed out and that can speak a lot on the culture itself


I believe


I understand your your point but uh, we are speaking about the chinese in this topic and I feel like, it's not just for, chinese dialect that should be included lah, like in other, for other culture I believe that it should be included as well


but like I said , I was just reiterating my point that actually a lot of people speak mandarin and on top of mandarin they actually have their own dialects based on where they come from, so for, for people in chinese uh for people in china


they actually speak dialect more than, mandarin and they only uses mandarin to communicate with people from other parts of the world, and I as a chinese that, my forefather came from china right I believe that we should


be learning all these dialects and, knowing where my my my roots came from and the, heritage and culture that my forefather experiences


I feel that uh there should be more options for for mother tongue language as as as the purpose of mother tongue language is actually to, better enhance the the better enhance the


the spoken language of uh, of the students uh, mother tongue is actually something that they they they speak through, since young and for some people for some families that actually teaches their


their children to speak, , dialects when since they are young, and since his, is called mother tongue language right and dialect is their mother tongue, why why should these dialects be taken out, and and impart them that oh mandarin is actually your mother tongue language and not the language that you are speaking at home


in that case if, if the language is just for communication purpose then, everyone can just speak english and not learn like a second language that they actually speaks, so for for me I feel that


by learning a second language, the culture and heritage and history of the language is actually quite important, rather than just the writing writing styles and and and speaking of the language I feel that the mother tongue language can be a an opportunity for student to actually


learn the history and also the the, the tradition and heritage and through the language that can explore how, , how much that the forefathers have uh gone through, I


I feel that in this case the dialects will not be the main issue on communicating, to other people because I feel that dialect is a, is a language spoken to close families and friends within like small social groups but


the history and culture behind it can be taught in school, on how, maybe the school can can focus on how this uh, uh, language is being developed and passed down and, what are certain meaningful phrases that uh


that is interesting and and, unique unique to the dialect that the students are speaking, if you're talking about , too much variety right uh we can actually


school can actually have like the five focus on the five main dialect, groups as other dialects are actually come from these five so they can have a more standardized , uh dialect groups that they can choose from


okay , like like I say you you have mentioned that, the even, ourself don't know our culture and heritage and, that is when the school can actually teach students about it


, a school is for you to go and learn stuff right so, as a spoken language at home, parents would not teach us, uh, or like families would not teach us the culture behind it, and that's when the school have to have to educate us on and also


uh you have mentioned that, in mandarin class we don't, learn like about the history right but, uh they're they're phrases like the idioms the uh <mandarin>成语:cheng yu</mandarin> that we actually learn and through those idioms that we we learn we actually learn about the past uh how people live


uh, in in in in many years back and how how people communicate like they uses <mandarin>成语:cheng yu</mandarin> instead of like just the common language and uh and mandarin is a very special, and complicated


uh language as well as for dialects dialects also have their unique, , phrases that they can use and through these phrases right the the school can teaches the students like how how did these uh phrases came about and how they


how they are being used and through like stories on, how this uh origin, of the dialects and, of of dialects uh they're more likely to learn about the history and culture through through the through the story that the


the school can teach them


uh for me uh, like I've said , I used to be fluent in in in hokkien but uh not as uh fluent now, uh due to the fact that I learn mandarin as, as mother tongue in school, which I do not speak that much of at home


uh last time when uh my my my my grandmother is around so, uh from, I'm not trying to focus on on on just a, mandarin mandarin uh, language I'm just giving example because uh like like you have mentioned that


mandarin, you don't even know the the the culture and that the school don't teaches it, uh, and the school that don't teaches the culture through mother tongue language , what I'm trying to say is that they actually do and


uh these are all, learnt from the stories or how like <mandarin>成语:cheng yu</mandarin> is made up of, of, uh just to clarify and also, I may not know of any, uh I'm not as, as fluent as I used to be and and which is the the the lack of the lack of dialects uh


in the education right, actually makes me realise that I, don't know a lot about my own uh about my own dialects and which is why we need to have dialect language in in in school for us to learn more about our history


debate topic three, uh for debate topic three will be learning outside of classroom I agree that learning outside of classroom is essential to learning especially at a crucial developing stage of a child's life


exploring outside the classroom allows for sensory development which allows the students to make sense of the world around them, out of the five senses only hearing and sights is being used in the classroom


uh however when going out of the classroom all five senses can be used such as like smelling touching uh, uh taste and even tasting at uh if possible, and at the same time, uh learning beyond classroom actually allows for hands on experience uh which are more authentic and real


rather than just looking through through books and screens and screens uh which lack the physical aspects, and I believe that the hands on and more authentic experience will likely, uh let the will will likely allow the student to remember the experience more than reading it from a book


uh it also shows the students like real life examples of what they're learning from classroom, in classroom conventional, learning focuses only on repetition and the memorizing all the, information and


it is beneficial for sharing, it it is only beneficial for the sharing of new knowledge and it can be done through by just listening to the teacher, uh however, for conventional teaching it doesn't encourage students to be on their feet and develop critical thinking


problem solving decision making skills which learning outside of the classroom can, not only that, learning outside the classroom can lead to a deeper understanding of challenging concept but it will also


provide a, more real life context for learning in, in many areas


I I agree that there are benefits to a classroom environment when it comes to learning but I believe that learning outside of a classroom will actually enhance the learning even more and is likely to leave a more more in depth uh impression on that learning point in the mind of students


there's only so much you can do within the classroom you can bring in models of live animals, or or or pictures of them or even videos but the lack of a animal physical uh presence the student will not know, how the actual animal is like and or even the size of it


they can only imagine it through looking at pictures or or description of it if you if you bring the students out to see the actual animals it is slightly for them to have the chance to observe on details of the animals such as like the behaviours and


which they might not get from the, uh, from a textbook or video or pictures, uh often or not student actually find classroom to be boring and they are likely to, drift off and not pay attention in class


however when going for learning trips more, it is more likely to catch their attention even, the the the learning trips can also take place within the school compound and, teachers should bring them out of classroom just within the school compound for them to observe even more


more uh, more things uh one example that left a very deep impression in me is when, my primary school teacher actually brought me out, to to the school like within the school compound to the school pond if I didn't remember wrongly and we had a drawing session over there


it was a very interesting experience as, usually art class happen in the classroom, uh going out or to the to the school pond actually allows me to observe more real life examples of how


how the, the leaves or the plants are are, the shapes of of the plants and stuff and also the like, the fishes in the pond it allows me to observe more details of of the of the actual thing


as compared to, if the teacher shows us a picture of the pond in, in in in the classroom I believe I would not be able to pay attention to to the details of of, of the actual environment


I agree I agree that uh, uh that uh, class uh based on based on the subject that the teacher is teaching maybe a classroom would be beneficial to, giving the, the students new knowledge like fresh knowledge that they have not learnt before


but uh going out of classroom will enhance other like, , giving them real life example uh if you are saying, that you can bring animals into classroom, but there's also just limited ones like just a smaller maybe the the the the biggest you can go would be a dog other than that


children won't be able to see actual farm animal bringing, okay like like like you have mentioned earlier a lot of planning need to be done for a a two hours trip but that in that two hours trip


the student can learn even more as compared to two hours in classroom, they are able to see the cow like for example to a to a learning journey to the farm they are to see horses they are able to see like or how they eat how they how they sleep or or


or even even for some farms they they have like petting uh, for, petting areas for for children to go and the children are able to touch it to, to uh, feel how the fur of a rabbit feels like which I think will be more


uh beneficial if you compare like a two hours outside of classroom and two hours inside of classroom, yes you can bring the animal in, but how many can you bring in in in in one session, , bringing out the students will actually allow


more information for the children to be taken in and it's more likely that they will remember that or I have I've seen this horse is the is this farm rather than I've seen, uh you know a picture of the horse


uh, I I feel that if it's a on education, there's shouldn't be like a waste of, resources because education is important to everyone in if you think that you are wasting resources on on on education I feel that it might not be the


the right mindset that oh I actually want to be convenient that's why I'm teaching in classroom, and also uh, if you're comparing like resources a live animal and versus, uh let say if their uh


let's say you are saying about the the cost of having all the children to go to a farm versus using the cost to, to make a a a mannequin with like the fur and stuff I believe that, looking at a mannequin


would not learn as much as looking at a real life horse whereby the horse can move around and you're actually looking at a living thing not a non living thing whereby they just stand still, so I believe that going out and seen the actual living thing is actually more impactful and the children is more likely to believe that oh I have seen a horse in my life rather than or I've seen a picture


uh pictures are everywhere, they can see it through televisions they can they can see it through storybooks but it might not have the same impact, of them having to see in real life, uh and also


uh you have mentioned that, the two hours uh, in classroom might be more beneficial in terms of the amount of knowledge that they can learn while in outdoor they their the the children are likely uh the teachers are likely to spend more time organising the children uh


I believe one of the, benefits of learning outside of classroom are also like, the not just about learning on on the, on the animals for example is also


like non, non academic factors and aspects that the children can learn, uh like maybe the even the companionship of their classmate the the fun they are that they are having these are all gonna have a


uh, they are going to remember all this experience and they are more likely to, to remember all these positive experience that that they have and uh it's likely that, they will be uh, enjoying all these companionship from their teachers and uh and and their classmates more often in a class uh outdoor than in your classroom uh so I feel like


going out might not, just be about the amount of information that they take in but also uh, it's also an like eye opener for them to go out and see how the real world actually is I believe that when after going out you won't always stay in the classroom for for the rest of your life you surely have to go out and explore stuff on your own eventually uh


throughout your life so, why not bring the experience to the children earlier and not wait for them to be to turn to an adult before they start to realise that oh actually a real horse looks like this and not the cartoon or like the the the the picture that that that that the teacher shows me


so for debate topic one, uh as the opposition I feel that schools are actually considering non academic factors such as direct school admission also known as DSA but is that really benefiting the society I've seen many people getting accepted to courses and even schools way better than their results


for example a course requiring the total point of fourteen but by using DSA the student is able to get in with a total of twenty five points, and not only that I've seen many students that have gotten into the course that are better than their grades and were struggling with their work because their priorities are not studies for example a student getting in to a course using their athletic skills


the student will prioritise playing sports more than studying, so if school were to consider subjective and non academic factors for all admission, first of all you will not be able to distinct someone who is putting in fifty percent of effort versus somebody who is putting in hundred percent of effort


it will be a unfair treatment for student A that has been studying all year round and seeing that student B with athletic skills, getting in to the same course or school that student A has been working hard, this would demoralise the majorities that been working hard and despising student B which are the minorities


imagine being despised by the minorities will the student still be working hard in studying they will probably give up and focus all their effort in their athletic skills because he or she will just feel that passing the course is just a process for them to get through


and their priorities will not be studying and just be playing sports, yes many occupation in the world do not need academically smart people, that's why there are specialised school for them instead of the general school for example in singapore


we have singapore sports school that focuses on sports, la salle and SOTA which focuses on arts if a student know that he is not athletic enough, he should focus more on either getting better, with his academic or working hard to be a better athletic


I feel that soft skills like what you have mentioned is important but, academic wise should still be primarily, compared to it you need to know that if a person you are looking at is capable to lead there's something called


there's something called the academic stress and according to national centre for biotechnological information which is part of the US national library of medicine it's estimated that ten to thirty percent of student experience some degree of academic stress during their academic career


academic stress is defined as the body's response to demand that exceed adaptive capabilities of students, so if a student is able to handle academic stress in their school, they are likely to adapt to the working society better than those that could not handle stress


okay so this brings me back to point two, which suggest that those student who got DSA into general school, should go into specialised school, if they were to get into like more generic school that teaches for example business subject


and, actually the student is not interested into getting it, so what is the point of having good conducts and motivation their they might have good conducts and motivation for the sports they're playing but they might not be having a good conduct and motivation for the subject they're studying


I believe that academic knowledge is to determine if a person is able to adapt fast and making use of the skills they have learnt, yes life and soft skills are important but it depends on their career, is strong social skills important for a doctor or nurse


having spoken skills is not necessities for all jobs but being able to adapt fast and making use of the skills they have learnt are more important, overall I felt that if you are considering subjective and non academic factors for schools to be accepting students


they should look for more specialised schools, ya


so how is school going to, measure all this type of, non academic factors in


for them to admit the students in so if they were to just look at their character and, their, and like non subjective factors, uh so are they are the schools uh supposed to come up with a template for them


so if every, people, is going try to use non subjective matters to get into the school, I feel that, it will be very tedious for the school to like hand pick each and every single students out


so what you are trying to say is that, the school of, the student's dream, should actually go down to, maybe his secondary school to find out whether his conduct is (ppc) sorry to find out whether his conduct is good or not


so isn't that too much of a hassle for the teacher to actually find out whether the student is actually uh, well enough to be admitted to the courses that he want


okay so from my own experience because I'm somebody who play sports and, I actually got into temasek poly using direct school admission so I know that


uh it's actually a step, for students to make use of, the system, because direct school admission they do not look at they do not look generally, how well you do in school so they will only focus on whether you will bring a benefit to the school team so I played basketball and uh I got into temasek poly using basketball then


the only thing that they actually really care for is whether I will be able to bring them a medal and basically glory for the school, whether I will do well not in school they will not ask, you about that all they care about is the fame


okay , I think that uh okay what you state out is valid but who is going to teach parents about all these, factors that whether they should look into


their athletic skills their soft skills, because (ppc) from what I know most parents are just focus on results what they want to see is results they do not care about the process, so


to get into the end goal is probably from their primary school secondary, to maybe JC and then uni they did not see how much a student is actually going through and they're actually just focusing on the academic factor so


(ppc) which brings me back to my point where, who who is going to teach parents as you know parents are going to be very busy with their life, so there's no point for them to go through like a


maybe a seminar to teach them


debate topic two


okay so I felt that chinese dialect should not be offered as a mother tongue language first of all if you have to talk just about talking speaking of chinese as a mother tongue language, only sixteen percent of the world actually speaks it


next there are actually more than two hundred chinese dialect, which some we have never even heard of of course there are the common one such as hokkien teochew cantonese, and even if chinese dialect were to be taught in school as far as my knowledge it does not even have a standard writing system