basically come up with what you think or what you think would be appropriate now that is the intellectual part all right with your brain now, for me if what is happening in your brain does not translate into a practical ability that means your real ability to help the people out there whether is it at workplace or in society as a whole uh what is in your brain stays inside your brain


so that's why I would I would put a little bit more importance on the practical ability, portion uh then just intellectual skills uh, notwithstanding that I'm not saying that intellectual skills


ah unimportant uh they're, somewhat important but I will place the importance one notch below practical ability because uh just just just to cite the examples that uh andy has just mentioned so basically


it will be having to uh talk, uh known solve his clients', problems for example so yes if he he has all the knowledge in his head all right which I would define as intellectual skills and he's unable to put all this knowledge in his head into some form of


practical ability to to help his clients then then the intellectual skills are are quite useless , so while he's saying that the two of them are just as important I would say that the practical ability part is of one notch higher because I have come across people who


are very actually very intelligent but somehow it just doesn't translate into practical ability uh because I've worked in a research institute before sometime back uh I assist the institute of southeast asia studies uh I left at sometime last year


so so uh while I was there I have a lot of researchers that, have a ton of knowledge a lot of intellectual skills but when you know they are coordinator or somewhat uh in the institute we call them coordinators but in more layman terms they actually called they're supervisors or the head of the department


question alright so you know about all these things so what, and and I will equate the so what to to the practical ability because they have all this information up in their heads and and and and in their computer or somewhere stored somewhere but if it does not translate into something practical


for anyone, uh it will be totally useless so ah that's why I would find that for me ah practical ability is somewhat higher of higher importance than intellectual skills take the other example


that andy has just cited of ah a barber, all right that's he said that uh you know the practical ability he he the barber will need the intellectual skills you know to design the hairstyle and and things like that for for his clients and and and


but if he doesn't have the practical ability to translate all these designs to his uh you know to his clients uh and and put it into practice and to design or to cut the practical ability to actually you know


trim the hair or cut the hair in such a way or perm the hair or colour the hair in such a way that will suit his client then it'll be useless because whatever that's in his head remains in his head uh it it will not be translate into into something that will


be visible or practical to his clients so , that's the key reason why I would say that, the practical ability would be much high of higher importance as compared to intellectual skills because that will be something that is visible to to to people ya


okay all right because because the thing is that , I I would think that the the this one for this particular topic on practical ability and intellectual skills ah it also depends on uh how we define what is practical ability and what is intellectual skills


err


I would say that instead of personality it would be more of, okay I would I would say that maybe it's not so much of the of the personality of the individual but more of the nature of the work because like the examples you have cited like in IT front end okay and the uh barber then maybe yes you know


uh uh the practical ability part, maybe maybe is is is, just as important or maybe of even more important than intellectual skills now the the thing is that I think I I personally have not explored because for for you your standpoint is that your practical ability is as equal as intellectual skills the other standpoint that I have not explored is that uh the scenario


where how about is there a possibility where the intellectual skills, is of higher importance than practical ability will that scenario happen because , you see your standpoint is that the two are of equal importance earlier on I have cited that in certain scenarios practical abilities is actually of higher importance uh as compared to intellectual skills


now will there be a case where actually intellectual skills is more important than practical ability , it depends on the nature of the work maybe I I'm not too sure about the definition of practical ability but


I suddenly a thought just came to my mind and I'm just wondering for for the policy makers you know sometimes they need to write, very convincing policy papers to convince the decision makers at the uh government agencies or even


you know , MNC's which is multinational corporations and things like that the top management there so, would their intellectual skills would have been a of higher importance as compared to the practical ability because the thing is that


that I I suspect that maybe there might be a scenario where actually even, for certain , researchers okay, so so now you know COVID nineteen all the labs are are are trying to


find a a vaccine or a cure or some form effective treatment for this particular virus now ah would anybody say that maybe their, intellectual skills would be important the those those scientists or those researchers


uh would be very important or even more important than their practical skills because practical skills it depends on how you defined it you can define it as maybe the practical skills or practical skills of administering the the vaccine or


or something because that they can leave it to, uh the nurses or the doctors to do it all right uh for the for the administration part if you talk about the practical skills but when it comes to finding a cure or finding a particular vaccine


would their intellectual skills be of uh, higher importance that could be actually a very valid possibility, for for that kind of scenario or that kind of uh, circumstances I would say so


ya that that would be the thing that uh that is a valid possibility ya


, so so basically ya I I I think that


so ya so so, so basically ah I would say that uh based on my own observation now, or or or most of my, previous work places I would say that I would respect uh


practical ability a little bit more ah just a little bit more than intellectual skills because , for for people, that are very smart and for some reason would not be able, to perform uh which I would equate to practical ability somehow you just don't think


that they are you know quite , meet the standards or the requirements of uh the organization I I would think so , essentially I would say that ya I I would still


place a little bit more importance on practical ability as far as you know most of the work places I've been in


okay


okay so uh basically what you ah are saying is that you would, part as uh equivalent to your intellectual skills would would you be saying that


intellectual skills is ah multifaceted


ah I would say that it's not just purely creativity or innovation, but, it could be more than that I I would say that sometimes actually , it could also mean you know your your


ability to to think how to solve a problem you know uh now this concept about design thinking, uh and and and stuff like that that means thinking of of other ways of solving problems


something like that lah so so ya so, basically like there was this story about somebody say that you know for the truck, err who is stuck under the bridge instead of destroying the truck or destroying the bridge somebody say why don't you just let the the air out of the tyres then the truck can go through the bridge or go go go under the bridge so so so that's that's


uh you know one of the examples of that, that's part of design thinking intellectual skills ya


part two debate topic two


oh okay I uh okay the the basically I think uh what end this point is is is that uh failure


uh means, you know ah not being able to proceed further in in in education but ah that does not mean that the the person, uh just will not do well in in life so she cited examples like you know jack Ma or mark zuckerberg or some famous individuals


who become , very very successful personalities in their respective arenas who had made the big but these are, I I would like to say that these are maybe exceptions not everybody who uh unable to let's say for mark zuckerberg he did not complete his his harvard university education so for not everybody who couldn't complete their


education regardless of what state should it be secondary school or, or you know JC or poly or, ah university that that, there are people who who drop out halfway of course you can say that ah there are some of them who made it very successful in the


business world or or you know I know of some you know, #char kway teow# seller who who who uh who drive big benz and and are super rich you know yes there are such examples, I'm not denying that however uh of what percentage of this people constitute I'm saying that would that be actually a larger unknown portion of people who did not make it through


in in in, through the uh education phases like maybe they they they couldn't even complete their education ah in a secondary level and somehow


uh you know they just in life they they just could not break out of certain, ya hello can you hear me uh okay ya, so could it be possible that some of them couldn't even actually err do so well


uh in life but of course uh we equate uh many of us equate success and failure to financial success or financial failure uh that's only one aspect of it failures can be


in many ways some are very successful financially but however their personal life may not be that well, they you know maybe , resulted in in in


broken families or or or, other areas of life so so failures can be depending on what area you are looking at , and and most people ah would actually measure success in terms of financial success maybe that's that's a easier way to measure success and failure uh


but there are also other kinds of, success and failures that that we never know exist, in life you know there are people who are actually very successful financially but they are very empty at heart and and and they went to do all sorts


of crazy things even though uh financially they they are very stable and they are very successful so uh , I would say that, you know and and education uh the word failure should never be used in education


and how do we define education do you just define education as just primary school secondary school uh JC uh poly and and university or actually that uh those beyond


the schools you know the the the so-called formal, education system, do you actually say that education actually goes beyond that


honestly there's no no one way to define the words failure then the there's no one way to define with education so, but the word used is this statement never as you know it's a hundred percent that means you never use it I would say that you cannot use the word never I would say maybe a a more friendly kind of statement would be say the word failure should be discouraged


in as far as education is concerned rather than never be used because, if you get a F you know in maths you you fail so it's as clear as that you cannot say that, I never fail maths or I never fail english or I never fail science or I fail never fail any subjects if you fail you failed so


of course you cannot use other alternatives like last time I I attended a course , they will say uh uh uh competent versus incompetent you know that kind of thing but it is still actually pass or fail the the idea is that


so of course there's this some passing scores are higher it doesn't mean that you get fifty percent is passed there's some test that actually you need to score like seventy five percent or even sixty five percent I mean there are different kinds of test you have different so-called passing scores or passing rate


so ya so the word failure still actually exist, in different different arenas so it doesn't mean that the word failure doesn't exist, , ya I I I believe that actually failure still exist in in in education in certain people's cases of course because they are not glamorous cases like jack Ma or


or or mark zuckerberg or or something like that so so, very few people will highlight even if you look at the newspapers like straits times and things like that they will only highlight those cases of people who have been say in jail then come out become very successful lawyers or successful uh a businessman or


or or some form of successful social worker or teachers or even things like that but , those are successful examples have they ever highlighted examples of people, who never made it you know


I would say that for every one case they highlight as successful probably there's, maybe five I'm not sure this is just uh my own guess, of people out there that that didn't make it that that well and maybe you know I've come across acquaintances that they keep


moving from job to job uh you know keep, borrowing money from friends and never returned, you know and and and, and things like that so do you consider them as success I would say not


but would you say that they are failure it depends on how you look at them, of course from uh most people they will not uh, if they are very harsh towards this category of people they would use the word failure to define them and most of the time


these people are ah may or may not be in the in the , highly educated arena so so ya, so can you still hear me I've ya ya okay ya so that that would be my


my my point because , while you say that the word failure should never be used in, education I said that, even though you do not use the word it still exist so you can say that you don't want to use it but it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist so that would be my stand point


sorry uh the I think there was a call coming in I think my phone was being interrupted by the call so so do do I continue to press the record button on on


okay while while you said that uh you know I acknowledge your point about, you know , that that in singapore, we we actually look at your your certs or your paper qualifications as something of of importance


I'm I'm not sure whether in this, can you hear me hello can you hear me can you hear me, can ah oh okay ya so so I'm trying to say that actually when you use the the the just now you mentioned about paper qualifications in singapore that it's very important to have that I'm not I'm not too sure whether there are


actually certain certain skill sets that actually, do not really require formal education because over here they never mentioned that it's actually formal education ah education can be can be uh many many


many areas it it need not necessary refer to just your formal education system which is like you have mentioned your kindergarten primary school secondary school which is quite structured , JC all the way to university it need


not refer to that it can education can actually be beyond that kind of formal education system sometimes , we can be educated through in the past you know long time ago, where the internet is is not something that really truly exist I remember my my parents uh bought me this enhanced set of encyclopedia you know and said read it and you'll be like you know


super duper so so so would would would you consider that you know reading all those encyclopedias and, and remembering what you have read as education could that be defined so of course nowadays uh nobody buy encyclopedias anymore lah


through all these platforms YouTube the, internet and and and, all sorts of information that is available out there would that be a form of education and would you say that sometimes even that form of education which is not so formal kind of education that failure exist because there's all sorts of fake news that's being spread


which is not true and and and sometimes it's even hard to tell what is real and what is fake sometimes we we can't even tell and ya so so I would say that never say never lah that that is my


key point my my argument is not so much on failure and education but the word of never being used in the statement because sometimes things happen and you cannot say that this thing


is totally exclusive from a particular concept or or, particular situation so I will still say that failure does exist in education it just depends on what kind of failure and how you define failure and how you define education so my key point is ya uh


never say never that that's that's what just ya thank you


okay, part three debate topic three


okay only educated people should have the right to vote in elections, okay you said that educated


people you in in what you have just mentioned you you said that the you do not refer to those who received a formal education so uh you, also mention things like education can be through


social media like YouTube and and so on so uh well I would say that because the statement is very harsh ah only so, why can't we have people who are not educated


to also receive the right to vote because I would say that it it cannot be just only one way lah it you need to have people who are, uh not so educated in certain issues and they should be given a a right to vote in elections


all right why should I put it that way okay so maybe somehow they have not been informed of certain things but, they have already formed of an opinion on who are the people that they think are are in the best position to represent them or or able to lead their their city or


their you know, country in in the next few years so , I would say that actually I I agree on that point when you mentioned about the maturity part though uh because there are people and and maturity


how do you define because I've come across even certain individuals in their twenties are not that mature now the voting age is at twenty one years old so it does the biological age refer to or reflect


the individual's level of maturity may or may not be actually but of course that that is questionable and would you actually say that certain people, who have for example


mental illness or suffering from certain intellectual disability would that, actually stopped them or should we actually, deny their right to vote in elections


uh bear in mind that that we do have a uh, a significant number of people who in our country or in our system who are, intellectually disabled and would you say that because of that they should be denied the right to vote and


of course , it depends on how you define educated because if I have completed, only primary school education do you consider me as educated how do you


define what is educated and what is not educated or would you say that only people who have watched certain YouTube videos are educated and those who have not watched all these YouTube videos are not educated so, it's it's a very tricky statement to say that only educated people have the right to vote because I would say that


it's it's it's, it's questionable how you define the word education even even or educated people I would say that they're, people who are very highly educated I've come across people


with uh you know recognized degrees in you know a lot of, scientific topics and things like that but when it comes to reality in life they are quite, divorced from uh realities of life for the common people like those people on the ground those those people who


let's say they do not have access to all this YouTube social media those aunty at the ground who are collecting cardboards, do you and they have never attended school all their life all right so do do you put them in the educated people or an educated people but they're educated in the sense that they know life is tough that is maybe


they are just as you know, a part uh of our society you know uh they form part and parcel of our society


and and I would think that it'll be a very cruel and unfair to this, unprivileged group I would say to deny them, the right to vote ya and it'll be very sad


uh if if if we do that


so so thank and all for, agreeing with me that the uh you know, that the uh, it should not be just for those who have so-called receive a formal education should have the right to vote lah ah


of course you say that education is not just through social media through YouTube it can also go through, gossip so, ah I'm not too sure whether actually uh gossip forms part of education but that's also a channel of information ah like when you buy things and and prices go up


I think I think what you have cited is uh is an example of maybe greed lah I I suspect lah I I've I mean I don't have full


details of the story you have cited but uh I think greed is at play lah


uh oh well , I think I think everybody ah are entitled to their own opinion ya so ah I would say that I I don't think because it it all depends on in this statement only educated people should have the right to vote it depends on how you define only educated people


and what would be the people that you would exclude, uh and or deny them the right to vote because because my key concern is that if you say only educated people , how would you you know define


or ring fence the group of uneducated people so to speak so so, my key concern is that it's not so much of all right all this educated people you let them to vote fine you know but who are you denying


uh uh the rights to vote uh, because because I my that's where I'm coming from lah when you say that you want to deny certain because this statement gives me the impression that you are denying certain


people from voting so who are those people you are trying to deny those who did not receive a formal education possibility number one possibility two, is those that you say that do not have access to certain forms of information you say that because of that you want to deny them the right to vote that will be quite unfair possibility number three those who never gossip you know because you cited gossip as also a form of education what about those aunty who


don't gossip there are some who don't gossip do you, then say that for those aunty who don't gossip that they shouldn't have the right to vote I don't know, so so so my my my stand is that actually all


who have certain level of maturity should be given the right to vote lah, that that that's why I'm I'm, opposing to that statement that only educated people should have the right to vote because for me it's okay you are saying that one group have the right and the other group does not have the right then who are you throwing into that group who does not have to


okay not too sure whether you cited like
retarded
 uh there's different degree of


, mental disability lah I would say when you used the word
retarded
 I I believe you are referring to the group of people who have certain degrees or, certain levels of , mental or intellectual disability


and and how at what point would you put the mark at say that, okay for those who are say uh, IQ of a certain number and below should not be given the right to vote would would you say that are you saying that or or actually you are referring to something else because uh
retarded
 there are different degrees of of that you know I'll I'll I I see that you define
retarded
 as


certain form of intellectual or mental disability and there are varying degrees of this kind of disability and at what, cut off point will you say that these people should not be given the right to vote


ah okay


okay


part one debate topic one, okay topic one practical ability is just as important as intellectual skills in my opinion this statement is true in our society as far as I know


this is, most true at the work place if you do not have practical ability, to perform in your role at work it doesn't matter to your organization company or boss on how much you know on your intellectual


scale of course, without actual intellectual skill, you wouldn't be able to display much practical ability ah let me sees an example I am an IT front end help desk engineer assume that I have emails intellectual skill


in the arena of IT however when my clients seek my help to solve their IT related issue my intellectual skill does do not translate into practical ability


how helpful is that as far as my client is concerned, I'm sure my client would find my intellectuals skill rather useless if I lack of the practical ability to resolve their problem


this doesn't imply that my intellectual skills are unimportant I'm merely stating that, both intellectual skill and practical skill are


of equal important on our society, on the other hand, I have, to make an assumption that practical ability will be pleasant


on exist, without a requisite intellectual skill, one must have the knowledge which I, equate to intellect skill before he or she could translate his or her intellectual skill into practical ability


for instance a skill, world renowned barber, must have intellectual skill of knowing what hair style would suit a particular face type and subsequently translate his knowledge or intellectual scale into practical ability to design


and cut, the most appropriate style, for his client, I think that intellectual skill are basic and foundation of any practical ability, both are equally importance ya that's all


jessy you you finish, okay so so I do agree with you your ah uh uh some of your point, ya I think , I don't have much to say lah


I think basically it's more on individual lah, alright intellectual skill is is important than practical or practical important that intellectual this one is all depend on on individual person the personality


to be honest this topic I I I really not very good at at debating ah because, I have not much, information about about practical and intellectual but to to my to my point is that


both of them got their, got I mean ah, how how do how do I put it lah , you you you you need to use both in in in your in your work work place depends on the situation so which come first of which is more important I don't


think that is a arguing point the arguing point is when when you are in the scenario or in the situation, uh which kind of abilities will you apply, ya that that is the


as I as I already stated my my example that my example is very straight forward you know ya, and uh IT is more on the knowledge side I should say


that you you you actually, practice and you apply what you have learnt, but for for hair stylists they they are they come from their creative, creativity's side


innovative ah something like that you know to to to to, to that there is there is no , no actual, actual knowledge actually, input some basic knowledge to how to cut the hair and all this but but when you when you went into a higher level it's more on your creative side


know how how how how you, going to cut their hair and so on it's does not bind to the book but does not bind to the rule that you have to do this you have to do that in order to solve the issue or something like that


maybe the the current society is is, is more on practical, ability mode, in our current society as our minister government always, know trying to push innovative


creativity he said singapore singaporean lack lack of all all all these innovative creativity you know that kind of ideas, uh ya that, that is what what our minister our government is trying to push ah maybe ya our our current generation is


our intellectual ability is a kind of lack lacking of it lah, ya so so it's more on the practical ability, ya but but to my opinion is both are are are are quite important


ya, you have to go, side by side, because you won't know what kind of situation you are in, sometime it's really require your intellectual skill, rather than your practical skill


I mean I mean should be if lack of intellectual skill should be should be, put more put more work on it to improve your intellectual skill to on par with your practical skill that would be perfect right


ya what I know what you mean it's like thinking out of the box right


part, two debate topics two, so I may start off


okay the the world failure should never been, be used in education , first we must determine our define what constitutes as failure especially in the context of education


what is the differences between learning and education I believe education is commonly, refer to the phrase, that all of us go through, before we enter the workforce for instance in singapore during my time most people would start with kindergarten then primary school and secondary school


to do either their N level or O level subsequently, and depend, being on their result and inclination, they would go to ITE polytechnics or junior college


to study their A level, after polytechnic or A level, and depending on their result, some may, then proceed to university to obtain their first degree


how do you determine what constitutes as failure at, unable to proceed to the next stage to obtain the result you desire, or there is there are many instance of famous and


successful individuals, who did not perform well, and did not manage to enter the education institute of their choice or complete their education, but subsequently


become very famous and successful, example jack Ma, steve job bill gates , and the Facebook founder mark, zuckerberg


but his name is is is quite quite funny lah ah, (ppc) okay ah, some example of what I had early mentioned, that why I truly believe a statement failure should


never use never be used in education, there are many other local successful businessman, who, did not perform their successfully during


their school days, and we should never use failure as a label in education


yes yes yes can hear you


oh what I'm trying to to emphasize here is that education is our our our basic foundation, in in ah to step in into the society, and


no matter you do well or not it does it doesn't based on your education level, it's uh in fact it based on on onto on the on those people their ability or so-call as a previous, uh debate on on the intellectual skill


or innovative or whatever for example steve job, he, he don't even finish his college to be honest but but somehow when when come he is a tacky guy but when some somehow come to technology he can really innovate that well through through his creativity can create iPhone


iPad although although those device look identical with similar but he can transform, those those technology into very useful, piece of technology very useful for for for our daily lives


so, ya so this I believe this nothing to do with your, with your education it's more on your


okay, okay so uh, so what oh what I'm trying try trying to say is that, in in in the current society in singapore


it's they label this this ah education level it's it's it's very obviously when when when you go for, private sector or government sector, first they look at your, look at your your certificate if you do not have the require certificate that they are looking for they will just


you know struck you off the list you don't even need need, to to hope that they would reply you any any any form of email say the oh if you are being selected for interview or or or anything else, so so in in current singapore society this is the trend that that that they are they are they are they're they're go go going on no matter in private sector or government sector it's everywhere is the same they look for certificate


so so so, in singapore itself only if you said that oh education you know failure is everything I believe so lah, because all all all on paper paper qualification, they


in the in in in in the past they don't really actually see , see your your your ability because they never work with you they they wouldn't know how good you are they you they they only based on your, on your qualification and today it's so so sad right


ya so, that is what I what I'm going to say lah but I hope that the system might change a bit lah in in the future , ya that is my point ah, but shouldn't be be be labeled your education failure you know


uh for for your whole life in I mean I mean you can do a lot more, things besides without your education level is ah, ah you're owning a degree or what, some of people does not have a degree they can do well


ya, despite despite they have some of them got got some financial background lah I mean


uh hello jessy, ya ya okay ya ya ya


okay , part three debate topics three, okay let me take out my script


okay topic three on educated, people have right, to vote in elections while, kind of sensitive topic ah (ppc)


I will surely agree on, uh , that only educated people should have the right to vote in election, in this instance, my definition of educated refer to those who are educated and aware of what is happening in the society


it does not refer those who receive a formal education, with social media as YouTube Facebook Instagram and so on even those, those who did not receive any formal education can be educated


on who is or is the right party or individual that should be voting for, no one should be voting, in election without been educated


on the party or people, they are choosing between, or voting for, this also means that those who have the right to vote are matured enough


to make an educated decisions on what should represent their rights who should represent their rights and interests, in the next few years ya that's all


okay so (ppc) I have I have to agree with you that that that what what what you are saying just now, eh, how come the timer become twenty minute again


oh okay ah okay so so what my point is that, those educated think that this statement ah I mean this the word educated the people


of the of singapore, they are educated, in in the form of, information it's not a formal your your, education level it's a form of information that you aware of currently what government is doing you know what kind of policy that they they they has set down and


and then, and and as you know that the past five years, they have increased a lot of things, living cost went up everything went up so even, even aunty, you know picking up cardboard also


aware of the situation (ppc) excuse me also aware of the situation this is also part of the education, ah they've been educate and they've been well informed that the government is raising tax and raising this and that and make their life hell hope hope my comments won't get #po ma#


and and you know and then , my point is those people have a right to vote they have to know, the situation surrounding them and the life that that the government has


has bring it to them thus thus thus, I mean do they lead a much easier life or , do they live a, much I mean I mean hard life , you know, through throughout throughout their old age and so on


so in education means it means they have to be ah ya, aware of what is happening, they're on their surrounding, and even though they don't watch YouTube they don't


watch anything throughout their their conversation with their friends, you know they they gossip they also will, know won't won't will will, will get the information as well even gossip also also a kind of education because you you


pass information you exchange information you from each other so so that you you will know, you know like like example like, the GST going to raise to ten percent, later on, the aunty never read newspaper never watch YouTube never watch news only you know picking up cardboard but


when his neighbour or his ah or when he go and buy things the price went up he say how come the price went up, you know what GST has increased to ten percent you don't know meh oh ya that is a kind of educate he educate the the the the the cardboard lady saying that


ya the GST went up, and of course ah then that lady will will will have a hard hard time ah from from there onwards , struggle struggle for it lah


ya I define it as a information instead of educated right if you want to put it educated of course those, , those degree holder you all know they are well educated but they also do stupid stuff that like like yesterday I just read the news the LTA director !wow!


CBT criminal breach of trust, corrupt about one point two four million, ah, only this kind this this this type of high educated fool will do that ah, do you think the the the the the cardboard lady can can can actually corrupted one point two four million


this is what you call educated fool, ya educated people doesn't mean doesn't mean they are they are they are good they are well, right


ya I I mean I I I mean for for voting wise it's nothing to do with with with with education formal education ah I mean it's it's it's it's more, more more about ah how uh what you aware of your of your current situation


uh of of of your surrounding, lah and, and and how how government governise singapore that impact your life, most people vote is vote for their life, they don't vote for anything, they don't vote for the country everybody are selfish


end of the day it's me I I I, is not all


only those people who don't have do not have the the right is those to people who are unsound mind


they do not they they don't know how how to make decision, only that kind of people that that they they are they are not, you know , but but for for normal people that that


we we have , have ya our own decision you know normal people should have the right to vote, because, the the vote is to vote for a better future


that is that is what is, , oh what what it's all about


this is a question I cannot answer leh , ya I mean ya I mean , I mean those those people that that that can cannot make simple decision those kind of people that have unsound mind you know


that that they they they are like, you know have some brain damage or something else that they or or or mental issue, that, that causes it you know ya those people are not fit to to actually vote lah because they will spend the rest of their life


, most of the time while in the hospital so what life should should they have, and they are so they also doesn't know about about out outside world what are the you know even the that the government trying to educate the people


you know ah, you know shouldn't be racy soon they'll be these be that, you know they also part of education is is on the government's side this they have responsibility to educate singapore especially singapore is the multiracial so so they have to educate


all singaporean, to live in peace and harmony, ya this is also a form of education


debate topic one


nearest type first


okay thank you kenneth so it's indeed true that


research actually helps in like, getting those widespread vaccine that's like development and production but for the parties such as the company or lab carrying out the research human needs and profit should both be the important factors because of the costs involved


research can only continue if there is the potential for like guaranteed returns, otherwise it has to be terminated it can be seen from the companies like profit consideration is why patenting for new products or innovation is essential


patents are the government's ways of giving the ownership of a certain creation, for a certain period of time usually ten to twenty years


patent holders are allowed to control how their innovation are used allowing them to reach the financial benefits from their work because of the costs involved, companies usually made sure that the results were patentable before proceeding showing that profits should be the main concern for research


furthermore this drive to keep searching for cheaper easier and more accessible way to do research may also lead to a, new research methodology or tools which will benefit the society in the end for instance


genetic modification research that involves the editing of genes and DNA can now be made simple and more cost effective in labs with the new, C R I S P R or C A S nine too


for example sickle cell anaemia which of which go untreated today in contrast to the past where such direct genetic modification research were inaccessible to many labs


because of the relatively high cost of previous tools, which now that accommodates the course profit factor this is the realistic direction for more and better research to proceed in


hence profit should also be a main concern in research thank you, ,


okay thank you kenneth while it's true that this kind of like research may actually harm like the human needs lah but then I still think that uh


scientific research should be driven by profit while human is important to ensure the research use beneficial result or like products in today's context, context profit is also increasingly important to determine the availability of these results of products to consumers for them to be useful if not this research is actually quite redundant


so scientific research continues to delve into, the more and more specific and complex, in order to make more breakthrough in areas that are already more well developed or more leeways


into new areas entirely this can cause like costs and profit to become increasingly important new research likely end up only to be the intended for a small market


like specialised market otherwise other similar products that are already in the market so there is a real need for a company or lab to consider the profit factor before


uh deciding whether they should pick up a particular research lah, so otherwise prices of the result or products should be set prohibitory high for them to force a profit


something that will end up become undesirable for consumers or in the intended market for instance in drug development and research, uh two o one four report published by the tufts centre for the study and drug developments C S G D the cost of developing a prescription drug


that gains market approval at two point six billion dollars so this is actually uh one hundred and forty five percent increase over the estimate , the centre made in two o o three due to the fact that ninety percent of medicines that start being tested in clinical trials


failed to reach the market because they are unsafe or ineffective, this figure includes the cost not only of these failures but also of not putting the money spent into something that would give a more reliable return


precisely because companies need to come up with new drugs that do not overlap with existing like products they can and only delve into, the more specialised or complex disease targets


which are likely to be more risky and uncertain this can cause the cost factor to be increasingly of concern hence even with a new drug in the market it is, price is likely to be relatively higher and for the company to ensure that it can make a return during uh its patented period


as such the profit and costs should be considerably are seriously considered and calculated in researched, beforehand to ensure that it’s final application can be made accessible


hence practical or usable for the intended consumer so ya I've made my point


part two debate topic two


okay thank you kenneth you have shared very like good points so on like how this technology has like affected human uh form of like communication, but furthermore this technological advancement has witnessed the deep


eh wait uh, however it must be noted that technology has had a positive impact on simulating the minds of people at large promoting critical thinking skills and creativity


so with technological advancement the average person in a developed country is now able to access an entire treasure trough of knowledge that has been collated online, he is not empowered to contribute solutions related to this area of interest


furthermore the differing point of view and contrasting school of thought that are readily available online allows one to broaden his or her perspective, equipping one with the mental dexterity to think laterally instead of just practically


technological advancement has also made an array of software applications, and progress accessible to layman such as locks, computer aided design applications


and video and photo editing tools, this programme has allowed people to harness and display their creativity in our wide variety of ways


blogs have allowed people the ability to write or make videos on any topic they like, computer aided design programmes have allowed people the ability to come up with design ideas for with buildings and products and videos and


video photo editing software have allowed people to tap on their visual creativity will make their images more aesthetically pleasing


therefore with the smorgasbord of applications make available to all due to the technology of today, people are able to better think creatively and express themselves in such a way thank you I'll pass on back to you kenneth


okay thank you kenneth it may be true that technology has like negative impact like in terms of like what you said like in terms of job and all this but then I feel that it's actually not the case like technology have actually help the


uh people to actually increase their skill level instead they actually helped them to gain more knowledge in what they do, so it can also be argued that technology has also improved our cognitive skills significantly so the advent of like the Wiki page


the online learning path for such as well as podcast has equipped people today with the ability to learn about, she can simply anything and everything that they want anywhere and and at any time as well so if one has uh query about any topic


search it up online and find answers that would help her resolve their doubts, learning is no longer confined to within the constraints of the classroom and students today are urged to venture out of what is merely in the curriculum


and do more independent research such as like the open classroom concept so students have actually like supposed to do their online research before coming to classes so online research uh sources are now acknowledged as


legitimate references underscoring their reliability and quality so additionally as there is so much information online the act of thinking deeper is thus facilitated


people are now more prone to like deliberating on topics and asking more questions when they can find answers to their queries and the internet provides are ready bank of information to answer these queries


so all and all I feel that there is actually no secret that technology has an impact on the skill of people today but it actually has it's benefits also, while it's true that as mankind and embraces the more efficient and more productive methods of doing things


it has facilitated the greater development of our creativity and intellectual the gain that we have made in that aspect, have come at across of our soft skills however is not too late to reverse this impact that technology has met on the skill set of ours but


we have to first acknowledge the effect that it has had on us okay thank you, ya finished


part three debate topic three


okay thank you kenneth so, a large majority would agreed that every single country should not be given the right to engage in scientific research to produce nuclear weapons as a single sophisticated nuclear warhead


of like detonated in a large city would anniliate millions of people currently, it is not feasible to enforce this given the dynamics among nations


the united nations treaty on the, non proliferation of nuclear weapons the N P T, signed by one hundred and ninety countries recognises the united states


russia the united kingdom france and country as nuclear states, these states have amassed a large arsenal of like the nuclear weapons


while they have pledged to achieve the nuclear disarmament this will not happen anytime in the near future as countries such as india pakistan


new uh north korea and israel are not amenable to the terms to the treaty, and have their own stockpile, as a superpower the united states has taken on the role of ensuring conformity


to the treaty and claims to limit its scientific research to modernising its current stockpile to produce more precise and stable weapons, some may argued that uh unlimited scientific research in any area is that legitimate right of uh foreign states


when north korea leader Kim-Jong-Un detonated the country's first hydrogen bomb on the sixth january two o one six it met with strong condemnation


however mister Kim has refused an allegation of wrongdoing stating that it is his country's legitimate right to take precaution to defend itself, a stand which india and pakistan also assert


why should only five powerful countries have the official license to engage in scientific research in nuclear weaponry but not others, should north korea be eliminated for conducting this atomic test


the united states will spend like one trillion dollars uh modernising its nuclear arsenal from like two o two one to two o three five while they may consider these are more real


it keeps in check other nation deemed untrustworthy to engage in unlimited scientific research in this areas, so next I'll pass on my time to kenneth


okay thank you kenneth so it's true that I don't agree that which, every country should have the right to carry out unlimited scientific research but it should take into account the ethical concept of like


the the research lah so if it's unethical it shouldn't be continued so scientific research in the area of like human cloning which refers to the use of a single cell format adapt to produce a genetically identical


individual is autonomous to most people, since dolly the cloned sheep was like born in Scotland in one nine nine six there has been feared that unscrupulous country might engage in human cloning for the wrong reason


so the united nations general assembly adopted a declaration on human cloning in two o o five, prohibiting all force of human cloning which is a move that I fully subscribed to as I feel that no country should be allowed to engage freely in statistics research that should violate the sanctity of like human life in two o one five


a chinese technology company formed an alliance with a south korea based research company to build the world's largest animal cloning factory in china, where they hoped to produce one million clone elite cows annually by two o two zero which is this year


it is alarming that the companies claim to have the technology to clone a human, in addition space exploration is also an area of contention it's true that many of us cannot resist the alluring image of outer space taken by cameras that carry by the space shuttle


while countries do have the right to engage in unlimited space research as harm to nature or the earth is minimal spin off frequently do not justify the high cost, space agency in the united states russia and the european union china canada


uh japan and india spent billions on the space exploration and research, it's an anomaly that millions are invested in space research when on earth we experience so many issues such as climate changes the disappearance of like rain forest and pollution of the ocean


so in february two o one six scientists announced that they have discovered a signal from gravitational wave one billion light years away, so one point one billion had been invested in the research over twenty five years while every day according to the U N I C E F


twenty nine thousand children in the world below the age of five die from preventable cause, so this unethical thing actually should make it through that we shouldn't carry out unlimited scientific research


by any other country ya so with this I end lor


part one debate topic one


the proposition or opposition will start first


okay, okay so the topic will be on human need rather than profits should be the main concern of scientific research


I’ll start off with the introduction, uh there's a need to balance these two considerations because profit is often important in determining whether the research is able to continue, therefore embarking on research both factors are important


be it the, human need or profit but often then not even in reality, there's a need to ensure that the results of the research is profitable and marketable for its continuity and longevity


the first point will be some humans say that, the main concern will be human needs because scientific research is a powerful tool, this is because the need for good will better help the society and mankind


and scientific research increases the stock of knowledge such as humans culture and society and deepen understanding of certain topic, as the phrase go


knowledge is power, research can be said to be the most fundamental driving force of acquisition and understanding of knowledge, therefore this bring about the driving force of societal development and progression


from the past to present research has led to discoveries that, prominently changed the world for instance through much research and development in vaccines


this has led to eradication of small box, advance daily disease, and also, and polio has reduced to a mere less than one percent


this has, done through much research and definitely, uh to serve the human needs of the spread of this deadly disease, now many can, now make resistant to this birth and from widespread of vaccine development and production


such as effectively raised the average life expectancy by more than thirty years in the past century, therefore, I feel that human need hence should be the main


driving force of research and development for greater good of mankind


okay thank you germaine I do agree that uh a certain percentage uh towards profit should be a main concern however, with uh such extensive research in these uh recent years uh I personally feel that some humans should uh always


uh prioritise the main concern as the human need for research purposes because of such, uh this prevent biasness unfair and untrue research and hence potentially uh may be disruptive to the developments of not associated with research for profit


for instance there's a thing known as publication bias, where research may be done unbiased or uh when sponsors of publications of research may only select some to be published into journals


this is because of the profits that that they are making, specifically studies with positive findings are most likely to be uh published uh published in uh newspapers or even media, this uh has definitely led to uh much concern over the past few years


as compared to studies with negative findings which may not be published in uh social media, such may then other might the ideal of research as the researchers are motivated


mainly by profit, then focus only on finding certain results which are positive, to please ya sponsors, or supporters this ensure that they can continue their funding purposes


companies too, will explore such research and technology for profit which may end up, harming the environment or the society for instance, there was an american firm that specialises in uh agriculture biotechnology develop the uh


harvest side uh through biotechnological processes that obtain a patent for it causing the sales to increase tremendously, since this profit made they further uh developed uh uh round up ready crops and sold it to farmers to earn more money


these crops caused the growth of super weeds and threatened to harm the environment potentially which cannot be seen by many of those who are, researching on uh scientific research therefore human needs uh should be the main concern rather than profit in this argument


ya pass it on to germaine


part two debate topic two


okay I’ll I shall start uh that technology has a negative impact on the skill levels of people, do you agree, okay uh for us mankind has always had a net for finding the easy way around the most difficult task


once you develop the technology needed for survival in this brutal force of nature, in the stone age mankind embarked on a journey of technological advancement in the pursuit of a better life, ironically


in our quest to automate and optimise our processes we have , became or become heavily reliant on technology, rendering many skills that once considered fundamental and essential useless


therefore I do believe that technology while greatly improving our quality of life has adverse impact on the skill levels of mankind, first, the negative impact that technology has had on our interpersonal skills is perhaps the most persuasive and insidious one yet


technological advancements in communications more particularly the development of smartphone has, revolutionise the way we interact texts whatsapp messages and direct messages have now substituted face to face interaction


all those emojis stickers there are present in the most convenient conveyance of our mood, with the younger generations of today growing up in this world in this technological advancement world like this many of them are much more comfortable with socializing online rather than in real life face to face


it is the undeniable fact that this is a new form of communication and it has many perks, speed, immediacy and the ability to avoid direct confrontation are just this few that I would like to list out


however this has led to many people losing the ability communicate effectively with others which therefore reduce the, interpersonal skills that we all should portray ourself in this world of


to of now therefore we shy away from this situation that require us to imagine to mingle with our peers and to choose social media rather than to do it face to face, they are better to sustain a conversation online than offline to read texts cues than a change in tone to interpret the blue tick rather than our body language


this dependency has resulted in a situation where many use their smartphone even in the presence of others to the detrimental effects of our communication skills


without the presence of mobile phone this conversation felt higher levels of, and practical concern as opposed to those who conversed with the presence of a mobile phone this suggests that, every act of using technology to cope with social realities and communication impedes us from fully developing our skills of the empathy and interpersonal communication


therefore the multi, facilitated art of communication has been relegated to the mechanic art of typing and tapping


I pass off my time to germaine


okay uh technological advancements have witnessed the degradation of the skills people require for their jobs, most jobs today are heavily reliant on information technology as it provides easier way around otherwise labour intensive manual jobs machines has replace


manual labour at the front lines of production and computer applications have created easier ways of accessing and handling data this is task uh, upheaval in the way how people work and they are now dependent on computer applications and software to do the work that previously required a high level of skills to do so programmes such as excel


tablet and analyse data for users making an accountant's job much easier a few examples such as uh our programming python and uh S C S and S P S S has helped their decisions in their daily work


artificial intelligence software such as watson uses natural language processing to interpret chunks of unstructured data, allowing businessman to derive meaning from the statistics that they have another example will be data mining that uses


different programming languages to help them improve in theuh mining of data, in singapore, our data analytics firm has created an application to predict the division division of assets in divorce cases when during the traditional skills


which junior lawyers possess obsolete therefore with the advancement of technology to the point that we are able to delegate half our work to machines, the descaling of the workforce has occurred, negatively impacting the skills of many workers in various industries


also I like to add on a point that our motor skills have, also deteriorated greatly due to the advancement of technology, the widespread qualification of smartphones and gaming consoles such as X boxes and weiss and also play stations have resulted in more and more youngsters


and a new generation of today preferring to stay indoors indulging in these games, instead of going outdoors and doing sports and play actual games which will help in their uh


exercising uh activities on a day to day basis, additionally video games have added edge of being more easily accessible than engaging sports activities and hence many youth spend most of their free time playing these games instead


growing better at them which leave themselves completely unexposed to outdoor physical activities, not only that these youngsters will have an addiction to these games which will


uh adversely affect their childhood, furthermore, the likelihood of, child getting exposed to video games than to sports at an earlier age is, higher for today's cautious parents are more willing to have their children nested within the


confines of one's home, transfixed by the dancing graphics on a screen rather than being kicking a ball outside the house in the courtyard therefore the advancement in technology


have made it easier for youth of today to delegate more time of their gaming skills rather than to their sporting abilities, leaving this motor skills relatively untouched and undeveloped which is not actively degenerating now I pass on my time to germaine


part three debate topic three


okay , the question is uh should every country have the right, to carry out unlimited scientific research, okay uh governments and corporations allocate hefty amounts to scientific research this has led to


great advancement in science while science has done so much to improve the quality of human life, not all countries can be trusted to use scientific discoveries for all these states purposes nuclear, weapons in the hands of terrorists would


with unimaginative, anguished unlimited and uncontrolled scientific research in human cloning could lead to an era of the unorthodox governments, cloning as superior breed of human to fulfil that territorial ambition


or to ensure, of their rules, given the desire consequences that could result or can result from the misuse of science it is imperative that every can should not be given the right


to carry out unlimited scientific research in areas that might jeopardise the safety and security of planet we owe this to the future generation, so on my part I’ll be the proposition I’ll start off with the first point


countries can use scientific research to improve the economy and subsequently the standard living of its people, application of science so as to create technology implies that better scientific knowledge will result in more efficient technologies industrialisation is an example to this


when countries invest in the sciences their knowledge of it grows, and as a product of it so do their technologies these technologies, are used in industries to improve the revenue of nation by making more


making them more efficient thus creating a better economy with mean which to work, just as this economy evolves, so does the country's standard of living becomes better however economists will argue that this would cause in the increasing income gap


between the high and low income population of the country, eventually the lower income population would lose out in the resulting of rat race


to improve causing a widening division in the income of them and the higher income population in this way scientific research could, cause the decline in the standard of living for some people while improving that of others


scientific research can also however be used to develop disruptive technology in other way, which science can affect the world issue ethical concerns it's a major issue in scientific research particularly in the source in the field of medicine


this is due to the fact that untested medicine or medical procedures have undesirable effects on individual when used, therefore ethical issues in this way can cause countries to consider pushing further scientific research in in sensitive medical areas


now I pass up my time to germaine


okay uh thank you germmaine okay I like to add on to the issue that I mentioned earlier on the ethical concern, this is a major issue in scientific research uh which , this is due to the fact that untested medicine or medical procedure may have undesirable effects on an individual when used in order to find this effect


scientists must test the medicines on another living being before deploying them other ethical issues may arise when researching specific sciences such as cloning, in this way some countries limit their scientific research due to ethical reasons


without an ethical barrier however unlimited scientific research will become, possible and paved the and paved the path for new findings and substantial advancements in medical science


despite uh such incredible potential breaching the potential we get between the rich and poor would be difficult enough should advance medicine, be one more thing that poor cannot afford, if it's made affordable the changes for abuse will also increase ethical issues in this way could cause countries to consider pursuing further certificate research in sensitive medical areas therefore in conclusion


unlimited, scientific research could be used for good as well as for bad, but it may also result in a widening gap between the rich and poor of the nation


in addition science may be used to develop technology that may not yield beneficiary function for humanity in that it may create, unease between countries and could even incite in war as mentioned by germaine earlier between north korea and their concerns of their technological advancement in their own country


lastly technology developed through the study of science may not adhere to the ethical viewpoints, held by some groups and may even violate them and result in abuse


in short the right for scientific research should not be given to all countries unless they are responsible in the way they utilise technologies, derived from them, lastly I like to add to the point that


[orh]


what our initial assessment previously thought to be uh mystical and smokey soon became explainable phenomena, essentially uh I feel that every country should be given the right to carry out unlimited scientific research with the government intervene to have uh uh


sustainable growth in the economy


okay ya, so


part one debate topic one


oh I thought we were taking like three minutes to plan and organise


as a proposition of the debate topic today which is there is no such thing as bad uh, I would like to set out the perimeters in some definitions before getting into my, my argument proper (ppc), so I'd like to define that not in terms of any uh legitimate or or or critical way


I'd like to to to discuss that as a more, broader, a a more broader term so this would relate to first we will discuss a few things so firstly our personal impressions and, and of of our personal impression of art secondly more objectively what makes what makes uh art uh good and what makes uh it


better, so that's uh the two parameters of our discussion and framing the issue of, of bad, uh I'd like to to then offer a definition of art which is that anything that you may produce uh in terms of music


uh in terms of paintings in terms of art in terms of uh anything that that you are you you wish to produce of yourself to to express and , in, individual and creative sense, although we are we are going to to exclude


exclude things like science and like uh, experiments, so it is more on the on the subjective side, so I'd like to frame this discussion and and propose that that the the why the argument of of the the main thesis of my argument is that there is no such thing as as as bad art


and for a few reasons, number one , in in art is usually a a individual and personal, uh expression of yourself and your emotions and this goes back to to my first uh to my first


uh, uh to my first point which is that, when we talk about art we're talking about something that's very personal it's something that you you you produce to share emotions and this can be seen in , in paintings such as uh monet and as uh vincent van gogh that though in their time it used to be


, that in the end these paintings they actually show the expression of their, of their , of their of their self and of their feelings and and the audience is very very well received on on that point


so on this personal there cannot be a decision between good or bad because it is entirely subjective and in in a from a personal perspective that this subjectivity cannot, cannot be they be cannot define what actually it is good or bad because everyone's standard is very different so if we for example one person could look at monet and think that uh oh the the these are just messy dots


and, that means nothing but once but for to another person's perspective they see something because it evokes something out of them so proposed that what, what is is good to a person could be dependent on two things one how it make how it evokes certain feelings and the person


and and and secondly how it relates to the to the audience, so there's that that is why there's there is no such thing as as bad art, now moving on to a more different standpoint which is that of how might an expert and art critic determine uh determine evaluate art how do they determine what is good or what is what is bad


so this is when we will discuss this idea of objectivity in the evaluation of artworks so uh when they comes to this objectivity is usually refers to skill level or of and of expertise so


on this level of the activity one could say that there is some level of bad and there is some level of good but it is our position that actually there is only two things there is good and there is better, so and this objective uh evaluation of of of art there is


there is two things there are few things that that that an art critic might might see and observe for one is composition of the the colours two is the skill level that requires to ensure that your that the artist's intention is, is is being is being portrayed is being uh conveyed and thirdly an an expression so as when you go to a museum and you walk around


you see some some some arts that have been lauded to be to be skilful and masterful like the mona lisa whereas there's another type of of art that actually doesn't seem to have the same skill level or the same uh


uh, uh uh uh meet like this objective criteria that I have listed and this I would like to bring your attention to uh the this art piece by duchamp where it's essentially a toilet bowl with with his name scribbled on it so one might see the toilet bowl and wonder why this is art


so this leads me to a third perspective on what is what how art can be seen and how uh can be actually evaluated so when it comes to to these sort of abstract expressions, it it's it is not bad and uh it may be bad in in in so from different perspectives and it may be bad from a very stark


uh expert perspective but actually, another purpose of art is that art is supposed to challenge and evoke emotions and to to bring to bring you new perspectives on


on one particular on on one, or a particular point of view and so duchamp's toilet bowl actually brings to evoke and challenge what art actually means and what actually can, can be so in conclusion I'd just like to uh wrap


up before I pass on time on to to uh stresha which is that, firstly art is subjective and is subjective to each person and each person's who is receiving art, second that if we go into a more expert standpoint and we do see that actually there is some objectivity in terms of defining what's what makes good art what makes a bad art and this includes things like skill level composition and uh


how well the artist express it but also thirdly it is more on, the purpose of art and why the why the artist have actually decided to to create this uh piece of work so on on these three points, we can see the breath and the potential that art art has and that what is that it has no place to for a value judgment on what is good what is bad


ya so with that I conclude my opening


right so I'd just like to to summarise a bit before actually engaging with with with your argument so from what I gather your main point is that what is what is, considered uh bad is actually depend a lot on how society functions and the society's values values art to be and I do I do


understand where you're coming from and I do uh see from from your perspective of how society is and a huge part in terms of uh in terms of evaluating the the, these these paintings these paintings music and theatre that that


that we call art however I do like to uh uh I do like to to counter by saying the inherent nature of society is that it changes in every point in time and so I guess the the standard


of what of what is considered uh are uh considered , good it changes over time and this relates to to back to to this idea of subjectivity and so, uh so even though at one so at one point uh at pollock's paintings with his dogs and his and his


and his uh uh streaks may have once been considered as a mess in a child's painting at one point, but but as society changes and then society progresses forward


we do see that actually uh and we do see that actually there's these standards changed and this subjectivity changed so there is no one so and therefore I relate back to to my uh my earlier my earlier statement which is that there is no


kind of objectivity when it comes to determining what is what is good or what is bad so they can they can actually be be uh that can actually be no, we we can't actually say objectively what is good and and what is bad and so because it changes with with each each time and as as you said very rightly that that society is the people who received art and who produce it it it


they they actually they determine what, what is considered what is considered good or what is considered considered bad but I'd just like to to reiterate that firstly, they can't be good or can't be bad cause it's all subjective and it's subjective to a person subjective to each critic who sees the art is subjective to the to which point of which point in time society has has has has arrived and has


has been introduced and at every point in time in our history art has changed and art has has been developed and the boundaries have been pushed so if there can be no such thing as as, bad bad art because the standards change the the standard the standard is growing and art is serves to push the boundaries of of any preconceived notion


I'll like to pass on time on to you


I do I do recognise, I do I do recognise, I do recognise that uh , that at certain points in times the standards do change and uh so definitely objectively speaking there is no one uh


there is there is no no no one, former conception of what what is good and and what is bad and it changes over time and so because of this, changes and, because of ya because these changes it's really it's really quite difficult to determine an an objective standard so


, thank you for agreeing that the subjectivity when it comes to determining good or bad is truly something that that has to be delved deeper to really understand, to to really come to a a satisfactory conclusion on why


part two debate topic two, okay


so my name is Nash and I will be acting as the proposition I would uh like to begin this debate, by defining as I think some some parameters so the topic for this debate is that singaporeans appreciate the appeal of


art, dance or music in our society, so I'd like to to kind of define what, what uh, uh appreciate and uh appeal of in this in this debate topic here


so I think that when we talk about appreciation we will talk about how we express our appreciation so I think that in this modern day we could definitely uh define our appreciation to be two things so first is artwork expressions and these artwork expressions could be


things uh like purchasing tickets it could and it and or and physical physical acts like going to the theater going to a dance performance, second is that online appreciation and what this means is perhaps promoting uh listening to to to music online on Spotify sharing certain promotional materials of of theatre or dance companies


so in these fronts we would uh a we would we would like to discuss the the this topic of whether singaporeans appreciate the appeal of of theatre dance and music in our society the second definition that I'd like to lay out is that of appeal, so what this appeal means is I guess the dictionary term is uh uh I guess is to to the the attraction of theatre dance or or music the the


the allure of it so in this case the topic actually, focuses on something a bit more uh a bit more a preliminary than than an overall actual appreciation of these forms of art and appeal is is that they they do reckon like the singaporeans do recognise that there is a


they do understand that there is an attraction or a, based uh, based a base understanding of of the importance of theatre dance or music and on these two fronts I'd like to make,


about uh two points so first, that , singaporeans do appreciate the appeal because as uh we can see we have actually created different different foundation different institutions


both public and private that support the the promotion of of of theatre or or dance and and this has actually been very well received in in both online and offline, so this is one one topic we're gonna discuss is the creation of these private and public institutions second is that is


is how, how uh singaporeans have shown this appreciation which would definitely be through what what uh through online and and offline engagement and appreciating the the appeal


so on the first front singapore has actually singapore government has actually has a lot of, public institutions such as the, uh, national arts, the national (ppc) arts


arts council uh that has actually been, there should be set up so that singaporeans have a sort of uh support, when they comes to to developing some to developing art, and developing a theatre dance and music and there's also the national youth uh council where it actually it would actually promotes uh


uh, ya uh arts to to young people and they also have multiple arts funds so that, private institutions can can can actually, uh, obtain some some financial funding on on this front, so


the the, so on a public front are actually there there are actually a, I've, there are singaporeans you know in terms of the public out of of of public of the government actually do appreciate that that that theatre dance or music actually appeals to to the normal


youth and the normal singaporeans because we have these institutions so and and, the next is of private companies and how they actually show that the arts is not it's not something that the singaporeans you know just like just just throw away or or they don't they don't uh value is actually something that is quite valuable and we have the


the, different companies such as uh singapore repertory theatre then we have Pangdemonium we have uh Wild Rice all these are very strong theatre companies that have set up a strong foundation and a strong audience within the singaporean government, and the fact that even though that they are private companies they can still be sustained over years and years shows that the singaporeans are are attracted to the idea of theatre and would uh express it their their appreciation through donations and through


uh, and and and and through physical and online, engagement so briefly to my next point which is that how singaporeans appreciate, well it can be seen that that uh during the COVID nineteen pandemic we uh art has become a bit more accessible and so to show the to to then and actually the the reach of of the of of data companies dance companies and music companies


have actually been converted to online making it more accessible and singaporeans would more easily be attracted by by the accessibility of these few things, and the fact that there is a huge number of of people young and old who would take time to to watch it during the the pandemic shows that singaporeans will actually appreciate these these facets on important parts of


of of our society today ya and I think with these two points I'll just to pass on time to Tresha


just to summarise on what you've said so you actually approach the the this issue of singaporeans' appreciation of, uh, of the appeal of the theatre of dance and you do uh address this issue of appreciation and referring to two of your points one is that unfortunately during this time the


the the, outright support such as like such as donations or , uh public uh, public support for for, theatre companies that have been faced, with uh unfortunate circumstances due to the pandemic has not been as strong as as it should be


and that secondly that uh that of career options and and how, , and and and how uh the lack there, of reformation in terms of, of of, did a did another art as a viable career option is is is is lacking and there's still


other avenues that I still quite upon, so I'd like to to, kind of rebut by saying that though you would definitely tackle the issue of appreciation and show them in these two contexts I do like to bring attention to one word in the in the topic which is that of appeal


and I guess, that, following this list of superficial appeal is that what attracts, what, how are singaporeans, uh, how singaporeans react to this attraction to theatre dance or music which is why that


the, the discussion that uh, that that I framed it to be was something to do with that of how the audience and the public, interacts with these these uh these art form like theatre dance or music how they express the the


the, their their interaction with with this view, with with these two parts and and uh so in in my head, , I tried we try to to discuss this in terms of, what they produce and how it how it's being received because that definitely tackles this idea of of of appeal and I just wanted to to get your thoughts on on how


this uh, this how how , how, from from your perspective how this this this appeal, uh has been like in our society


so I do recognise that you are you you said you, that, uh from your perspective the value of creation of of, art uh through art forms, be it through creating music creating dance creating theatre as as actually been been uh the support for it is is unfortunately been


quite lacking in the society however I'd like to counter, this point by bringing up, that uh, by by going through, how the society actually supports a creation of of different forms at different points in time so I'll just start with first with academic institutions and how they have in in some school in in some schools such as as uh secondary schools such as uh SCGS or uh uh


MGS they actually do have have a certain art programmes that, uh, uh support and allow, to to support and allow students young students to actually create visual arts and and have them vetted for for O levels so in that front they do allow this creation of of


of, of different art forms and moving on from secondary school in in a more tertiary level there are different art schools such as la salle in singapore such as SOTA in singapore that actually focuses on on creation of art and ensuring that the younger audience has has a has a


ability to engage with it and to create it as you say and I think that, uh and then as you can see that these these uh, uh, the the youth have actually been open to to do, to uh showing their, their appreciation and of the


value of of creation because you know these institutions are still here after so long and and they're and they actually have a strong cohort year after year after year and so on the next branch off of this value creation of art


there , it goes to a more individual level, so beyond institutions beyond you know government support beyond, private companies who are here, how do each individual singapore singaporean


how do they uh, appreciate and engage with, with, music dance and theatre and so firstly they engage with it through you know listening listening to to local artist or Spotify listening to to to the radio DJ who's playing uh different


a different singaporean artists and and, also there's also uh an underground of people who actually create music that come up with their own uh DJ set list or their own own music and post it online for for the world to share


for the world to see and for them to share so, that, unfortunately be uh and and and so we can see that from, in institution there is a a support level in in terms of creating art and in individually that singaporeans are very quite engaged in in in creating art on their own and I think is that uh recently there has been an an Instagram uh


, their own competition organised by by one of the award by I think not wrong, uh, national youth council or national arts council the encourages singaporeans to create music to to show uh to express their their experience during the pandemic and during the circuit breaker and they posted it online


and that's actually received it uh uh over I think a thousand submissions, and , and that uh another example is that of the of the, straits times actually uh, uh actually having uh


the colouring segment of the of the newspaper to submit as support so, , these few these few examples are actually to show that the singapore engages with the art ensures the appeal of of different art forms


part, three debate topic three


okay I'd like to to start as the proposition, so my name is Nash I'll be the proposition for the topic which is the arts are luxury and not a necessity uh, , so I'd like to to to provide some


framing for for our discussion today, so the arts, so I'd like to add to to, so you just directly tackle that this term of luxury and this term of necessity, so what is considered a luxury is that if you have to purchase and spend money to to obtain something


and to and to , and that you can use at your at your leisure you know and that your leisure that that is something that is not fundamental to your livelihood it's not fundamental to to how you functioning in in general existence


and , and the next word is like of necessity and that is a need and I'd like to define need as uh what you need to survive what do you need to to to live and to to be, to be uh, a functioning human so this includes things like food water


as we go down the uh so I'd like to refer to the maslow hierarchy of needs to determine what, a need is, a necessity is and and so the the broadest portion is what we fundamentally need so this is food, water uh shelter


the next is and and I think that, the the, the broadest bottom of this hierarchy really shows and identifies what a necessity is and how, how , we as humans need it to be so in this form


I uh, the it that's our position that the arts are actually a luxury and not in in necessity and this is because that, although although although uh, art is is has been a huge part in in human in human development ever since even the cavemen with their drawings I think most of the time engaging in art has been something of a either a hobby or a leisure activity and people who have actually engaged in that will be out of their free time and out of


their their or their own pockets, so uh art has art is is has increasingly become a luxury that is accessible, to to to to more to more people, because , uh


because of of of modernisation and the the accessibility of it, so I'd like to to define so I'd to to bring up two points on art is actually like a luxury and not a necessity so first it is a luxury because, it requires you to spend to to take up time


to take up time and money that that you have and if people don't have the expense they won't engage in art and that secondly, that art is is is a luxury because, , because people people


engage with it out of interest out of out of out of leisure, so in these two point I'd just like to expand on them a bit, so first art is art is a a luxury, because it takes more than than it gives so unlike breathing and eating and having a home which are basic necessities that we need


that we need in our daily life art actually requires you to invest something more when it when you want to engage it as an audience, so for example, if you would like to if you go to an an any art gallery that allows you to purchase you see that the art the art pieces actually are worth about a few hundred and a few thousand dollars so to actually and and uh acquire them we need you you would require to have the money the the monetary uh


, expense for you for you to do so, and the next thing is that money will take up another thing which is time, so, so uh art actually takes up, a lot of time because


it it if you don't have, if you are working all day and you don't have the the money or time when you're too tired to, engage with it you will simply you you simply won't won't see the need of, uh, actually going to the theater or or or or creating a piece of piece of art work so on these two point


we can see that it's really not a necessity in terms of it doesn't you don't need it to survive and in fact it takes more than than it gives on on the second point which is that, the art is is it is is usually engage at at your leisure at


at, uh when when you have access or something so clearly when you have access to something it directly links us to this idea of luxury so when you have when you have access time and access money of course art will be an attractive option to you and, you would like to to engage in it so


, think on these two fronts which is why, , art is definitely a less of a necessity and more of of a luxury on this front


summarise what Tresha has just said


I'll yes I'd like to definitely address your two points so firstly is that your perception of necessity and really think that to you a career, as it can be seen in the as you can see in the in in in how millennials have engaged in in in creating things so that they can live money off and in that sense you provide them with a basic necessity


I do I I I do recognise that there is a link there but I'd like to to bring our attention back to the the the subject of our discussion which is that of the arts and uh the arts here would definitely relate to things that would actually come to mind so things like the theater to to


things like music and and, , the and paintings and and, et cetera so these these forms and expressions of of art actually they increase, think them definitely they might give some some income and might help some some artists uh some artist


uh provide them with some basic necessities however an an art as a whole when we when we see a when we see, when we watch a theatre show when we listen to music it it only


alleviate some appeals to ours physiological sense to things like you know improve our mind and improve our livelihoods and in these circumstances, and in this important and in this engagement of of art in the sense does not actually mean that it's a necessity it so far it value adds to to your life at the very extent but it's not something that you need for basic survival


now I would, I'd like to just go back to this to this idea of of luxury and what this means so a luxury is a surplus demand beyond our needs and, and it occurs when we don't need if you don't specifically need something so as we go back to my introduction of uh maslow hierarchy of needs and we see at the bottom most broadest


based of what every human are requires to live and to function is definitely we need food we need water we need shelter, and I guess we need internet as well, but , as we move up this maslow hierarchy of needs we see that at the very top would be luxury good will be luxury items such as an inclusive of of of art and it because it is only


when we have the opportunity when we can afford it can we consume it and engage with it, and as as the most natural example of of this is that uh when it come to to things like Spotify, you do need to pay a subscription you do need to pay money to enjoy music when we go to to watch a theatre you do need to pay these tickets to enjoy it so these


the, the the act of of really, the, of act of how art actually requires you to give something for you to enjoy shows at the very true true call or what what a luxury good is when you


when it demand something beyond our needs and require us to to to give more more than we have and which is why I think that arts at its very core though it has some benefits as you rightly pointed uh and not


are not needed to sustain our vital life functions you know it it's not as vital as, food water shelter or oxygen it it perhaps just allows us to to relax and to to meet our physiological psychological needs but when we come to our physical needs art therefore is art is quite lacking


and so, and so, at most, art, allows us to to, to to recognise some some, uh


devoid and and, uh, psychological and and help us reach some level of self-actualisation but, in this aspect it's not a necessity that every human needs it's not something that we we we need to sustain our life and I think uh with that I like to conclude


debate topic one, Nash do you want to say uh the argument for the proposition


thank you #nash for , uh I'm, giving a good framing of the terms in the question uh in the prompt and also giving your part for the proposition, I'll be taking the opposition, which is saying that there is such uh such thing as bad art


and in this I just want, to talk about one point you mentioned, about how , whether art or its objective or subjective you mentioned about the purpose of art, you mentioned that uh one of the purposes of art is to challenge and evoke emotions


and you also talked about, , it relating to the audience since art is, ultimately , for I mean it's while it's an expression of the artist own intent and a way for him to express himself it's also something to push out into the world for everyone to see or hear or listen or


read and I think in that respect, the uh uh every kind of artistic liberty or creativity, would


would be subconsciously and, implicitly inscribed by some societal boundaries because, we see or usually all freedoms in in the way we uh see it is limited to prevent infringement on certain rights and


although we ideally you said that uh the breadth and potential for art really uh mix uh there there'll be no place for value judgments on what is art I feel like we all implicitly have


these boundaries on what is art and, in fact sometimes you might not consider something art instead of considering it, bad art but I argue that it is bad art, for example uh in milan Kundera'S unbearable lightness of being there was this


definition of this, term called kitsch which is an aesthetic ideal which excludes everything from its purview which is essentially unacceptable in human existence and I think this captures the fact that something which is bad art is


pushed away from, I mean we don't even acknowledge it and , it's, I mean it's sometimes it's doesn't even come under the category of art but as it's so uh is so eloquently laid out it


, a lot any kind of expression is art however when it borders into becoming immoral and infringing on societal boundaries of what is acceptable it would, argually arguably become bad art


and I think that is what else the main issues I have, with saying that there is no such thing as bad art because of these implicit boundaries we have on the acceptability of art, so I would say that when art


becomes immoral by what society considers, the boundaries of morality to be off what society considers the boundaries of acceptability to be then art becomes, bad art ya would you have


uh anything to respond yes


uh thank you for that, I think , what I'd have to say is that while you keep, while you emphasise the, fact that, society's changing notions of, , good and bad make it such that there cannot be an objectively bad or good piece of art


I think, maybe we can look at each point of time, that's, society is in and because there it's impossible to pronounce, uh on any concept universally and


uh uh, I mean we have to look at it in a certain frame of time and I think when I was talking about the boundaries of acceptability that determine determine uh what is bad art, I was looking at maybe the general perspective of society at a certain point of time and the what is considered bad art at the certain point of time since the the prompt itself there's no such thing as bad art doesn't really have a


time factor, so I guess I do concede that, over time, since the the boundaries are pushed and changed and, developed, , there isn't something that we can call bad art throughout all of time


but I would say that at each point of time there is definitely something that is shelved to the uh that is relegated to the the category of bad art and that is uh my main point it's that, that I mean at each point of time there is a certain category of piece uh expressions that is uh relegated to the category or bad art


and , would you would you be or or what would you think about that


part two debate topic two


thank you Nash for, uh framing the question again and uh dealing with the proposition point, you you mentioned that singaporeans do recognise the appeal appreciate uh uh recognise the appeal of the arts and the form of theatre dance or music in that


we uh we show this appreciation online and offline, by engaging with the arts the the fact that the government has built many institutions promoting the arts giving funding to these arts organisations and as well as private companies


that are able to uh sustain their uh business uh or nonprofit enterprise over the years through audience and engagement and , strong foundations, and and how you also mention how art has become more accessible during the pandemic and this is all testament to how much singaporeans appreciate the appeal of


the arts, however I want to talk about how , you do place a lot of emphasis on singaporeans engaging with the arts as evidence for how singaporeans appreciate the appeal of, theatre dance or music but in reality it's not just of the engagement and as you did briefly mention it's also about the support that the arts get in terms of institution infrastructure and funding