Summary
Interesting information was shared as students of The Heritage School and The Heritage Institute of Technology took part in the final workshop and debate
What do lemons, vaccines and electricity have in common? All three are the results of the human mind tinkering with science.
Interesting information was shared as students of The Heritage School and The Heritage Institute of Technology took part in the final workshop and debate organised as part of Debating Excellence 2024 by the Calcutta Debating Circle (CDC) in association with The Telegraph, Young Metro and JIS Group.
Joining the city students were debate champs and trainers from London School of Economics, Harvard, Yale and Cambridge universities and other global institutions.
For two weeks (June 20 to July 2), the visiting students and debaters of CDC made rounds of various institutions in the city holding workshops and exhibition debates with an aim to hone the communication skills of students.
The motion on the final day was: "Tinkering With Nature Is Bound To Have Repercussions." Debate coach Heather Robinson was the moderator. The 12 speakers were a mix of Heritage and visiting students.
Elias Silver of Yale began from the proposition, saying how nature is unpredictable. "There is always a gap between understanding a concept and putting it into action. Thus there will always be negative consequences," he said.
Joe Fennel of Cambridge retorted with the instance of lemons that originated as a result of cross-breeding between varieties of citrons and bitter oranges. "If we did not tinker with nature we would have got lemons and other wonderful innovations," he said.
Arguments got heated as Aditya Shankar Nath of Class XII, The Heritage School, brought up the issue of landslides and deforestation.
Ilina Udani of Class XI and from the opposition highlighted how vaccines would never have been invented if there was no tinkering.
"Vaccines are deliberate interventions because of which the infant mortality rate has gone down," she said, clinching the best speaker award in the end.
Hridika Deb of Class XII came second, also speaking against the motion. Soham Dutta of Heritage Institute of Technology was declared third. The participants said the workshops gave them a new perspective. "I learnt how to use passion, humour and facts to make a potent argument," said Ilina
The penultimate debate on the Narula Institute of Technology-JIS campus at Agarpara had students of various city-based institutions locking horns with their overseas counterparts. The motion was: "Parents Should Tell Their Children They Can Achieve Anything."
Kaushiki Sen of Class XII, Calcutta Girls' High School was the winner, followed by Mihika Chechi of London School of Economics and Anusha Chowdhury of Garden High School.
"We are already planning to hold a similar event in Bengal involving vernacular schools," said CDC trustee Pradeep Gooptu.
Last updated on 04 Jul 2024
