Posted: Tuesday 15 September 2009
Visit of Canadian World Schools' Debating Team
At the Durham University Schools’ Competition in March we met some Canadian debaters and befriended them. We strongly encouraged them to come on a tour of Scotland in September and that they could visit Morrison's during their stay. So, after months of emails being sent to and fro intercontinentally, the Canadian World Schools’ team arrived in Library 43 on a Thursday lunchtime. As a group, we had all brought along lots of food to share with the debaters who we would be hosting for twenty four hours. This was a chance for us all to meet one another and to find out more about everyone. Discussions managed to move from “how to open a banana” to “patenting the waterproof tuque” (a Canadian hat which one of the debaters had decided to update and re-market for a huge profit!).
In the afternoon there were two rooms of debating going on at the one time. In each room there was a Morrison’s team and a Canadian team and we were both using it as a chance to practise for the St Columba’s World Schools’ Style Competition which was to take place in Saturday and in which representatives from both Canada and Crieff were participating. Initially we had the pre-announced motion of “This House Would Use International Sporting Events for Political Protest”. Going into the debate we felt reasonably happy with the preparation that we had done, but when the Canadians stood up to speak we felt more than a little overshadowed. After the first debate there was an impromptu motion, for which we had twenty minutes to prepare. We argued over whether or not “This House Believes the Arts Should Be State Funded”. This time we were a little readier for the style and skill of the Canadians, but again we were in awe of the way in which they were arguing and fighting our case. At that point we had to remember that we, as Morrison’s Academy, were facing the Canadian International team and that consoled us a little.
That evening we all, hosts and Canadians, met in a local restaurant for a meal. This proved to be very entertaining and a lot of fun as well. It was great to socialise more with the Canadians who, despite the fact we had only known them for a few hours, we all knew by name and we all were joking and laughing with. The following morning was the day that school photos were happening, so, as a special arrangement we had a formal photo taken of the Morrison’s Academy Debating Society and the Canadian World Schools’ Team. Shortly afterwards they left to catch their train to Glasgow and then on to Kilmacolm for the competition at the weekend. Overall, the trip was a great success and I hope that it can continue into the future, possibly with a Scottish trip to Canada!
1 Comment
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Andrew Morrison replied on 22 Sep 2009 at 15:32
I think I speak for the entire Canadian team when I say that we had loads of fun while we were there. Particularly as a Nova Scotian (which is a province in Canada whose name means 'New Scotland') I can say there was minimal culture shock and that I felt extremely welcome among the students. I'd like to thank everyone for that.
I think that the author should give more credit to the debates; they were far from one-sided and definitely worthwhile to have. The quality of debate was quite high all around. The school was well-represented on the weekend as well.
Hope to see that Scottish trip to Canada come to be,
Andrew
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