Go NZ Go
The New Zealand Secondary Schools Debating Team (supported by Russell McVeagh) have just won the world champs semi-final against Scotland and are through to the final.
This is the first time since 1995, NZ has made it through to the grand final. 39 teams have been competing from all over the world.
The team is:
- Maria English (Captain, Samuel Marsden)
- Holly Jenkins (Sacred Heart)
- Jennifer Savage (Wanganui Collegiate)
- Tom Chen (Hillcrest High)
- Ben Kornfield (King’s College)
Their topics to date have been:
- This house supports military intervention to deliver emergency aid in humanitarian crises’ – beat Greece 2-1 opposing
- This House would ban strikes by workers in essential state services – beat Estonia 3-0 proposing
- This house would ban the use of unethically obtained data in scientific research – beat Bangladesh 3-0 proposing
- This House would make humanities subjects compulsory at undergraduate level – beat Japan 3-0 opposing
- This house would make the directors of multinational companies personally liable for environmental abuses committed by their companies in the developing world – beat Scotland 3-0
- A debates I don’t know topic for won 3-0 against Singapore
- This house believes that governments have a duty to bail out failing financial institutions – beat Slovakia 3-0
- A debates I don’t know topic for won 3-0 against Indonesia
- This House believes that heads of government should be required to have a parliamentary majority to govern – - beat Netherlands 5-0 (octo-final)
- This House regrets the holding of the 2008 Beijing Olympics – beat Ireland 4-1 (quarter-final)
- This house would drop all US sanctions on Cuba – beat Scotland 7-0 proposing (semi-final)
- The final motion is:
This House would expand the permanent membership of the UN Security Council
NZ goes up agains England in the final. It is being held at the Reagan Centre in Washington DC and will commence at 6.30 am NZST on Monday.
Winning 11 debates in a row is an incredible result. Best of luck to all of the team and support crew for the final.
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Tags: ben kornfield, debating, holly jenkins, jennifer savage, maria english, tom chen
September 14th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Maria English. Bill’s daughter?
September 14th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
“Maria English. Bill’s daughter?”
Yes. Maria is an excellent debater in her own right, rather than just being Bill’s daughter.
September 14th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Hmmmmmmm …. three out of the five from the Independent Schools sector, Does that say anything?
September 14th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
OMG that’s awesome! about seven years ago I babysat Ben afterschool for a month when he was in year 6 at Kings Prep whilst his parents were away… I could tell he was bright back then then… can’t believe he’s year 13 now!
September 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the question was “…. Helens Daughter” but then would it be like the question being asked of the French Minister ” Who’s da Daddy”
September 14th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Fantastic achievement! Talk about punching above weight – this is great stuff. Hope it makes the news in a big way.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Three girls and an Asian.
There should be quotas so middle class European males get a go.
September 14th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Great! As an official adjudicator in many debates (including Kings vs Christ), it is great to see our kids do so well!!!!
September 14th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Gooner – take a look at http://www.debating.org.nz and the old NZ teams and you’ll find that middle class European males figure quite prominently.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Not to carp too much but I am sure English language as a mother tongue must be a huge advantage against say Estonia.
The quarterfinals
New Zealand 4 Ireland 1
South Africa 2 Greece 3
England 4 Israel 1
Scotland 4 Canada 1
The real victors seem to me to be Greece, more fluent than 300 million Americans and 21 million Australians
September 15th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Well NPOG, it just shows what a cynical lot you are. You just can’t stand success. Only ever want to dumb down the information, and control.
New Zealand is a business in competition with all the other business’s in the World. That is why we need Business People to govern and not teachers, lecturers, and dental hygenists.
September 15th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
NZ unfortunately lost the final.
However we have 3 debaters ranked in the top 4 in the world!!
Jen Savage ranked 1st followed by Ben Kornfield at 2nd and Holly Jenkins at 4th — Maria English and Tom Chen ranked just outside the top 10. This shows us just how great the quality of young debaters in New Zealand really is!
September 17th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Would love to have heard their debate opposing the Olympics in China.
New Zealand is a business in competition with all the other business’s in the World. That is why we need Business People to govern and not teachers, lecturers, and dental hygenists.”
This would be my quote of the day. And an excellent debate topic.