Out-Classed by foreign students?O.O

I am making reference to the Straits Time article titled " Are local students bad debaters?"

The article states in the competition which is the Arena that local schools like Hwa Chong Institution and Raffles Institution were outplayed by UWC( United World College). The article attempts to investigate the the underlying problem to the huge defeats...Are local students really inferior to foreign students?

I never once believe in local students being inferior in anyway. Call it national pride if you will but it is wrong to make such a sweeping statement without examining every single variable. Every single participant is a class of his or her own and everyone is there because they possess a certain degree of skill and charisma. Inferior? No. Experience-lacking? Maybe. Crazy odds? A resounding yes.

Lets think of an analogy. UWC is a congregation of scholars from foreign countries. Note the word "scholars". This means that they are the proven elite from their respective countries. So we can easily pretend that UWC is some kind of global football team, consisting of the world's best players while the local schools may be Manchester United. Man for man, the UWC team would totally overwhelmed Manchester United(local schools). The point of this comparison is to say that the competition starts out biased.. That explains the land-slide victories. Then won't i be saying that local students are after all inferior? No. Try putting this local students in another country and compete them against the local students there. Who wins? You know the answer...

Who is to say the best debaters in Singapore is in the Arena? For all you know, they will be at home, just watching and not participating for reasons unknown. Thus it is impossible to come to a conclusion on this issue.

Another attempt is the education system here. The system here breeds a situation which i called a more humane form of a totalitarian government. Students here are expected to accept what they are told where questions are taboo. In such a oppressive environment, no one can really develop PRACTICAL debating skills. PRACTICAL in which countering the other party, poking at their flaws and winning the argument. I experience something like this right in AJC. This student was requesting to switch classes from a teacher. Berated by the questions posed by the teacher, the student could find no response. I believe the student has a answer but the system here discourages speaking back... Its an argument that can be won as the teacher's questions were full of holes which can easily be directed back upon. But binded by the unspoken rule of not speaking back...the student could only remain silent.

We should open up more.. Stop giving birth to an era of oppressed young teenagers!