As part of the project week in Poland, students were trained in the technique of debating. During the week in Poland they learned how to write speeches, react to speeches and set up a debate using the format of the Oxford debate. On return to their own countries, they chose a topic to debate.
On Nesodden, the students involved decided to debate a topic which was very close to their own situation. The population is increasing and this brings a need for expanding the schools. In addition, several of the schools on Nesodden are in need of upgrading. Therefore, the local authority are considering ways to meet the educational needs of the students in the future. One proposal has been to build a large new lower secondary school which will be used by all the students in years 8, 9 and 10, instead of the three schools they use at the moment. This brought a strong reaction from the students and they decided to debate the claim: Nesodden municipality should build a new lower secondary school which will collect all students from year 8, 9 and 10.
The whole of the first year were invited to the debate, along with teachers, local politicians and the local press. Students involved in the CITIES project prepared the speeches, and the jury was composed of three teachers and a politician from the local authority. It was clear that the students in the audience were strongly against the proposal, even though the affirmative team had strong and well-structured arguments. They had to answer many questions from the audience, and convinced only a few that their arguments were the best. The jury also had difficulty in deciding, but in the end they gave the victory to the affirmative team, as they had a more difficult task and had built up their case very well.
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