Debate: King’s students compete at Oxford Union

Congratulations to Abi Webster (L6GLA) and Gwen Olson (L6GRO) who recently competed in the final of the Oxford Schools Debate Competition.

Abi and Gwen qualified for the final at the Northwest regional round in February, and travelled to Oxford to debate against more than 100 teams in the final.

Ms Rutberg runs the Senior Debating Society and travelled with the girls to the final. 

She said: “This is an international competition with teams from countries such as Ireland, India, Canada and Eswatini, as well as UK teams of older and more experienced debaters. 

“Abi and Gwen more than held their own and I am very proud of their performance, finishing in the top half of school and placing first in their final debate of the preliminary round.”

The motions were given in the famous Oxford Union after which the teams had just 15 minutes to prepare their arguments and walk to the college in which the debate would take place. 

Each debate was judged by Oxford students and Gwen and Abi were grateful for the feedback that they received from the judges.

They said: “We have already used their feedback to improve our skills and technique, and we are confident that we can go even further in the competition next year.

“We’ve enjoyed competing against more experienced teams and it was interesting to observe them employing some of the skills that Ms Rutberg has been advising us to use.”

They went on to thank Ms Rutberg for helping them to reach the final: “Ms Rutberg is so committed to Senior Debating Society and we really appreciate her coaching, her advice and her support. She has challenged us to be the best debaters we can be.”

Senior Debating Society meets on Tuesday lunchtimes. Students in Thirds and above can sign up on SOCS.

The motions debated by Gwen and Abi in the final are listed below. How would you have argued for these motions?

Round 1: This house opposes the narrative that women can have it all.

Round 2: In areas of socioeconomic deprivation, this house would prioritise training students in vocational skills as opposed to traditional academic subjects.

Round 3: This house believes that the development of General Artificial Intelligence should be restricted exclusively to government controlled or funded institutions.

Round 4: This house opposes career politicians.