By Leah Bjornson
Photos by Ben Buckley
I think we all have that one friend we end up bickering with. These are the types of debates where no matter how logical you feel your argument to be, it’s usually the person with the loudest voice who wins, because you can’t stand to continue such a raucous and ignorant display.
This is what it seemed like in high school. I remember debating in my Grade 12 English class on whether sweatshops are bad or good (a ridiculous topic, in my opinion). A member of the opposition stood up and said in a rather blase tone: “I mean, we can all agree that sweatshops are the best alternative, can’t we guys?”
While I scoffed at the lack of any real meaning behind his words, I was shocked to see a sea of nodding heads and thoughtful glances. “Well, he sounded confident, so he must be right,” was how they seemed to be processing his position.
The reality is that our generation has lost the ability to debate logically and respectfully. When, in our education, are we ever taught how to craft an argument step-by-step? Where has rhetoric gone?
It’s disheartening to say we have lost this crucial part of our education, one which we use in our everyday lives. I’m not saying everyone has to be Plato, but we need to be able to debate and speak without championing whoever has the loudest voice.
Thankfully, SFU’s clubs provide an opportunity to reclaim these skills. First, we have the SFU Debate Society, which meets twice a week for three hours, either holding training seminars — in which members cover styles of debate and focus on academic topics — or practice debates on current events.
The skills learned in this club harken back to the days of Plato and Aristotle: public speaking, analytical skills, and introductory logic and philosophy. Outside of the classroom, the Debate Society competes in provincial, state and national conferences, even reaching the semi-finals of the British Parliamentary Nationals last year.
Of course, not everyone is the confrontational type, but don’t feel as though this hampers you from improving your speaking skills. Our second club, which “aims at improving members’ public speaking skills and expanding their social network,” is the Burnaby Mountain Toastmasters (BMTM).
You might ask, “what is a Toastmaster?” Traditionally, the term describes someone who introduces after-dinner speakers and announces toasts at public or formal dinners. Nevertheless, the position has evolved far beyond this definition.
There are thousands of Toastmaster Societies around the world, each offering “a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help people learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking,” according to Toastmasters International.
At Burnaby Mountain, the mandate does not differ. At its weekly meetings, the BMTM hosts Table Topics, where guests and members speak on a range of prepared topics, such as the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, with attention to such questions as: “Is time the wheel that turns, or the track it leaves behind?”
The BMTM is also competitive, participating in speech contests at the national and international level.
For those of you who become infuriated when idiots win arguments, either of these clubs could be for you. Their members learn how to debate and speak at an international level, and it doesn’t hurt to make some great friends along the way.
