Good Debate, Bad Debate

Greetings all! Sorry for the poor correspondence in the past few weeks, but I’ve just been really busy with school. As much as June went by slowly, July has been flying by terribly fast.

When I last wrote, my debate team was heading off to the Circuit debate. They won it handily, and four of my six debaters advanced to the regional competition. Let me explain. Competitions in Namibia are a little weird, both for sport and debate. The competitions pit different teams against one another, but the winning team does not advance to the next round of competition. Instead, during the course of the competition, the judges select the best individuals, who then form a team to go to the next level.

For example, last month I took my grade 8-10 students to the cluster debate, a cluster being the smallest administrative unit in the Namibian school system. Here, five different schools debated under a large shade tree at a nearby school. Four of my learners were selected to represent the cluster. Two weeks ago went to the circuit competition, which took place in a large hall at David Sheehama Senior Secondary School. This is the competition I was rushing off to in a previous post. At the circuit competition, one of my grade 8-10 learners was selected to represent the circuit, and all of my grade 11-12 students were also selected.



That brings us to this week. Over the weekend, I spent three draining days at our Omusati Regional Debate Championships, which is a name loftier than its reality. In many ways, I think the championship represents what is both frustrating and great about this country. While the organization and planning of the competition were seriously flawed, dedicated teachers and talented students persevered.

On the frustrating side, planning here is an unknown art. We received notice of this competition on Tuesday, but the competition was to start on Friday! The notice included an agenda that read something like this:

Omusati Regional Debating Championship, July 27-29

July 27
8:30 National Anthem
9:00 Welcoming Speech by B. Shilongo
9:30 Keynote Address by E. Ameya
19:55 Speech by Regional Inspect
10:00 Speech by B. Kavehama
10:30 Vote of thanks

July 28
8:00 Adjudicators meeting
9:30 Preliminary Round
10:30 Semi Final Round
11:30 Final round.
12:00 Award ceremony

Now, there are a few inconsistencies in this program. Half an hour to sing the National Anthem? Does the debate start at 8:30 in the morning or the evening? Although the championship was scheduled for three days, the award ceremony, which ends the competition, is at 12:00 on Saturday. As a result, I planned Sunday to be my laundry day. Alas, the laundry never happened. As I write this on Monday morning, I’m typing in my only remaining clean pair of underwear. I’ve been avoiding this pair for awhile. It’s a set of boxer briefs somehow deformed by my poor washing skills so that one leg is twice the length of the other.

On Friday, the lack of planning was grossly apparent. Two of the four speakers failed to materialize. Instead the organizer, Ms. Shipiki, held a draw of teams. When the draw was finished, one team was short two opponents, while almost every other team had at least one slot when it was supposed to debate two teams at the same time. Once I realized the problem, I offered to fix the pairings, and was promptly accused of trying to cheat! As my father cynically says, “No good deed goes unpunished.”


Despite the ridiculous planning, there was much good in the tournament too. Approximately 14 English teachers sacrificed their entire weekend to help conduct the competition. Ms. Shipiki, the chief organizer, was constantly on the move. She was there early and stayed late, printing certificates and organizing (albeit inefficiently) the proceedings, even though her aunt had died Saturday morning.

The rest of the teachers put in long hours too. These teachers do not fit the stereotype of a ‘lazy African’ in any way. They put in overtime in a way that no unionized NYC teacher would. We each spent 24 hours working on the debates from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Back home, few teachers would do that without the carrot of overtime pay, at a rate of $37/hr!
Moreover, the kids held some great debates. Some of these kids could hold their own against my former students, even though none speak English as a first language. In fact, a few kids spoke such excellent English that they may be more fluent than their English teachers. Students were articulate, passionate, and well-informed. In debate they practiced not only English, but the argumentation and logical reasoning that are critical to a functioning democracy.


When all the arguments, objections, and “points of information” were settled, my circuit walked away with the Regional trophy, won by two of my students and a student from a neighboring school. The regional team, which will travel to the tourist destination of Swakopmund in August, is composed of nine students, including two from my school. Woo-hoo!