Greetings
Debaters!
Welcome to the 5th Korean High School Debate Championships (KHSDC V)! It gives me great pride and pleasure to welcome all of you to this stage, for I believe debate is truly one of life's most essential and fulfilling pursuits.
My goals for this KHSDC are twofold; to spread debate into new areas of education in Korea and develop and entrench it where it already exists.
Korea has been wise to recognize the benefits of academic debate and in a few years it has grown much faster and further than it has in any other comparable environment. I am lucky to be swimming in this sea of change, and there is much that I have learned. But we need to spread debate further. There is little diversity among students of debate whether at the high school or college level compared to the overall diversity within their age group and communities. Debate is less effective when perceived as a selective and elitist pursuit, a hobby of the minority. The challenge of every great debater is while overcoming his opponent, to educate his audience, and there is no better way to do that than by making them also practiced debaters. So let's use those debate skills to get more people into debate!
To those who are already engaged in debate and have established sustainable communities, I congratulate you on your vision and effort, and urge you to use your skills and experience to replicate your success. Korean debating, I believe, is entering an age of adolescence. There is an abundance of talent, ambition and energy; what is required now is guidance towards maturity and ultimate independence. We need to build debate structures and educational frameworks that can work on their own, make themselves stronger and fix their own problems. Then debate will grow and stay, and so will self-reliance and ambition.
The KHSDC has played an immense role in spreading debate and making it stronger. This year we hope to build on that by actively seeking out new participants and organizing a debate workshop before the tournament. With your assistance and support, all this will become possible.
At the beginning of this message I greeted you as a Debater because I believe everyone is born knowing how to debate. Debate is nothing but communication, persuasion, making logical choices and expressing yourself. You have been doing this since just after you were born and will do so until shortly before your eternal sleep. You debate with your friends, your family, your lovers, your superiors and most often, with yourself. The choices you will make, and the choices people want you to make, will meet each other in debate.
So don't ask yourself if you should become a debater, ask yourself if you should become a better debater.
I hope to see you soon,
Cheers
Logandran Balavijendran,
Convenor,
KHSDC V
Welcome to the 5th Korean High School Debate Championships (KHSDC V)! It gives me great pride and pleasure to welcome all of you to this stage, for I believe debate is truly one of life's most essential and fulfilling pursuits.
My goals for this KHSDC are twofold; to spread debate into new areas of education in Korea and develop and entrench it where it already exists.
Korea has been wise to recognize the benefits of academic debate and in a few years it has grown much faster and further than it has in any other comparable environment. I am lucky to be swimming in this sea of change, and there is much that I have learned. But we need to spread debate further. There is little diversity among students of debate whether at the high school or college level compared to the overall diversity within their age group and communities. Debate is less effective when perceived as a selective and elitist pursuit, a hobby of the minority. The challenge of every great debater is while overcoming his opponent, to educate his audience, and there is no better way to do that than by making them also practiced debaters. So let's use those debate skills to get more people into debate!
To those who are already engaged in debate and have established sustainable communities, I congratulate you on your vision and effort, and urge you to use your skills and experience to replicate your success. Korean debating, I believe, is entering an age of adolescence. There is an abundance of talent, ambition and energy; what is required now is guidance towards maturity and ultimate independence. We need to build debate structures and educational frameworks that can work on their own, make themselves stronger and fix their own problems. Then debate will grow and stay, and so will self-reliance and ambition.
The KHSDC has played an immense role in spreading debate and making it stronger. This year we hope to build on that by actively seeking out new participants and organizing a debate workshop before the tournament. With your assistance and support, all this will become possible.
At the beginning of this message I greeted you as a Debater because I believe everyone is born knowing how to debate. Debate is nothing but communication, persuasion, making logical choices and expressing yourself. You have been doing this since just after you were born and will do so until shortly before your eternal sleep. You debate with your friends, your family, your lovers, your superiors and most often, with yourself. The choices you will make, and the choices people want you to make, will meet each other in debate.
So don't ask yourself if you should become a debater, ask yourself if you should become a better debater.
I hope to see you soon,
Cheers
Logandran Balavijendran,
Convenor,
KHSDC V
Logan
discovered debate in 1999 and it changed his
life. He was an active university debater from
2000 to 2006. In that time he was twice Champion
of Asia and once Best Speaker. He was also the
first team in the Grand Finals of the
Australasian Debate Championships not from
Australia or New Zealand, and
4th
Best
Speaker of the same tournament. He was
Octofinalist of the World Debating Championships
and 16th
Best
Speaker.
Logan has also extensively adjudicated and coached debate. He was the Chief Adjudicator of the World Debate Championships and the Australasian Debate Championships, and Deputy Chief Adjudicator of the Asian Debate Championships and North-East Asian Debate Championships. He has also coached debate from the middle school to graduate school level, in more than 10 different countries.
Logan is a currently Professor of Speech and Debate at the College of Business Administration, Chung Ang University, Seoul.
Logan has also extensively adjudicated and coached debate. He was the Chief Adjudicator of the World Debate Championships and the Australasian Debate Championships, and Deputy Chief Adjudicator of the Asian Debate Championships and North-East Asian Debate Championships. He has also coached debate from the middle school to graduate school level, in more than 10 different countries.
Logan is a currently Professor of Speech and Debate at the College of Business Administration, Chung Ang University, Seoul.
