Don't Hate, Debate

Team Lucho

 "He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense."
--Joseph Conrad 

A few weeks after the adventures that transpired during Las Fiestas Patrias, which I admittedly have not yet chronicled in their entirety, preparation began at my school for the English language debates that were to be held in Antofagasta.  I had been prepping a team since my arrival, but things began in earnest after the Fiestas since the first round of the tournament was to be held Friday, the first of October and none of my team were particularly ready. The group of seven students had been hand selected by myself and given the opportunity to work outside of their regular classes, but it was only after a chewing out by Oscar, the English teacher officially in responsible for the team, on the Monday prior to round 1 that the kids got motivated.

Allow me to explain the situation.  The English language debates were begun when the Programa Inglés Abre Puertas (PIAP) was initiated some seven odd years ago.  Each year teams would compete on a regional level, with the best teams eventually advancing to a one-on-one showdown in Santiago.  The prize was a expenses paid trip to Easter Island.  That was in the past.  This year, ever since Piñera was elected the new president of the Republic, education programs have been being scaled back--to include PIAP.  Thus, in the year 2010, there is no nationwide debate competition.  However, Región Dos (Antofagasta) is its own little fiefdom that is run, for better or worse, by the mining corporations; the largest of the private corps being Minera Escondida.  As part of their deal with the Chilean government, Escondida has to contribute a significant amount of its considerable profits to "community development." This is done through the Fundación Minera Escondida which this year absorbed the PIAP in Antofagasta.  This means the Fundación pays the volunteers, organizes all the PIAP events, and generally gets things done in a way only private organizations can--including keeping the debate competition going.  Therefore, this year all of the high schools in Región Dos were invited to register teams to compete in a three round tournament held in Antofagasta city.  Nineteen schools registered teams (which could include up to six students, even though only four debate at a time) and were given two topics upon which to prepare their arguments.  The topics are as follows:

Chile should implement the humane killing of street dogs.
&
Chile should maintain its open door policy on immigration.

The first topic to be debated upon was the street dogs topic.  I had a blast helping my kids come up with their arguments, because I personally hate every single dog in this country and would love to execute each and every one, by hand if necessary.  My team consists of seven students, one of whom simply helps research and prepare because she can't actually participate in the debates themselves.  The team is: my host sister Mena, a junior named Paulina, three sophomore boys named Jorge, Ivan, and Hristo; and two seniors named Danitza and Rodrigo.  Rodrigo is nearly fluent in English, and my teacher assumed he was a lock and thus placed him in the crucial fourth speaker position.  I had my doubts, especially when he refused to practice with the group.  When, on Wednesday before the first round, I called on him to deliver his speech before the team, he flat out refused.  He assumed an extremely arrogant manner that prompted Jorge to call out to him, "quit being a diva!"  The rest of the team prepared exceptionally, and we were all pretty confident when we boarded the bus for Antofagasta that Thursday afternoon.

It's hard to be gangster in a cardigan.

The tournament was split into two parts, with ten teams competing in the morning and nine teams competing in the afternoon.  If you can math things, you will see a slight discrepancy which led to one team in the afternoon having to compete two times.  That team, called North College, ended up being our opponents when we finally went at the very end of the competition.  They had the option to choose a side since they were debating twice, and they chose the proposition side, leaving our team (Lucho) to argue that "Chile should not begin the human killing of street dogs."  While the team had practiced all morning, I had gone in to watch the first half of matches.  First up had been Lorna's (the Brit volunteer, if you'll recall) school and a school from Tocopilla.  Lorna had told me ahead of time that her team was not ready, largely due to the English teacher at her school quitting a week before leaving her the sole person in charge of the team.  The match did go poorly for her team, and she was quite upset, but it was not in anyway her fault.  The Tocopilla team (which ended up gaining the most points in round one) was on fire.  They were a sassy quartet of young females who spoke fluently and strutted about the stage, dripping with presence.  I took notes, and returned around lunch to impart the intelligence I had gathered on team Lucho.  Thus, by the time we entered the auditorium that afternoon, my team was pumped and armed.  My team was fighting for Calama pride, and to prove that as a public school they were just as good, nay, better then the semi-privates that competed against us.
Ryan and his school were in our group, and they fared well but not as good as we had expected, given their reputation for excellence.

My team finally took the stage at the very end of the competition.  Oscar, their teacher, told them not to use the mic, which was a poor idea but it did free them up to utilize the entire stage.  Paulina opened us with an impassioned introductory that encouraged Jorge to come out guns blazing as our second speaker.  He spoke almost perfectly, without a hint of the stutter he usually has in regular speech, and his charisma level was off the charts.  As I had instructed, he addressed the enemy and asked rhetorical questions to them, which he then answered while facing the judges.  In short, he nailed it.  Then Hristo came out and raised the energy level a notch higher, feeding off Jorge's success.  He didn't speak as well, but he improvised wonderfully and had the audience laughing along with his performance.  Then came the ten minute break in which the teacher and volunteer are allowed to come up and help prepare the summary speaker for the final engagement.  I could tell right away that Rodrigo was going to fail us.  It was written all over his face.  The team gave him the notes they had taken while listening to the proposition, and I offered him a few notes.  I then sat down and watched the proverbial train wreck take place as Rodrigo drew a complete blank when he stood up in front of the crowd.  He babbled for about a minute, referring to his notes, then casting them aside, now picking them back up to finish his time by reading off his note cards from behind the podium.  The team was crushed.  Victory had been ripped right out of their hands by the pride of their "best" speaker.  Rodrigo further dishonored himself by breaking into tears as we left the competition.  I was not at all surprised, and likewise I had very little sympathy.  He later admitted that his pride had caused his fall, and that he was extremely shamed for having let down the rest of the team after they had succeeded with such flair and vigor.  We ended up in the fifth place slot out of nineteen due to Rodrigo's low numbers, but we at least managed to beat out Ryan's school by a fraction of a point.

The next round is a few days away, and my teacher insisted that Rodrigo remain the closing speaker.  Whether or not he will redeem himself remains to be seen, but for the sake of the others I hope his public humiliation had a positive effect on his attitude. Como siempre,  Vamos a ver.