Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The Economist Debate Series

I was checking out the current issue of The Economist and I bumped into this which could be of interest to some:

Last month, the editors of The Economist invited readers to choose the topic of our first debate. Your voices have been heard and your votes tallied.

The winning propositions are:

First Debate Oct. 15th-23rd, 2007, “Effectiveness of Technology - Does new technology add to the quality of education?”

2. “National Competitiveness - Should countries compete to attract qualified students regardless of nationality and residence?”

3. “Social Networking - Does it bring positive change to education?

Keep up with speakers' arguments, post opinions, and vote for or against the proposition


The link is here.

5 comments:

Ellie said...

i believe that the debate topic is bad because it leaves small room for a proposition case extension and the matching rebuttals.

It is a very subjective topic because each school may handle technologic innovations differently.

You cant say that technology benefits kids rducation in Darfur,because we all know it doesent.But it might benefit the education of kids in Norway.
We therefore have to either debate upon developed countries that use technologic innovations in their educational systems,or discard the topic as a whole.

:)

constantine ziogas said...

You write: "It is a very subjective topic because each school may handle technologic innovations differently"

This line of criticism would lead most debates into a stalemate! Shouldn't we be able to arrive in principle at a conclusion concerning whether the 'output'is or is not better/greater given the new 'input' whichever way it is employed?

And why de we all know that it doesn't benefit kids in Darfur while it does in Norway. As a matter of fact, I would expect the total opposite! As technology is embodied in capital, the extra (marginal!) output will be greater when you add capital to a lower initial amount (=Darfur) than when you add it to a higher amount (=Norway)

Ellie said...

well,yes i suppose that this topic may be argued in principle.But still,some schools may handle technologic innovations to the kids' benefits,while others might not.
Well,by my Norway-Darfur point i meant that kids in Darfur go to school if theyre lucky,they dont get much chance to use interactive whiteboards and Wikipedia,unlike most kids in Norway.

Sir,i think its unlikely for us to ever agree on anything,so we might just agree to disagree and leave it there:p

constantine ziogas said...

"Sir,i think its unlikely for us to ever agree on anything,so we might just agree to disagree and leave it there:p"

But, isn't that fun!
Mind you, I'm not quitting on you!

Ellie said...

right back at you:P