Rebuttals

1) To convince the opposing party and the audience as well on something you believe in.

Rebuttal: How? by merely talk, talk and talk? In talking, less than a minute the people would
forget what are you saying in front. There are other ways that would best convince
your opposing party and the audiences. One good example is the paper, which
is really more convenient because they won't easily forget the things you want them
to understand, they could go back and read the whole paper again.

2) To develop critical thinking and reasoning skills in certain topic.

Rebuttal: How can you say it? 80% of the student chose not to speak in front of a crowd
because of stage fright. And because of stage fright, they could not think properly
and organize their thoughts in an instant to deliver to everyone.

3) To expand more of our understanding in certain issues.

Rebuttal: You should not depend totally in debating certain issues because in debate they limit
the issues they discussed. You would not totally understand the whole point on how
they view the issues. At the end of the day, not all speakers can influence you with
what they are saying.

4) Through public speaking, you learn to gain self-confidence.

Rebuttal: Why wait to debate to gain self-confidence? You can always practice what talents
you really have to show the world what you've got. In debate, it's more on
embarrassing people and yourself is what you get.

5) To enhance your vocabularies and speaking skills.

Rebuttal: Research shows that the basic knowledge starts in reading and writing. Speaking is
a secondary tool to acquire knowledge specially in little kids. How can you say the
word "envy" and explained what it is said in a dictionary if you do not know how to
read?

6) To be able to learn how far your personal knowledge is.

Rebuttal: Sharing your knowledge is not bad, but when someone tries to argue with you and
would not believe in you is a break in the heart. Why deliver it in a minute or two
when they easily forgets it after? Why give information through delivering it fast
when they don't give importance to it? It's better in imparting personal knowledge,
will be put into writing. Through writing, people could not easily forget and can get
back the paper all over again.

7) We need to debate to pass sir Henry's subject.

Rebuttal: The statement alone proves that you are only forced to debate just to pass sir
Henry's subject. Forcing someone to do something leads to not understanding the
essence and importance of doing something (debating). So what if you pass because
you only apply debate in the subject??? You should think the other way around, be
thankful that you are enrolled to this subject. This is to give you a training ground
in debate that can be apply in everyday life.