Debating

This has been for many years a strong feature of public speaking at Glenwood, but it received a particular injection of energy with the arrival of Mr Shaun McCabe who was prepared to undertake the logistical nightmare of resurrecting the Durban Coastal Debating League. We have won this League at Senior and Junior level several times.We also take part in the Umhlanga Rotary League later in the year. Debating takes place in an informal way in the classroom, then at Inter-House level and at Inter-School, provincial and at national level.

It is interesting to see that, looking back over the years, many of our major scholarship winners (Rhodes, Cecil Renaud and Elsie Ballott) were also top debaters; young men such as Darryl Lee, Gareth Amery, Murray Wesson, Alexis Sienaert, Andreas Coutsoudis, James Dray and Simon Grest. Currently, Mark Schoeman has maintained his place in the South African Debating Team (last year, when only in Grade 11, he traveled with the team to Korea and Peru). He took part in the All Africa Debating Finals last month. Our team from South Africa won, and Mark was judged to be the No.1 speaker overall. In September he travels to Washington DC for the World Debating Championships.