New Zealand Schools’ Debating

New Zealand has reached the semi-finals of the World Schools’ Debating Championships! In their octo-final they defeated the Netherlands by 5-0 on the motion “This House believes that heads of government should be required to have a parliamentary majority to govern.”

In the quarter-final they defeated Ireland by 4-1 on the motion “This House regrets the holding of the 2008 Beijing Olympics”.

NZ meets Scotland in their semi-final at 8pm US Time tomorrow (midday on Sunday in NZ). The other semi-final features Greece v England.

NZ has now won ten debates in a row and dropped just two judges. NZ has not reached the semi-finals since Worlds was last in the USA in Pittsburgh in early 2001.

Netherlands 0 New Zealand 5
Australia 1 Ireland 4
Canada 3 South Korea 2
Scotland 4 Pakistan 1
South Africa 3 Hong Kong 2
Singapore 2 Greece 3
England 3 Wales 2
Slovenia 0 Israel 5

Here are the full quarter results:

New Zealand defeated Ireland 4-1
Scotland defeated Canada 4-1
England defeated Israel 4-1
Greece defeated South Africa 3-2

All the very best to the team!!

NB: Claire Ryan and Jeremy Johnson, the current NZSDC President, also broke as judges and adjudicated the quarter-finals – a great achievement.