I have just returned from an interesting World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) in Cape Town, South Africa. Cape Town is a beautiful city and the organisers and the hosts were some of the friendliest people I have ever met. Going to the townships to judge was a very memorable experience and learning about the debating efforts of the schools in these poor neighbourhoods was a heartening moment. Although there were many hiccups, the organisers worked hard to make sure that everyone had a splendid time. That said, the 2012 edition of the tournament proper left me with mixed feelings. Although I am very happy to have had the opportunity to have accompanied an outstanding Singapore team to the event, I feel that many components of the tournament could have been improved. This report will focus exclusively on the debate related components of the tournament, namely, the motions, the debating and the judging. I personally believe that the quality of the motions could have been much better and that there are some puzzling and possibly detrimental developments in the debating and the judging as well.
