The debate club tried something new on Thursday: an open forum where anyone could speak, the audience voted on the motion both before and after, and the point was not to win but to measure whether an hour of argument moved anyone. The lecture hall was full fifteen minutes before the start.
The motion — “This house believes school should start one hour later” — was chosen by online poll from student suggestions. The before vote: 71 percent in favour. After an hour of structured argument, including a much-discussed contribution about bus timetables from a student who commutes furthest, the after vote: 58 percent in favour.
Thirteen percent of a room changing its mind in an hour is the most encouraging thing I’ve seen all year. It means people were actually listening.
Fatima El-Sayed, debate club president
Club president Fatima El-Sayed said the format was borrowed from public debating series and adapted for a school hall: two prepared speakers per side, then open floor in strict ninety-second turns, with a moderator empowered to cut anyone off — “which,” she noted, “we only needed twice.”
Next motions
The club will run the forum monthly and is collecting motions through its noticeboard and portal page. Leading the suggestions so far: homework-free weekends, a cafeteria vegetarian day, and whether clubs should be allowed to advertise in classrooms.
The debate club meets weekly; the next open forum is scheduled for the first week of next month.
Why the before-and-after vote matters
El-Sayed credits the double vote for changing how people argued. “In competitive debate you argue to beat the other speaker. Here you argue to move the room, and the room contains your friends who disagree with you. People were noticeably more honest about the weaknesses in their own side — because pretending your side has no weaknesses is exactly what stops a room moving.” The club recorded only the vote totals, not who voted which way, a rule announced at the start that several attendees said made them comfortable voting honestly both times.
The forum’s one logistical failure was its own popularity: latecomers were turned away at the doors for the first time in club history. The next edition moves to the main hall, a venue upgrade El-Sayed accepted with mixed feelings — “the lecture hall’s acoustics did half the moderating for me.”
