IT was on for young and old as Wingham High School students took on Probus retirees in their annual debate at the Wingham Services Club on Wednesday August 24.
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The topic this year was ‘That beauty is better than brains’, and the debate ran true to the form of previous years with plenty of good-natured mudslinging.
Arguing for the affirmative were Wingham High School’s Georgia Hudson (first speaker), Ben Butler-Kwa (second), Prudence Smyth (third), and Stephen Smith as team advisor.
Their argument was that beauty is better than brains because beauty represents the essence of humanity, citing human appreciation of the aesthetics of nature and the arts.
Georgia Hudson got a laugh with her closing statement, “If you haven’t got brains you don’t miss them, but if you haven’t got beauty, it hurts like hell.”
The affirmative’s argument extended to bring forth the problems of the ‘dark side of the brain’, with the wrongs that humans perpetrate thanks to the interventions of technology, such as war and pollution, and the over-population of the planet because of humans living longer thanks to medicine.
Probus argued for the negative, with Barry Nable (first speaker), Ray Spackman (second), Alan Hughston (third) and Helen Brown as team advisor.
The definition of ‘beauty’ was a point of contention between the teams, as the retirees limited it to the idea of physical beauty of human beings. Their argument was that physical beauty is shallow and goes only skin-deep. They put forth the idea that beauty only benefits the person who possesses it, whereas brains benefit all of humanity.
Additionally, they argued, whether talking about physical beauty or aesthetics, beauty is all in the eye of the beholder.
The negative team’s closing comment of “Beauty might open doors, but brains are what made the doors,” bought many murmurs of agreement from the audience.
Adjudicators for the debate were English teacher Mr Gary Dunbier and Probus member Keith Bedggood, and they declared Probus the overall winners.
Mr Dunbier had the audience in stitches of laughter as he gave out many honourable and dishonourable mentions to both teams, while mentioning that both teams were playing a different ball game, as their defintion of beauty varied.
Mr Bedggood thanked both teams for their participation, and gave a special mention of thanks to Mr Dunbier, saying, “He has an incisive mind and a great turn of phrase, and his comments, dishonourable and honourable, are always great entertainment for us all.”
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
