By Dylan Chin (Vice-Chairperson ‘26)
Adapted from CCA Previews ‘25
Picture this. You are about to begin the final speech of the match. You step up to the table, lay out your notes, ignore the uncanny resemblance to a solitaire board and concentrate—now is no time for second thoughts.
You begin speaking, slowly at first, but accelerating quickly. In a short 8 minutes, you’ve constructed a case that’s morally, logically and emotionally superior to your opponents’, you’ve criticised democracy, upheld the rights of minorities, and proved why love is morally unjustified. In other words, you’ve never been prouder to propose.
Of course, that’s the ideal situation, and reality is often far faster and more frantic. Yet, if any part of this interests you, you may yet find your calling in Raffles Debaters.
What exactly is Debate?
In short, to debate is to argue with order. Every debate centres around a topic or motion, such as “This House Supports the use of violence by social justice movements” (or, on a better day, something like “This House Would make first contact with aliens”).
Both teams have an hour to formulate a case in support of or opposing the motion. Once the hour’s up, the debate begins, and speakers have but their wits, notes, words and teammates to rely on and seize victory in a thrilling, rapid-fire match.
Training takes place twice weekly, on Wednesdays and Fridays, 3.30pm-6.30pm. A typical training session consists of a spar between members of the club, with our coaches providing personalised feedback on our speeches and case afterward.
No spar is the same, since contrary to popular belief, motions up for debate are not restricted to “serious” domains like politics or philosophy, instead encompassing anything from sports and education to love and religion—in short, whatever catches our coach’s fancy that day. Beyond spars, we also have content lectures on an array of commonly encountered subjects.
All members are also accorded opportunities to represent the school at competitions, which are fantastic ways to improve ourselves as debaters under pressure, while strengthening friendships with teammates and meeting new people.
On the social front, we give back to the community by hosting the RI Under-14 Debating Championships for budding young debaters, with further VIA initiatives in the works to increase access to debate coaching resources for secondary students.
Outside of training, club members do in fact enjoy what is known as a “social life”, engaging in normal activities like post-training dinners at Junction 8 or NEX on Fridays and outings during the holidays. These are perhaps where the most intense discussions take place—for example, I have witnessed fervent discussions over the proper way of eating rice take place at the Junction 8 playground.
As you might be able to tell by now, our club boasts an eclectic diversity of personalities, all with their own strongly-held set of beliefs on essentially every topic imaginable, united by bonds of friendship hammered out over innumerable debates and arguments, which we all share a love for.
If you’re worried about not being able to integrate into the club culture, there is nothing to fear—over half of our members had zero debating background before joining the club after all. Be it a veteran speaker or complete newbie, former Anklung player or MUNner, the doors of Raffles Debaters (that is, D3-8) are open to all.
The time we will spend in our CCA is frankly brief, not unlike an eight-minute speech. Time flies by while you struggle to keep up, stretching forever and ever, fluctuating between highs and lows until suddenly, abruptly, the clock strikes, and it ends when you still have so much to do and say.
We hope that at the end of that time, we can look back with pride not only at the achievements we’ve attained, but also at the skills we’ve honed, and the close, unforgettable friendships we’ve forged that will last long after the last syllable is uttered.
For all this and more, we are so proud to propose.
