PHOTO: Huge crowd spills out all over the school as the tournament begins
In the tenth year of competitive academic debate in Slovenia, the activity really seems to be catching on. The last high school Karl Popper format tournament of 2006 is taking place here in Lendava, a quaint and small town in the wine growing region near the Croatian and Hungarian borders, and it is a big one. Seventy three-person teams entered, and along with forty judges and about thirty timekeepers, the placed is packed. Debates are taking place in the halls and in glorified closets, but the spirit does not seem to be dimmed by the packed cafeteria.
There was a huge applause as the tournament was announced in the morning as the biggest ever in Slovenia. The television cameras were here and the school is a very beautiful new one, with gleaming walls and fixtures and lovely furnishings. The school is Bilingual High School Lendava and has classes in both Slovenian and Hungarian. It is also the home of Filip Dobranic, so far the dominant high school debater in Slovenia this year, as well as being the top speaker at the International Debate Academy attended by over 60 university students. All of the debates here are impromptu debates, with about forty-five minutes given to prep for each debate. The day will feature three debates and then the awards will be given without elimination rounds. There are ten teams in the English language division and sixty teams in the Slovenian language division.
<== Cross-examination
The topics for the debates are:
Round One: Celebrities make bad role models.
Round Two: It is unethical to eat meat.
Round Three: Bilingual education in high schools does more harm than good.
There was one round and then lunch. After lunch there were two more rounds, each with a 45 minute preparation period. Students were all over the school preparing. It was interesting that the motion about meat came right after a lunch with big pieces of chicken being served. I also noted that the same multinational corporation (Sodexho) runs the cafeteria here in Lendava that runs all of the food services at the University of Vermont back home.
<== Persuasion in the classroom
In the Slovenian language division, the top ten speakers were:
1. Filip Dobranic, Lendava
2. Blazka Hunski. Celje Center B
3. Tjasa Ribic, Celje Center B
4. Amra Hasic, Cicero
5. Srdan Mitrovic, Crnomelj
6. Vladimir Mickovic, Ledina A
7. Alen Horvat, Lendava B
8. Milena Prsa, Ravne
9. Jasna Cernosa, Celje Center B
10. Miha Angric, Ptuj
In the Slovenian language division, the top five teams were:
1. Celje Center B: Ribic, Cernosa, Hunski
2. Ledina A: Bencina, Cerar, Mickovic
3. Idrija A: Sedej, Kolar, Lapajne
4. Litija C: Cirkvencic, Dolezalek, Skarja
5. Ptuj B: Kovac, Fekonja, Angric
In the English language division, the top five speakers were:
1. Anna Kerr, Ledina E
2. Ana Juvancic, Bezigrad B
3. Miha Sustercic, Ledina E
4. Teo Radetic, Bezigrad A
5. Eva Nike Cvikl, Druga Debaterji
In the English language division, the top three teams were:
1. Bezigrad B: Juvancic, Nikecevic, Kern
2. Bezigrad A: Cimerman, Kranjc, Radetic
3. Ledina E: Kerr, Sustarsic, Dolenc
So, this tournament wraps up an amazing week for debate in Slovenia. Earlier in the week the Ministry of Work had announced a large grant for Za in Proti http://www.ljudmila.org/debata/ (Slovenian national debate program) of 24,000 euros for targeted projects, and the Ministry of Information announced a 30,000 euros grant to support ZIP’s ongoing debate activities in schools and communities. That last one was the kicker, since it is hard to get grants that support on-going activities.
<== Tab room shot
This is a very small country (less than two million people) that has a lot of debate. Given that the USA is 150 times bigger than Slovenia, a comparable USA high school tournament would have to have 31,500 debaters to be comparably as large. Wow.
