The 2nd TKU English Debate was held last Wednesday (May 18th) at the Ching-sheng International Conference Hall, participated by four teams comprised mainly of English majors. Joseph Liu, Phoenix Lu of the English Department and Chen Mei-zhi of the Japanese Department proved to be the strongest contenders, beating three other teams with their quick wit and sharp analytical take on the topic: Is the higher education in Taiwan better or worse than before?

Another strength the champion team demonstrated was the consistency in their argument in either for or against the thesis. In other words, although other teams all had their moments of brilliance, they fell short in consistency in presenting a unifying argument against their opponents. Of course, the strength of consistency derives from confidence, which was fairly evident on the each of the team members of the champion team. In particular, on Joseph Liu, who literally drove the engine of the whole debate.

The juries sitting on the panel were four professors from the English Department who all gave their comments and suggestions on the contents, fluency and the power of persuasion at the end of the event. They all agreed that a good debate team should demonstrate a diversity of vocabulary, coherence, appropriate dress code and last but not least, a great sense of humor. (~ Ying-hsueh Hu )