The Debate Student Club of TKU has something to show for when the year closes out. First they won the second place among 32 teams in a contest that was held last month at Tung Hai University debating on a topic relating to the merits and vices of estate and gift tax that usually comes with inheritance. This contest has a long history of being held 31 times and it is comparable to the Olympics of the debating world. Therefore, the win, even a second place, is well cherished by all team members, according to Chang Zi-en, the Chair of the club, who is a junior of the Department of Industrial Economics. The team was formed by herself, Cheng Chun-nan, one of her classmates, Cheng Wen-bing, a senior of the Department of Public Administration (PA) and Huang Hui-sheng, a junior of the Department of Business Administration. Cheng Chun-nan also won the title of the best debater.

In fact, TKU only lost on a slim margin to the champion team from National Tsing Hua University. The team captain Ho Mong-xuan could not be more proud of such a result. He believes that his club has always been a close knit society where members work excellently together. The other secret to their success is also the way they cultivate young future stars in the world of persuasion, ensuring that there are always new bloods to inject fresh ideas to the their creative endeavor. The Freshmen Cup they held on campus at the beginning of December (5) is a perfect example how they operate.

The club organized a week long event debating on “Should successful films in cinema/on TV have sequels?” A topic that appeared harmless but very challenging for participants to come up with logical and coherent arguments. Due to this difficulty, Chang Zi-en was delighted to see the high level of debates that were drawn out of the competing teams. The best Freshman Cup so far, she gushed.

The event was won by the team consisting of three freshmen and one junior. They are Ting Wen-chi of PA, Cheng Zhi-heng of Spanish Department, Ho Chi-chang of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Lin Xiao-ting of the Department of Banking and Finance. Despite their young age, some of them are the veterans of the debating world. For instance, Ting Wen-chi was on a debate team in high school and thus very happy to be able to participate in the Cup to relive the adrenaline rush. She was not the only one who had the luxury to walking down the memory lane, as Huang Wen-chih, the supervisor of the club, spoke fondly of his days of debating for similar events at the same venue at the closing ceremony. He believes that engaging in academic debate activity will sharpen one’s mind by training one’s logical thinking and quick response to the weaknesses of opponents’ arguments.

Another event embracing the challenge of debate was the 18th Accounting Elite Cup of Debate organized by TKU Department of Accounting from Dec. 2 to 4. As usual, TKU did well by winning the second place among 17 teams of participants. The second and third place for the Best Debaters were also won be Wu Ming Jiao and Chang Yong Jay, a senior and a junior of the department respectively.

Prof. Chen Jui-chih, the Chair of the department recounts that his department also won the second place in 2003 and 2004; therefore, this year’s title is deeply appreciated as it shows that winning did not come by luck. More than luck, this year team showed great resilience as it beat one the strongest contenders, National Taiwan University and last year’s champion, Tung Hai University to get to the second place. No one could have asked for a better result.

Chang Yong Jay, who is on the team for a consecutive third year, is happy with his team’s result. However, he reveals that during the three day long contest, it was in fact very nerve racking. They had a grueling schedule that began at 8 am to 6 pm each day and they had hardly any time to eat. The pressure of the debate didn’t help their appetites, either. Nonetheless, it was the impeccable teamwork and supports he and his team mates got from Prof. Chen and other fellow students that sustained them through the debates. Certainly, the benefits did not go one way. The staff that worked on the venue felt they had also learned something from the contestants such as how to think critically and present arguments coherently. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )