Recently, the final international debate week of the national competition “Youth Debate in Europe” took place in Berlin. Representatives of 14 countries of the European Union, as well as Ukraine, took part in the final debate.
Eleventh-grader Anna Fedak of Lyceum No. 2 had the honour of representing our country and debating with participants from France, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Poland.
All participants of the youth debate were given two weeks to prepare for four important topics. The first was “Should social media be banned for children under the age of 16?”. Anna Fedak says that in order to properly cover this topic, she studied many research articles and actively discussed this issue with her friends and parents.
The second topic was “Should the EU become a nuclear power?”. Here, the young Drohobych resident focused on reading materials on security policy and also sought advice from political scientists from Austria to better understand the arguments of both sides.
The third topic was “Should the Olympic Games always be held in the same place”. In presenting this topic, she turned to the history of modern and ancient Olympic Games to see how this idea would affect traditions and the economy.
The last topic was “Should the President of the European Commission be elected directly”. For this topic, Anna read a lot and studied the EU political structure in detail to understand how such a choice could change European politics.
The debates were fascinating! I learnt how to better substantiate my opinions and hold a high-level discussion with my opponents. In addition, I was able to improve my knowledge of German, which was a very useful experience for me,” , adds Anna Fedak.
As a result of the debate, the young Drohobych resident made it to the semi-finals and won the qualifying round of the international competition. The girl was among the top eight debaters. This is confirmed by the diploma “International Coach and Judge” awarded to Anna Fedak.
The victory in Berlin, where Anna represented Ukraine with dignity, is a great achievement of her personal success and, of course, the hard work of the teachers of Lyceum #2: German teachers Oksana Drobinyak and Oksana Dyakiv, as well as the entire lyceum community.
Lyceum #2 of Drohobych City Council is the only institution in the region with a debate club. Here, students learn the art of debate and prepare to participate in competitions at the interregional and national levels.
Youth debates were first held in Poland and the Czech Republic in 2005. In Ukraine, they were launched in 2006. Drohobych officially joined the project in 2010, represented by Lyceum No. 2.
The project is supported by the Goethe Institute, the Foundation “Memory. Responsibility and Future Foundation, the Gertie Charitable Foundation and the Central Service for School Education Abroad.
It is designed for students starting from the 10th grade with a B2 language level, according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.