The House Would Like To Call Upon.....

I attended a briefing in school this evening. Well, it comes in 2 parts...

Part One
I ended up being freaking late because i thought it started at 6.30pm. I was soooooo wrong. Wrong for 1hr 30min. Hahaha... When i got there (yeah, i basically barged in), i was kind of shocked to see such a pitiful turnout. You could count the heads with a pair of handicapped hands - 9 persons with me included.

Our debate topic for the session was "Should students be paid an allowance for doing their attachment". And guess what... there were people STILL taking notes even though Halim was writing the key points on the whiteboard. Whoa. Moonie, Fara and Zul's sullen faces betrayed their disinterest. Luckily i came... else they surely would have died of boredom. Wahaha... wink wink..

There was this guy, and the convo went something like this :

Guy : Students should be paid 'coz they ARE doing work even though its and attachment
In Charge : Cher, what are your views?
Me : Er... well, the whole idea of having an attachment is to gain experience so i don't think that its really neccessary. And if you force the companies to pay, they might not welcome you there anymore.
In charge : Yes, you are a student, and in the midst of the attachment, you do not hold the responsibility of the professional.

This was the time things got a little heated. Guy mutates into HEATED guy.

Heated Guy : Even as students, we do have transport, meals and other financial obligations to think about... I'm sure instead of asking the companies to pay, this responsibilty can come from the government.
In Charge : The government gets its money from the people. Doesn't that come full circle and mean that you'll end up paying more for your school fees?

They continue to agrue. I say it's arguing because the convo involved only them. Heated guy frantically scribbled notes (whatever the in charge was saying) and rebuked whatever was presented. Tension man...TENSION.

In all normal cher-drama, i tried to close it by simply stating :
"If you want to be paid during your attachment, why not just get a sponsorship?"

And that concluded tense part one (at least i think).

We headed to another part of school where an external coach had been invited to help 'groom' us. We meet some other participants from other schools. Some were nice... some were... erm.. otherwise. Most looked like bookworms man (i do apologize for the discriminatory remark). Heck, i looked like a fucking prostitute in my coloured hair, jeans and tee. Lucky for me, i had my classmates around to vouch that i AM a student.

Start of Part 2
The coach came. Boy, did i have such a headache trying to understand him. Thick accents throw me off the rocker. Hell, i thought i was doing my PhD! He used such an array of bombastic english. It was as if he was explaining E=mc2. He made me feel special man...too literally (a student in a 'special' stream).

He grouped the regulars into opposing teams and started to brief us on the proper protocols of a debate. Stupidness came a calling again.

With much difficulty deciphering the use of language, i finally saw the light (angels started singing hallelujiah).

And then the regulars came back in and the debate started.

The topic : The proliferation of nuclear weapons (something like that lah... i can't really remember)

Basically, the preposition stated that nuclear arms is alright as long as it was looked after by a governing body.
And the opposition stated that there shouldn't be any nuclear weapons.

I found the preposition's argument weak in its points and delivery. The oppostion brought up some good, strong points, which i agreed with.

The last speaker on the preposition (aka government whip) summarized with some good points but then sidetracked when he started to take things too personally. He went all red in the face, turned to the opposing team when they offered points of info (POI), screaming his points. I seriously thought with that much blood going to his brain, he would collapse (or explode). He looked like a talking beef. Scary. And how his lips pouted as he spoke. Eww. Even scarier.

I told my friends that if he had collapsed, i'd start cpr with my foot.

My 2 cents worth on the topic :

If i was in the preposition -
There is no denying the fact that there are nuclear weapons already manufactured and ready to be launched (fact brought up also by them) , and it is pointless to run away from something that needs immediate attention.
To have a governing body (and clearly list the criteria of which countries to choose); neutral parties to step in and disarm or allow their manufacture, we will at least be able to more or less monitor who has what, and what they intend to do with it.
Then go ito ways that the governing body may act -ie. other means to force the country to disarm by banning trade, or withholding the external resource most needed by that particular party. No trade/oil = no money.

If i was the opposition -
I would have gone with all the blood and gore nuclear weapons cause. A ripple effect, as you call it.. starts in the centre but fans out over a large area.
Cite examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (they highlighted this part).
I'd haggle from the start of manufacturing the nukes - from all the use of plutonium and uranium, to the side effects of radioactive wastes. And all this even before launch of the nukes.
And all the testings...
Then go into the all the tension with neighbouring countries (they brought this up).
The uselessness of governing bodies (they brought this up too).
And end it with reinforcing nations with hidden agendas who are currently armed with nukes.

I had always thought that debates should be fun. There is never a right and wrong in the debate. It's just how well you can paint the grey to more black or white. Instead, the beef guy simply painted himself red, and truly, he made the whole experience quite stressful.

This ends my day... =) at least the part with external contact with other people. Now, i only have to catch my American Idol.. then i can finally rest.