This week’s motion – ‘This House would not allow parents to remove their children from Sex and Relationships Education, including (but not limited to) classes that teach about homosexuality, abortion and contraception’ – proved a challenge: just what are the harms, what do they look like, and who are they most likely to affect. We assume that schools are at worst benign institutions; however, in other political regimes they can be instruments of propaganda and intimidation, and this way of looking at the motion won it for the opening Opposition Team of Dilara Gencer & Leyla Shi. The Opening Proposition team of Chloe Yuen & Kylie Leung also performed very well – however, all teams need to get better at characterizing the harms as concretely as possible: what do the harms brought or avoided by the motion look like? In this case, characterizing the status quo – in which parents regularly keep their children out of PSHE classes – as negatively as possible, is key. A really challenging debate. But good fun too.

 

Mr Ahern & Mr Murphy