The Doha Debates Inspire Students to Learn the Art of Argument
The
Doha Debates, Qatar Foundation’s monthly
debate series, over the past two years
has provided Qataris with a unique forum for free speech while giving television
viewers around the world a glimpse of Arab opinion on the Middle East’s most
pressing issues.
But the series is also having a more quiet effect on developing a debating
culture here in Qatar. By keeping its focus on the students who comprise much of
the audience for the events, the series has inspired a number of educational
institutions to hold their own debates or invite Doha Debate producers and their
moderator, long-time BBC personality Tim Sebastian, to speak at their schools.
“The very fact that students are doing this is fantastic,” said Ali Willis, the
series producer, of the school-level debates.
The Doha Debates series itself has just completed its second year. It has grown
in popularity and global reach since its inception, particularly since the BBC
World began broadcasting edited versions of the debates, a rare move by the
channel to air content that’s not produced in-house or on assignment. This year
alone, the series tackled issues such as whether to disband the Arab League, the
security threat posed by Iran, the mixed blessing to the region that is oil, and
the Arab world’s complex relationship with Palestine.
The format followed is always the same. The debate’s motion, a contentious
statement about a given current issue, is announced weeks beforehand. Two
speakers each, authorities in the field normally brought in from outside Qatar,
argue in favor and against the motion, with Mr. Sebastian acting as the
moderator.
The
audience is then given the opportunity to ask questions, and it finally votes
either for or against the motion. While the audience initially was composed
mainly of students and staff from Education City institutions, now around 16
schools, secondary as well as university level, regularly vie for seats in the
audience.
One of those is the Academic Bridge
Program (ABP), Qatar
Foundation’s program to prepare high-school graduates for
study in leading universities. In late April the ABP held its own debate, with
students choosing the motion “This House Believes that Gender Segregation in
Qatar should be Abolished.” (The motion was defeated by a vote of 108 to 81).
Prior to the actual debate, three students shadowed Doha Debates officials for
two events, getting a first-hand view of the logistical challenge of organizing
the debates and receiving advice from Mr. Sebastian on how to handle their own
debate. Doha Debate producers then attended the ABP debate.
Rather than inviting experts to speak on the subject as The Doha Debates do, the
value of the school debates is that students themselves are learning the basics
of argument -- lessons such as keeping their comments concise and to the point,
coming up with a good motion to debate, choosing an effective moderator, and
considering an issue from different angles. In addition to matters related to
gender, the ABP debaters raised questions concerning the importance of
tradition, the influence of Western culture in Qatar, and the nation’s prospects
for long-term development.
For Dhoha Al-Meer, a Qatari student who argued in favor of ending gender
segregation, the debate had cultural and personal lessons. First, she said it
showed her how resistant Qatari men and boys are to seriously considering the
need for change. “Qatari men are not open-minded to change. Some of the people
at the debate didn’t really care about the question,” she said.
It also left Ms. Al-Meer with a desire to continue improving her public speaking
skills. “I learned that when you start talking nothing can stop you. I liked
what I said but I didn’t like the way I was saying it,” she added.
The
College of the North Atlantic – Qatar, a four-year-old technical college, has
set up its own debate society, which meets about a week before each Doha Debate
to discuss the upcoming topic. Much of the impetus behind the debate club has
come from Doug Quibell, who teaches in CNA-Q’s Environmental Health Technology
program, a three-year program that prepares students to become environmental
health officers or public health inspectors.
Mr. Quibell realized that his students needed a way to move beyond lecturing and
memorization, to learn to question assumptions and express their views in an
articulate, confident way. A future public health official cannot shy away from
addressing controversial issues such as AIDS, Mr. Quibell felt.
A core group of about 10 students, of different nationalities and from different
areas of study, participate in the debates; about 15 CNA-Q students then attend
The Doha Debates themselves. Mr. Quibell said he has been amazed by the progress
students have made in areas such as critical thinking and public speaking; the
pre-debates also give students a forum to air stereotypes and preconceptions
they may have about an issue. They also give the CNA-Q students a leg-up on
asking pertinent questions when they attend The Doha Debates.
“The critical thinking has developed so much so that the students now have
opinions. They question how things are done,” said Mr. Quibell. “They didn’t
have opinions before.”
