The 55th Spark Club Meeting

Posted 2021-04-27 北京联合大学留学服务

Resolution (Debate Topic):

“Even if team members are slacking, we should keep them on the team”

This week, Thememaster Angel guided us in an exploration of the topic of teamwork. I think we have all had this experience: Our teacher assigns us to a workgroup, but it soon becomes obvious that some members of the group plan on doing as little as possible. This can be a frustrating situation for students who want to do the work and get good grades. So, what should we do – Kick them out to preserve our grades, or keep them on the team to preserve our friendship?

Introducingthe function roles

Matthew is a man who doesn’t do anything half-heartedly. He really showed his dedication to detail and ability to guide our use of time with a firm hand when he took on the Timer role tonight.

Surprise Topics Master Steven (unfortunately not in the picture) created a wonderful role-play for the three surprise topics speakers we see in the picture. Richard on the right is an “old hand” at Spark Club, and I think he managed to make the new members Erik Phoenix, and Stella. Welcome to the family!

The Negative Team

From left to right, the Negative team was made up of Winnie, Lexie, and Amber. They argued strongly for the need to kick out group members who choose not to perform for the team. And they emphasized that there is a difference between not having the ability to contribute, and not being willing to do the work.

The Affirmative Team

From left to right, the affirmative team was made up of Richard, Peter, and Jennifer. They argued that we all have different strengths and weaknesses, so we can all perform different functions in a team. Just because someone is not performing optimally at one point, shouldn’t be an excuse to kick them out.

The adjudicator

 

Tonight’s adjudicator Bob took on the challenging task of giving feedback to the debaters, and deliver the formal “Reason for decision” (RFD) speech. He pointed out that the debate was a little messy, and that each team should try harder to make their logic clear and convincing. Although improvement was needed on both sides, in the end he gave his three votes to the Negative team.

This week’s outstanding performers were:

Best Debater: Amber

Best Surprise Topic Speaker: Richard

Best Function Role: Angel(Thememaster)

Best Evaluator: Selena

WinningDebate Team: Negative Team (Amber, Lexie, Winnie)

Meeting NotesHero: Thomas 图满志