Workgroup 4 debate

1. Art as a subject
should be
taught at senior
high school.
Workgroup 4
Names: Nikola Bićanić, Margarita Kouri,
Gonçalo Teixeira, Stanisław Miazek ,
Loukas Kleanthous and Abril Garrigosa.

2. A: Affirmative Speech
Definition of the Topic: Art is the diverse range of human activities that involve the use of creative imagination to express
beauty, emotional power and creativity . But there is no general agreed definition of art. The main activities of fine arts
are painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and poetry, with performing arts including theatre and dance.
1st Argument supporting the topic: Art is really important because it encourages students to be creative and express their
feelings and opinions. As every other subject, art has its own purpose why it should exist. It helps students express
themselves in their own way.
Example supporting the topic: The way that students are able to express their creativities and themselves could be
through acting or through painting, while some are better at expressing their feelings by singing.
Result: As a consequence, students could feel prouder of themselves and know their worth.
Conclusion: Art helps students be creative and have the ability to express themselves .

3. B: Negative Speech
Rebuttal of the 1st Argument supporting the topic: I strongly disagree with your argument because students might feel anxious
or have a fear of poor performance or be afraid of failure because they're not as good as others.
1st Argument against the topic : My first argument against this topic is that not all students have artistic qualities. Some are
better at math or history. Not all of them have the ability to work in this industry. Also some of them bring out their competitive
sides because some of them want to be better than everyone else.
1st Example against the topic: For instance, students may not be as good as others which would cause them to feel bad about
themselves and not believe in their ability to create art. So this will cause students to lack confidence in their abilities.
Result: Hence, the students may have a fear of bad performance in the future and have less confidence.
Conclusion: To conclude, art shouldn't be a subject because it encourages the bad in most students.

4. C: Affirmative Speech
Rebuttal of the first argument against the topic: You have a point, but art shows some students what they are
capable of and
it makes them feel good about themself because they know what they can achieve.
2nd Argument supporting the topic: Continuing with our second argument, We would like to stress out that students become
more tolerant. They can get a better understanding of foreign cultures and people with different beliefs by studying the type
of art they create.
2nd Example supporting the topic: For instance, the students will have more knowledge about the beliefs and
national art of each country.
Result: As a result, they will be more informed about the culture of each country and will have more knowledge than the
average person.
Conclusion: So, it's important to have a better understanding of each culture.

5. D: Negative Speech
Rebuttal of the 2st Argument supporting the topic: This might be partly true but, not all of us want to have knowledge of each
Country's culture and national art style. So, for most of us it will be useless.
2nd Argument against the topic: My second argument against this topic, is excessive work in addition to demotivating causes
tiredness in students and that might result in some students losing their focus on their academic studies.
2nd Example against the topic: An example to support my argument is that if an art teacher puts a very difficult exercise for
homework some students will put more effort in that than their academic studies.
Result: In this way, some students will lose their grades and be more tired than usual because of the excessive work.
Conclusion: Therefore, art subjects shouldn't be taught at senior high schools because the make us lose our focus on the main
subjects.