Arshia Dutta of Garden High School gets her award from Zachary Fleesler of Oxford University (extreme left) and debate coach Jordan Anderson from the UK. Sourced by the Telegraph
Should adults give teenagers a free hand to take their own life decisions or would that constitute as negligence on a parent's part?
A fierce back-and-forth of ideas, opinions, instances and smart rebuttals characterised the final round of the second edition of Debating Excellence 2025, organised by the Calcutta Debating Circle (CDC) in association with The Telegraph, Young Metro, NIT and the JIS Group. The event was held at the Narula Institute of Technology (NIT) on July 8.
The motion was — The house believes that adults should trust teenagers to make their own life decisions.
Braving rain, 10 teenage debaters arrived on the NIT campus, raring to speak for and against the motion, touching on the right to develop one's identity, peer pressure, the size of a teenager's brain and how gentle mentorship is the answer.
The speakers were selected from the workshops that took place in various schools as part of the event that began on June 28.
"Yesterday, I saw The Good Doctor, and I wanted to be a doctor. Then I saw Suits and I wanted to be a lawyer," said Arshia Datta, a Class X student of Garden High School, thus highlighting the fickleness of the teenage mind. Being the last speaker against the motion is never an easy job. But Arshia confidently touched on the herd mentality of teenagers that robs them of both individuality and often the ability to make the
right decision.
"Teenagers have preconceived notions. They would rather listen to Google than their parents," she said, adding how it is the parents who would preserve their ward's individuality rather than mar it, as was the Proposition's contention. Arshia's passionate speech won her the best speaker's award.
There was no dearth of passion on both sides as speakers, such as Akshat R. Chowdhury of Class XI, Indus Valley World School, began the session by highlighting how deciding for oneself empowers a teenager.
The critical thinking power grows.
He pointed out the school internship programmes that help in that direction.
A strong contention among the proposition team was how adults may not understand various aspects of the new world and thus let teenagers take charge, sometimes.
According to Upalabdha Ayat Bhowmick of Techno University, if parents loosen their grip, students will be cautious with their lives as they would not want to lose their freedom. "Teenagers need to hold themselves accountable early. They need to know the definition of accountability to succeed in life," he said, clinching the second position from the proposition side.
Urjit Banerjee of Class X, Delhi Public School, Newtown, came third, also speaking for the motion. He stated how 83 per cent engineering graduates remain unemployed, because the subject was not their forte. He also mentioned the 2010 film, Udaan, where the protagonist runs away from his parent to follow his heart. "Parents often force children to make wrong career choices. When adults trust teenagers, the latter also start trusting them," he said.
Every speaker got five minutes to place their arguments which was followed by a rebuttal round.
Mehrouz Yakhsha of Class X, The Newtown School, was adjudged the best questioner from that round.
The session was moderated by debating coach Heather Robinson from the UK and Mitadru Dasgupta of the CDC.
The judges were Isaac Ohringer, a history student at the University of Cambridge, Jordan Anderson, a former student of King's College, London, and the winner of several international debating competitions and Zachary Fleesler, an Oxford University student of politics and philosophy.
The guests also included Dr Kunal Sarkar, cardiac surgeon and CDC trustee, and writer and trustee Pradeep Gooptu.