Dear Pat,
Hi! How’s your new school? Do you get used to the chilly winter in California? You’re so lucky to be able to study in the USA. As I understand it, the workload there is so much lighter than that in Hong Kong! I need to do homework until midnight nearly every day!
I can’t wait to tell you one thing. Guess what? John, Kevin, Susan and I participated in a debate contest held by the SCMP last week. Our team beat ABC College (you know how strong this school is)! The motion was “That Hong Kong is failing to take care of the poor”. Our team was the negative team. (I bet you’re thinking of the arguments now!)
While you’re thinking, let me begin telling you about the actual debate. Our opponent, the affirmative side, defined “Hong Kong” as the Hong Kong government. They presented statistics showing that the number of poor people had increased and the Gini Coefficient had enlarged. They said all these occurred because Hong Kong didn’t have a minimum wage law and the CSSA wasn’t enough. They suggested that the Hong Kong government should increase subsidies and enact the minimum wage law.
John quickly redefined “Hong Kong” as the government and NGOs. We argued that the two parties had put a lot of effort into taking care of the poor. Do you know the newest policies in Hong Kong? We made use of the newest measures and subsidies from the government to illustrate that there’re already enough subsidies. We argued that the government must not blindly increase social welfare. Otherwise, poor people’s working incentives would decrease and they can’t become self-reliant. Also, we argued that introducing a minimum wage law would only increase unemployment.
Finally, our team won the debate. I really think our team performed better because we rebutted our opponents spontaneously, but they didn’t even attack our weakest arguments! We had a clearer team-line and better cooperation than ABC College’s debaters. Do you know – they were so nervous that their hands and voices both shook! Pat, you do think we did a great job, don’t you? After the debate, we organized a celebration party. We thanked Mrs. Kan and Mrs. Poon for their hard work training us. We all hope that you’re here with us and share our joy!
Will you return to Hong Kong during the Christmas holiday? We all miss you very much. Write back soon!
Best wishes
Chris
P.S. Hope your flight won’t be cancelled due to heavy snowstorms if you come back!