Trust House and Intellect House met in the second round of our school’s Inter-house Debating competition which was held at the school hall on 5th May. The motion was ‘Sharing economy should be promoted in Hong Kong’.
Trust House took the negative side while Intellect House was the affirmative side. The debate was adjudicated by Miss Yung, Miss Wong and Mr. Lau.
The captain, Amy Tang from 4C of the affirmative side, first stated that it is a global trend for countries having this form of economy, and Hong Kong as an international city should follow suit. She pointed out that sharing economy improves living standard as most of the products and services could be ordered or obtained through a click on smart phone. Examples include Uber online ordering. She claimed that it best suits Hong Kong’s fast-paced lifestyle.
The opposing team did agree that the convenience brought by sharing economy should not be ignored, but the team’s first speaker, Harry Chung from 3A said our society has to bear some consequences. ‘Some traditional business would shrink and they may have strong opposition over these kinds of apps,’ he cited the service of taxi as an example, which suggested that the taxi drivers had organized several strikes to oppose the Uber apps as they were losing their ground. The unemployment rate would rise too. Thus it should not be promoted.
Pat Lee from 6D, the second speaker of Trust House argued that this could help those traditional businesses raise their standard and improve the quality. It was positive competition. She also stated that every individual could make use of idling resources to make money. People’s material life could therefore be enhanced.
Unimpressed, the captain, Chris Wong from 4B, rebutted by the point of the difficulties to regulate. He said that it was time-consuming and needed a large sum of capital to check every driver in Hong Kong. He added that some law terms may have to be changed, which again required a lot more time and efforts and thus it was not worthwhile.
Miss Wong was amazed by the performance of both teams. ‘They both made very valid arguments, speaking fluently with little hesitation,’ yet, the teachers came to conclusion that Trust House won the debate as they could relate more to Hong Kong’s current situation. Harry from Trust House was also crowned as the best speaker. Mr. Lau reminded the students to find more evidence to support their stance.
The next round of debate, in which Trust House will play against Virtue House, will be held on 15th May. Remember to go to the hall at lunch time and support your classmates!