As seniors at Arlington High School, electives are essentially our only choice for a history class. Some electives cover world history, American law, and racial issues. And then there’s Symposium, a class in which both juniors and seniors research current events and issues, nationwide and worldwide, and frequently debate potential solutions to issues or discuss how worldwide issues can affect us. With the spirit of college basketball’s March Madness tournament upon us, Jerry Pei, the Symposium teacher, decided to have a tournament of debates ranging from serious to social issues. Only one student could be crowned the champion.

In the second-period Symposium class, a class of all boys, there were eight pairs for the first round of debates, with one student judge and the teacher as another judge. The debate topics were selected by Mr. Pei and drawn randomly from a hat.

They ranged from, "Is downloading illegal music immoral" to whether we should invade Canada? Many were in-depth topics, argued throughout the first couple rounds, as well as topics that relate well to high schoolers. Topping the intellectual list was "Which influences our decisions more, Nature or Nurture?"

While "Should there be random drug testing for high school athletes?" was a relevant question to us teenagers.

After each topic was randomly drawn from a hat, each participant had exactly one minute to prepare his argument. Participants  then were allowed two minutes to defend their positions.

In past debates, each student was allowed at least one night on his own to research and prepare notes to reiterate to the class to help his side, so the amount of spontaneousness provide a real shock to the competitors and added to the excitement for the audience.

Before long, only two competitors were still standing, Jason Young, a Republican, and Nick Jackson, a Democrat, both seniors.

Drawing together two very diligent workers who are profound speakers with completely opposite views on politics, the championship round looked to be the best matchup yet.

To stray from the many political topics discussed in the past, Mr. Pei decided to throw a curveball at the two students by asking, "Facial hair, or clean shaven?"

After one minute of preparing notes, both competitors stepped to the front of the class and explained why one is better than the other.

Both arguments were so in-depth and convincing, the judges decided another topic was needed to decide the winner.

After hearing some various ideas from the class, the teacher then asked Jason and Nick, "Can money buy happiness?"

Young took the side that money does not buy happiness, that only true love and success can bring happiness.

Jackson referred to the numerous things in life that one can purchase which in turn can make bring happiness.

After a fierce four-minute debate, the rivals left the room as the judges deliberated among themselves to determine a winner.

In the end, the young Republican was crowned the champion and offered a handshake to his runner-up for providing some stiff competition. 

"It was an honor to be named the debate champion of Symposium 2/1, however, it would be a privilege to compete with the best debaters in the school,” Young said after receiving notice of the judges’ decision. 

The spontaneous debates proved to be very entertaining and educational, as the students of both Symposium classes prepare to partake in Model Arab League, a series of international issues and debates, in April at Northeastern University, with about five other high schools.

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