It was during one of those debates the middle school class held every Wednesday at the academy I attended last summer. One week, our tutor Michael found that two more high schoolers besides me, who always participated, decided to join. He looked around the room and nonchalantly stated “I believe Aristocracy is the best form of government. Prove me wrong.”, and soon, I heard someone shout out “what’s aristocracy?”, fumbling on the pronunciation. After answering few questions and ignoring numerous complaints, he said “Convince me, that Democratic government is better.” as he left the room. In an hour, two instances would baffle me, teaching me not only about others but also about myself.
“Okay.” I said, and every lost eyes shot back at me. I encouraged the students to speak out as we began contrasting the the two forms. Random vocabularies and unfinished sentences soon became clamors of opinions and facts. With limited resources and limited time, I expected little progress considering the difficulty of the topic and the level of grade, but their passionate feedback proved me wrong. I realized I should not underestimate on the basis of age, and approach any age group with respect, rather than with expectations. Our time was up, and Michael walked in, casually taking the seat at the front. He announced that only high schoolers were to rebuttal his …show more content…
It seemed to invalidate what I had considered indisputable. Later on I found that his speech was not just for the sake of the debate; It was his actual opinion. I had mistakenly assumed that everyone in the United States supported democracy because schools taught that it was “better” if not “best”. That day I truly learned that I should not be presumptuous or judgmental. I recognized how arrogant I was to apply general assumptions to unique individuals as I explored different
“Okay.” I said, and every lost eyes shot back at me. I encouraged the students to speak out as we began contrasting the the two forms. Random vocabularies and unfinished sentences soon became clamors of opinions and facts. With limited resources and limited time, I expected little progress considering the difficulty of the topic and the level of grade, but their passionate feedback proved me wrong. I realized I should not underestimate on the basis of age, and approach any age group with respect, rather than with expectations. Our time was up, and Michael walked in, casually taking the seat at the front. He announced that only high schoolers were to rebuttal his …show more content…
It seemed to invalidate what I had considered indisputable. Later on I found that his speech was not just for the sake of the debate; It was his actual opinion. I had mistakenly assumed that everyone in the United States supported democracy because schools taught that it was “better” if not “best”. That day I truly learned that I should not be presumptuous or judgmental. I recognized how arrogant I was to apply general assumptions to unique individuals as I explored different