Harvard College World Schools Invitational
2020 — Cambridge, MA/US
Update March 4, 2020: For the Harvard College Debating Union's statement on the recent coronavirus outbreak and tournament best practices, click here.
Here are the prepared motions! Please note that for the prepared motions, teams will debate both sides of the preliminary prepared motions - for example, a team that is proposition in round 1 will be opposition in round 2.
Rounds 1 and 2: THR the rise of abstract art.
- Important context: Abstract art has grown in popularity and prestige. Today it represents the majority of new art displayed in major commercial galleries, displacing other forms of art there. Examples of abstract and non-abstract art are as follows:
Pictures for abstract art:
1. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Enso.jpg
2. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQOBqLnl20siX-VL8cpc-yLJVWe492xuQw33zTFYmgZCb9C_jF8-bYCGjRKwA&s=10
3. https://themomentum.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TheMo_BANANA-in-Art-Web.png
Non-abstract art:
1. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Meisje_met_de_parel.jpg
2. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/1280px-Van_Gogh_-_Starry_Night_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Rounds 4 and 5: In areas of chronically low academic attainment, THBT the general approach of educational charities should be to focus resources on maximizing the potential of exceptional students, over helping the lowest-achieving.
Quarterfinals: TH, as Japan, would revoke article 9 of the Japanese constitution.
- Important context: Article 9 is a clause in the national Constitution of Japan outlawing war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state. In its text, the state formally renounces the sovereign right of belligerency and aims at an international peace based on justice and order. The article also states that, to accomplish these aims, armed forces with war potential will not be maintained.