On May 16th from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m, the quarterfinals of the Sookmyung Debating Championship was held at Myungshin Building in Sookmyung Women’s University. The theme of the Debate Championship was “Durable Korean History Education” and the topic of debate was “Should we use government-published textbook for teaching history in school?” Every student at Sookmyung Women’s University were eligible to participate in the competition, and the competition employs Sookmyung Women’s University’s own unique method of debate, which is a variation on K. Popper’s debating method. Yi Hwangjik, assistant professor at the Communication Development Center, which hosts the competition, said, “Lee Kyungsook, the 13th to 16th President of Sookmyung Women’s University believed communication to be the most important quality of a leader, so she was eager for students to improve communication skills by participating in a debate competition. That was the start of the Sookmyung Debate Championship.” So Jiin, a participant in the competition from the Department of English Language & Literature ’15, said, “I participated in the debate competition because I like to share my thoughts with others, but it was more difficult than I had expected. I realized I need to improve my critical thinking and speaking skills.”
