The Winners of the First Debates Are...

Naoual Benaabla (3rd ESO), proposed: Books Are Better than Television

Catia Pino (3rd ESO), opposed: Television is Better than Books

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Ana Romera (4th ESO), opposed: Television Is Better than Books

Due to the quality of her argument and her writing/debating skills

Rochelyn Sabarillo is also a finalist of this debate.

Ana Romera

I disagree that books are better than television. Television is better because there is an image, a sound, you have it at once, you don’t have to think or make an effort like you do when you are reading... I think it is much more entertaining watching TV than reading a book.

When you are watching TV you also have everything in one “object”. I mean, you can switch to a channel and you have sport, music, a reality show, a series, a contest, films. You have anything you want in a box!!

When you are reading books, do you know what is happening at the moment? No. Do you know if it there has been a murder or a bombing? No. There are lots of things that books don’t offer.

Anyway, both TV and books have pros and cons, so it depends on the place you are and how you feel at that moment.

Rochelyn Sabarillo

I think books are better than TV because with them you can learn a lot of things.
People think that books are boring because they just see letters and more letters, but if you think about it, you can choose what you want to read.

Teens are bored with books because almost all their life they have been sorrounded by books and sometimes not very interesting ones.

Why am I in favour of books? It is easy to undertand. I'm sure if someone asks you what you prefer, you will choose TV because you see a lot of colours, a lot of images.
With books you enter a new world, a world which you can imagine while you are reading.

Perhaps if you are watching a TV series it is more interesting and it keeps the audience amused.
If you see a TV series, you know that it will end maybe in a couple of months and this happens because the lenght of the chapters is only an hour aday, Monday to Friday.

However with books if you start to read one and you realy like it, it will be very difficult for you to stop until you finish it. You can imagine how the characters are like, and you will follow the story more easily because the details are described meticulously and usually the readers feel part of the scenario.

I am sure that a lot of people say that they do not like reading because it is boring, but... Did you try it? If they ask you if have you have read a book outside the school, what will your answer be?

People have different tastes, and authors know that. If you go to a bookshop you cannot say that there is not a book that suits you, because it will not be true. You will find drama, romance, action, intrigue... all kinds of books.

Books have been part of our life since we where little children, and we know that we have learnt a lot with them, but now we can enjoy them too. Maybe now they do not have a lot of drawings, but they can can take us to a world in which, if we want, we can be the main characters and live word to word a story which we would like to live in our real life.

And now... Will you see the books as a way of being able to disconnect from reality?

Càtia Pino

I think that TV is better than books. Why?

TV is like an open book, with different stories in it. Although, while you are having fun knowing this new story, you are also being able to feel that you are in the story and it feels more real than a book, because you can see what's happening and you don't have to imagine.

Likewise, I think that TV is better than a book, because it can show you the same things a book can and even more. For example, a documental tells you lots of information, and sometimes even more than the book, and also shows you images of what the documental is talking about.

TV can show you things that have never been seen before and books usually show you drawings that are not realistic. That makes what would be a boring book or maybe a really long book, a great movie, documental, etc.

Finally, TV is useful for any type of people. The ones that cannot read can watch TV and learn the same things without any dificulty. It also helps people that don't know a language very well, it helps them to have a better pronunciation and learn more things to go through life.

These are the main ideas that make me think that TV is better than books.
And as some people always say: An image is worth more than a hundred words.

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(Càtia replies)

When you were a child did you know how to read? No. You started speaking by hearing the pronunciation.

Maybe books show you new words. But TV shows them too and explains their meaning.
And tell me: Why is it so useful to know how to write lots of words if you don’t even know what they mean and when you say them out loud, you don’t even know how to pronounce them?

Of course that if you read books you will improve your reading skills, and if you swim a lot you will improve your swiming skills. You will improve anything just by practicing. And if you watch TV you will be able to improve your speaking and you will also learn new thigs.

I disagree that TV only shows you what they want you to see.
And the question of who shows you that what TV shows you the truth? Well! The images!

Think, when you see a documentary about the body, you see the truth and in a book, the body parts are usually drawings that don’t show you the real parts.

Another example, TV can show you diferent parts of the world every day. Books can, but 2 months later al least!

Think. Life of course is always about learning new things, but I think that we need some fun too. With the TV you can learn, and if you change the channel you will have something new and more fun.

Now we are focusing in the older ones, but what about the little ones?
Do you think that they should read a book when they dont even know how to talk?

In TV they have lots of different programmes that show you how to count, read, think and speak!

That’s why I think that TV is better than books, it’s useful for everyone and you are able to feel different feelings that maybe a book cannot offer you.

Naoual Benaabla

I think books are better than television because they show you the real things. However, in television they only show you the things that they want you to see, so maybe they change the real information for another one and then you don't know what it is. That's why books are more reliable than television.

If you want to learn, learn with books because in them you can always find a lot of reliable information without ornaments.

And if you think that books are boring...Did you try to read any funny comic?? Because they are books too.

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(Naoual replies)

I think that maybe with TV you can have a great time , however , as I said , they only show you what they want you to see.

Maybe in a documentary you learn a lot of things but who told you that that was real?

They can't show you everything and explain you all about it, but in a book they can. They separate the information to make it easy to learn, and although not all the books include images, some of them do.

Likewise if you read a book , you're going to have a broader cultural background, and you'll learn new words. However on TV they always use the same words, and maybe these words are not the best ones you can learn.

If you read books, you will improve your reading skills. As you said, when you watch TV you can practise your pronuntiation , but if you don't know words how are you going to practise their pronunciation?

When you were a child you learned reading books not watching TV. In school you use books to learn and practise what you learned... So there's a reason why we use books and not TV.

What I want to say with my arguments is that you should read more. Maybe now you think that books are very boring but, if you read now, in the future you will have a richer cultural background. You will be a wise person because in the past you read and learned lots of things. Besides your vocabulary will be more extensive.

10th April, 4th ESO Debate

This House believes that books are better than television

Rochelyn Sabarillo, 4th ESO student, will propose

Ana Romera, 4th ESO student, will oppose

Once the debaters post their arguments, we kindly ask you to express your opinion by voting.
To vote, post a comment on the Ayes (Rochelyn) if you agree with the motion or Noes (Ana) if you disagree with it.

10th April, 3rd ESO Debate

This House believes that books are better than television

Naoual Benaabla, 3rd ESO student, will propose

Catia Pino, 3rd ESO student, will oppose

Once the debaters post their arguments, we kindly ask you to express your opinion by voting.
To vote, post a comment on the Ayes (Naoual) if you agree with the motion or Noes (Catia) if you disagree with it.