You are the Chief Speaker in a debate on the topic: Education is not as important as riches. Write your argument for or against the topic.

Answer Details

Format note: A debate speech needs the vocative opening, a clear statement of the side taken, well-reasoned arguments with examples, a rebuttal, and a strong conclusion. This model argues against the motion, that is, it holds that education is as important as, indeed more important than, riches.

Mr. Chairman, distinguished panel of judges, accurate and unbiased timekeeper, my worthy opponents, ladies and gentlemen. I stand before you to oppose the motion which claims that education is not as important as riches. I shall show, beyond doubt, that education is far more valuable than mere wealth.

Mr. Chairman, my first argument is that education is the very source of lasting riches. The wealthy industrialists, doctors, engineers and inventors who drive the world's economy did not stumble upon their fortunes; they built them upon knowledge and skill acquired through education. Take away education and you take away the ideas that create wealth in the first place.

Secondly, riches without education are easily lost, but education can never be stolen. A rich but ignorant man may be cheated, defrauded or ruined, and his fortune can vanish in a single misfortune. But the knowledge in an educated person's head remains his forever, through it he can always rebuild whatever he loses. As the saying goes, if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish you feed him for life.

Thirdly, education develops the whole person and benefits society, which riches alone cannot do. Education produces good character, sound judgement, healthy living and responsible citizenship. An educated society enjoys better healthcare, justice and progress, while a merely rich but uneducated society breeds ignorance, disease and disorder.

My opponents may argue that it is money, not certificates, that commands respect and comfort in life. I concede that riches are useful, but I insist that they are only a tool. In the wrong, uneducated hands, wealth is squandered or used for evil; in educated hands, it is multiplied and used for good. Money is a good servant but a poor master, and only education teaches a person to master it.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, since education creates riches, preserves them, and builds both the individual and the nation, it is clearly the greater treasure. I therefore urge this house to reject the motion entirely. Thank you.