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Sample Renaissance Debate Script

Sample of Student work from the Calgary Science School. This a grade 8 project where students debated, "Does Calgary have the necessary conditions to become a Renaissance City?"

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neilstephenson
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5K views

Sample Renaissance Debate Script

Sample of Student work from the Calgary Science School. This a grade 8 project where students debated, "Does Calgary have the necessary conditions to become a Renaissance City?"

Uploaded by

neilstephenson
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Intro:

To be, or not to be, that is the question… does Calgary have the
potential to be a modern Renaissance city? Or do complacency
and constraints - both in thought and the economy - mean it is
not to be?

Based on much research and interviews with our experts, I


strongly believe that Calgary is not on the road to becoming a
modern Renaissance City. Since the arrival of the Northwest
Mounted Police in 1875, Calgary has endured the great fire of
1886, the harsh realities of the great depression and two world
wars and the challenges of economic “busts”. Calgarians have
also enjoyed multiple economic boom times and the privilege of
hosting the 1988 Olympic games. But through all of these ups and
downs, Calgary has not emerged as a Renaissance city. And it
never will. There are three compelling reasons Calgary is
destined to remain an energetic, livable, but ultimately
uninspiring city. First, without a significant external event to
force change, it’s abundantly clear that Calgarians are content
with the status quo. Second, we refuse to generously fund the
arts and as a result, the creative arts struggle to flourish in our
city. Finally, Calgary’s economic foundations rest on a narrow,
carbon-intensive and ultimately declining resource, which means
it is destined to slowly crumble away.

Body:
In the mid-14th century, one of the key factors that set the stage
for the Italian Renaissance was the Black Death, which made
people question the world around them – especially the strong
authority of the Catholic Church. Calgary lacks the modern
equivalent – a major event or force that will force a fundamental
re-examination of our beliefs and priorities. In fact, according to
the Alberta Elections website, since 1971 Calgary has helped to
elect 10 consecutive Conservative provincial governments. This
goes to show that the citizens of Calgary are content. We
generally lack the desire to question or challenge the status quo.
Since there is no drive for basic reflection or change, there will
be no revitalization of Calgary’s society. Consequently, there can
be no modern Renaissance in our city.
During the Italian Renaissance, patrons donated large sums of
money to fund the arts and culture of their cities. There is no
parallel in Calgary today. Despite enjoying 5 economic “booms”
since 1947, according to Hill Strategy Research Inc., only 0.8% of
Calgary’s labour force is engaged in the arts. And those artists
earn only 43% of the average wage. This is because even though
there are several super-wealthy people in Calgary, the bulk of
Calgary’s wealth is in corporations. And their shareholders must
approve corporations’ charitable donations. Canada’s five largest
companies are Royal Bank of Canada, EnCana, Research in
Motion, Imperial Oil Ltd. and Toronto Dominion Bank. A review of
their corporate websites makes it clear that shareholders
strongly prefer to fund education, health, youth and community
initiatives over the arts. This goes to show that funding for the
arts is not a priority for the wealthiest entities in our city. Nor
are arts and culture a top concern for Calgary’s citizens.

The economy of the Italian Renaissance was based around trade,


banking, art, guild activities such as wool, etc. In modern day
Calgary, our economy is focused on primary resource industries:
forestry, mining, fishing, oil and gas. In fact, according to Calgary
Economic Development, these sectors contributed over $10
billion to Calgary’s economy in 2008 – 14.5% of the total
economy. Since Renaissance Italy’s economy was more
widespread and diverse, if one industry crashed then it was still
stable. In Calgary, if the primary resource sector starts to fail,
we’ll be in trouble. This seems inevitable. In fact, the World
Energy Council's 2007 Survey of Energy Resources stated: "The
evidence suggests that the peak of world discovery was in the
1960s, meaning that the corresponding peak of production for
'conventional oil' (oil from oil wells as opposed to synthetic oil
from tar sands, shale or coal) is approaching. The world started
using more than it found in 1981 and that gap has widened
since." The study went on to warn: "Given the central position of
oil in the modern economy, the onset of decline threatens to be
a time of great economic and geopolitical tension." The study
suggests production will peak around 2011 when the age of oil
will begin its inevitable decline. With one-seventh of Calgary’s
economy tied to the oil and gas sector, it’s clear that our limited
economic diversity means we will face troubling times in the
years and decades as the oil and gas sector inevitably starts to
decline.

Conclusion:
As I’ve so clearly shown, Calgary is not well positioned to become
a modern Renaissance city. Three major, limiting factors are: 1.
Unwillingness to change 2. Lack of funding for arts and culture 3.
A narrow economy based on a declining resource. In conclusion,
it is quite apparent that Calgary is missing many key factors that
are necessary for it to be a flourishing Renaissance city.
 

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