|
Mentor Rotary 2007
At Mentor Rotary’s March 29
noon meeting at Mentor’s LaMalfa Centre, Sophia Browning of Mentor
High School won the club’s 19th annual Four-way Speech Contest.
Browning then participated in Rotary District 6630’s regional
competition on Saturday, March 31 at Beachwood High School.
The MHS sophomore presented a well-argued position for global
population control. She opened by evoking an image of cycles and
balance where if rainfall, and thus food, is plentiful animal
populations increase and, under adverse circumstances, populations
decrease. However, man has disregarded the balance of nature putting
an unsustainable strain on Earth’s resources.
Browning clearly wove into her speech the Four-way Test tenets. She
cited statistics about current and estimated future world population
and the fact that starvation affects 60% of the planet’s people. She
argued that specialization, especially in agriculture, is
unsustainable, puts too much pressure on the environment and leads to
famine.
Browning asked if it is fair to suggest that people starve if the land
they live on cannot support them or to tell a young couple to restrict
the size of their family. She argued for creating self-sustaining
regions in the world, which would build good will and better
friendships.
She closed by asking what’s not beneficial about maintaining global
population? Controlling population allows natural laws to function and
the earth to sustain life, ensuring a future to our species.
Runners-up Katie Haic (Lake Catholic High School junior) spoke about
inspiration, Eric Iafigliola’s (LCHS senior) topic was partisanship,
and MHS junior Brandi Barr spoke of the overly-influential religious
right.
For her efforts, Browning won $100 and the other students $50 each.
The students’ speech coaches were Mark Rotar of Mentor High and John
Lazar of Lake Catholic. Judges were Dick Fraser of Fraser Video, the
News-Herald’s Tricia Johnston and theatre producer and musical
director Ted Hieronymus.
THE SPEECHES
In their four- to seven-minute presentations, the students attempted
to solve an ethical problem using the principles of the Rotary
Four-way Test, the principles of which are:
"Of the things we think, say or do:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all
concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and
BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to
all concerned?"
The ethical problem to be
solved was something from each speaker’s personal experience or
general knowledge. Each one of the four parts of the Four Way Test was
addressed during the speech. The use of each point could be used to
prove either a positive or negative point.
From the earliest days of the organization, Rotarians were concerned
with promoting high ethical standards in their professional lives. One
of the world's most widely printed and quoted statements of business
ethics is The Four-Way Test, created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J.
Taylor (who later served as RI president) when he was asked to take
charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.
This 24-word code of ethics for employees to follow in their business
and professional lives became the guide for sales, production,
advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the
survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy.
Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The Four-Way Test has been translated into
more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways. |
