Introduction
Did you know there are about 900,000 different types of insects living in the world? At this very moment, there are 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) live insects. Today our debaters will discuss whether all insects are beneficial to the world. Let’s see what they think.




Constructive Debater 1 Henry
All insects are beneficial to the world. Some people do not like them because of their appearance. But they do not know how cool insects actually are! Insects create a lot of things. Without bugs, we would not have things like honey or silk. We also would not have many of the foods that we love. Insects spread the powder inside of plants called pollen. This is necessary for vegetables and plants to grow.




Constructive Debater 2 Ashley
Not all insects are beneficial to the world. There are some insects that are great. I like the bugs that spread pollen, eat pests, and create things like honey and silk. But I do not like the bugs that sting, bite, spread disease, and damage crops. There are many bugs that ruin harvests because they eat the crops. There are also many bugs that spread diseases. For example, some mosquitoes spread malaria.




Rebuttal Debater 1 Henry
There are many insects that have some negative characteristics. For example, mosquitos bite and spread diseases. However, that does not mean that they are not beneficial. Mosquitos are important prey for many animals. If mosquitoes did not exist, the Earth’s ecosystem could be damaged. Therefore, just one negative characteristic of an insect does not mean that it is not helpful.




Rebuttal Debater 2 Ashley
Many insects have negative characteristics that have serious consequences. The bugs that kill crops and spread harmful diseases may be beneficial to the world in some way. However, their negative characteristics are so damaging that I think the world is better off without them. We cannot say that all insects are beneficial to the world. There are some insects that simply do more harm than good.




Judge’s Comments
Ashley is the winner. Both debaters had great arguments. However, Ashley did a particularly strong job of defending her argument in both her constructive and rebuttal arguments. She also responded well to Henry’s arguments in her rebuttal statement. A strong constructive argument and rebuttal wins debates.

Karen Lee