Usman Institute of Technology (UIT) affiliated with NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, recently held a debate competition on campus with the topic ”Zaheen hona Haseen hone se Behter hai” i.e. beauty vs. brains. The first prize was awarded to a girl from NED-UET, who emerged as a clear winner with her elucidating analysis and propositions. According to the judges the winner was the leader of the house i.e. those who were supporting brains were victorious. 

The topic this year was ‘Zaheen hona Haseen hone se Behter hai”, and the debate ran true to the form of previous years with plenty of good-natured mudslinging. The argument was that beauty is better than brains because beauty represents the essence of humanity, citing human appreciation of the aesthetics of nature and the arts. The affirmative’s argument extended to bring forth the problems of the ‘dark side of the brain’, with the wrongs that humans perpetrate thanks to the interventions of technology, such as war and pollution, and the over-population of the planet because of humans living longer thanks to medicine.

The definition of ‘beauty’ was a point of contention between the teams, as debaters on the brains side limited it to the idea of physical beauty of human beings. Their argument was that physical beauty is shallow and goes only skin-deep. They put forth the idea that beauty only benefits the person who possesses it, whereas brains benefit all of humanity. Additionally, they argued, whether talking about physical beauty or aesthetics, beauty is all in the eye of the beholder.

UIT stated that – “These debates stimulate minds and bodies of students every year in order to make it both a learning and enjoyable experience. We aim to facilitate the Pakistani youth with resources to help channel their ideas in an effective way, by promoting diversity and laying emphasis on the art of debating. On behalf of UIT, we congratulate the winner and participants and wish them well in all their future endeavors.”