Abstract: As a tradition of the National Symposium for Young Geographers, this is the 6th academic debate held on November 13, 2013. There were seven teams taking part in this debate and the debate topic was divided into physical geography (Natural processes or human processes: Which is the stronger driving force of the changes in the Earth System?) and human geography (Quantitative or qualitative methods: Which is more suitable for human geography research?). Both the two topics are the core and hot issues of modern geography. From the live report of the Academic Debate Contest Final, readers could find how youth geographers in China understand the current major issues of the subject. Hope that their immature opinions could attract more intersts in thinking and discussing these scientific problems.

Key words: academic debate, driving force of the Earth System, methodology of human geography