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Urban Debate Leagues and the Role of Classroom Teachers in Guiding High School Debating

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Urban Debate Leagues and the Role of Classroom Teachers in Guiding High School Debating URBAN DEBATE LEAGUES AND THE ROLE OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS IN GUIDING HIGH SCHOOL DEBATING by Brent Farrand “In an effort to support the develop- important work for us all from the stalwarts American society grows richer ment of democratic societies in Eastern Eu- of the established national circuit to the through diversification but it remains rope and the Former Soviet Union, the Open neophytes of the UDL’s. The Urban Debate troubled by racial and economic schisms. Society Institute introduced high school Program looks forward to future coopera- Too often issues of class and race are either debate as part of a larger movement to help tion with the NFL. trivialized as differences in style or demon- transform the Soviet, monolithic education In the 1960’s our community reas- ized through racial profiling. Rarely are they structure. Debate was introduced to pro- sessed comfortable structures and norms examined for understanding. Well privi- vide a forum for secondary school students and embarked on a journey away from the leged, well schooled suburban teenagers re- to develop sophisticated communication intellectual monopoly held by the stock is- search, talk about and propose solutions skills, understanding of current social and sues paradigm. We need now to reassess for life on the other side of the great Ameri- political events and a tolerance for different the assumptions we have grown comfort- can divide. On the other side are hundreds ideas, in order to enable them to participate able with in the past three decades. Some of thousands of urban teenagers with ac- as citizens in what were becoming newly of these assumptions serve our craft well, tive minds and great ideas. The intellectual democratic societies.” Beth Breger, OSI Pro- some have vastly enriched the intellectual richness of American debate will be signifi- gram Officer, October, 2000 experience of debaters. Other assumptions cantly enhanced now that their voice is In 1997 the Open Society Institute, have prolonged and contributed to our iso- heard directly in the round rather than re- an international foundation established by lation; still others have miseducated debat- fracted through clipped evidence on a de- George Soros, turned its philosophy to high ers. American education has for the past 10 bate brief. school youth in America’s urban centers. years submitted itself to a thorough critical There have been some whispered Based on the urban debate league model review. Instructional content and method- concerns among established programs that developed by Melissa Wade at Emory Uni- ology is being consciously and carefully the UDL movement will dilute the scholarly versity, since 1997 the OSI has supported resculpted as secondary education steers discussion of “heady” issues like the establishment of urban debate leagues across the glacial divide between an indus- postmodernism, deontology, Foucault...... (UDL) in 12 cities. Exclusively focused on trial society and an information technology Intellectual history is replete with strident policy debate the UDL movement counts society. There is nothing which indicates warnings that intellectual quality can only 150 inner schools (125 new since 1997) with that American high school debate should be guarded through elitism. When an intel- a current student participation of over 2000. stand apart from or exempt itself from this lectual discipline lifts its feet from the ground The UDL’s function as incubator leagues, fundamental reexamination. Indeed, the to avoid the mud of real people it moves training new coaches and leveling the so- UDL movement has the potential of propel- from intellectualism to mysticism from dis- cial, economic and experiential playing field. ling us into the heart of the education re- ciplined study and discovery to cultist prac- As programs and debaters rapidly mature form movement. tice. Many might remember Judge Pelham’s within the UDL, they merge into the estab- The effect of the UDL movement pre- stern warning to high school teachers that lished debate circuit. But there is more afoot sents the opportunity for more than quanti- if we did not regain control of this activity than the assimilation of “a great wave of tative growth. At an honors program orien- we might find ourselves holding national immigration.” tation held by prestigious university a con- tournaments on a tiny, deserted island. The UDL movement represents the cerned parent asked , “What is the basic We do not structure our sport to have most explosive growth in high school de- skill you find students most deficient in ?” players who specialize in offense (affirma- bate in the 68 history of the National Foren- The Dean of Academics replied, “The abil- tive) and players who specialize in defense sic League. After decades of struggling at ity to communicate effectively to diverse (negative) because logic, argumentation and the margin of secondary education, this audiences.” For most of the recent past, high persuasion are weakened when the direct growth is exhilarating and startling to the school debate has been part of this problem. experience is one-sided. The thought pro- coaches who kept high school academic Coaches, debaters and judges...we looked cess of specialists is trapped by their own debate alive during the a time of contrac- alike, talked alike and thought alike. The ur- well practiced structures and habits. We tion and isolation. The celebration of growth ban debate movement will sweep that away, abandoned four person teams knowing that although heartfelt must be brief. There lies refreshing and enriching the learning curve diversifying the experience of novices el- immediately ahead critical decisions and for all of us. evated the learning curve; we shattered the monopoly of the stock issues paradigm nuclear conflict with North Korea. I am a them well. We are poised now to do it bet- knowing that the resulting diversity in ar- blank slate’ But then at the same time have ter. Soon thousands of urban youth from gument forms would elevate our thinking a whole list of preconceptions, very rigid, some of the most maligned schools of our to a new plane. Viewed from the reality of about the structure and theory of a nation will board buses and travel to the American life, our high school students counterplan or topicality argument. Glenbrooks, the Emorys, and the have been competing in a one-sided debate. The debate coach in us scoffs at Gov- Lexingtons, compete and forge a truly na- The urban debate movement provides us ernor Bush’s remark - “That was a good high tional debate circuit. I think this is far better with the most powerful diversity, human school debate trick” - as sophomoric. The than sliced bread. diversity. high school teacher in us winces at its truth- American high school debate has ful implication. It will be refreshing to have (Brent Farrand founded the nationally been troubled by a lack of coaches. The coach gatherings and judge pools filled with successful debate program at Newark Sci- National Forensic League and the National two hundred intelligent, dedicated and ence (NY) HS. He has been awarded the Debate Coaches Association have placed highly professional classroom teachers. coveted Paul Slappey Diversity Award by coach recruitment and retention at the top There will be new perspectives and perhaps the Barkley Forum at Emory University.) of their agendas. In many instances the some old sacred cows will be deconstructed lives of long standing programs have been with a bit of healthy irreverence for the past. (This article is the first in a series of articles maintained by volunteers from outside the Such is the cost and benefit of a free market that will appear each month about the Ur- ranks of secondary school educators - par- of ideas. ban Debate Leagues) ents, lawyers, accountants, graduate stu- The Association of Supervision and dents and a doctor or two. We are indebted Curriculum Development argues that the them for keeping the flame lit. Furthermore, last decade of the 20 century and first de- they have enriched the pool of ideas pre- cade of the 21st century will be identified as cisely because they come from without the a period of educational revolution. Debate walls of the school. But they also represent will not be exempted. Strengthened with the inability of high school teachers to ex- the influx of 200 new coaches who are teach- ercise leadership in this the preeminent aca- ers, we are better positioned to place our demic activity. High school debate is more mark on this revolution. than a series of competitions to crown the The guiding ideology of this revolu- best of the brightest. High school debate is tion is constructivism. Based on the teach- an educational activity whose existence ing of Jean Piaget and confirmed in the re- ought to be justifiable within the educational search of cognitive science, constructivism mission of American secondary schools and argues that humans learn through a con- its direction ought to be in the hands of the stant cycle of constructing their own inter- professionals who understand the class- nal understandings, facing contradictory room process, whose job it is to teach. external stimuli and then refining and re- It has been a requirement by OSI that structuring the internal constructs. Cogni- every school joining a UDL be coached by tive science research has found the human at least one classroom teacher. The result brain uniquely wired to detect, detest and is close to 200 new debate coaches, every resolve contradictions. Understanding is one of them a classroom teacher. For the not acquired from the outside but rather first time in decades high school teachers constructed from the inside. are numerically strong enough to be the At first blush debate seems a most dominant adult voice in high school debate.
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