There's no debating the value of academic debating

By Marcia Brown

Denzel Washington (Mel Tolson), Denzel Whitaker (James Farmer Jr) and Jurnee Smollett (Samantha) star in "The Great Debaters." A Newark student had a similar experience, thanks to a debating program in the school system.

August 16, 2010 - Those who have seen the movie “The Great Debaters” witnessed a profound and uplifting narrative about students at a small, historically black college in Texas who become champion debaters in the 1930s Jim Crow South. Based on a true story, the film’s emotional power lies in the extraordinary sense of nobility of spirit represented by the struggle of those young debaters to smash racial barriers and triumph as “competitors of the mind.”

This month, I had the privilege of experiencing that nobility of spirit first-hand during a visit to the White House with 17-year-old Shagun Kukreja, a debater from University High School in Newark. She was being recognized by President Obama as one of the winners of this year’s N.Y. Chase Urban Debate National Championships. A member of the Jersey Urban Debate League, Shagun joined three other high school debate tournament winners from Atlanta and Chicago in an Oval Office chat with the president.

Never before had the White House invited high school debaters from the nation’s urban communities. The wonder and excitement of this moment for these four students reminded me of the scene in “The Great Debaters” where the students enter into the hallowed buildings at Harvard for the climactic debate.

The Washington visit by Shagun and her colleagues included a flurry of meetings with senators and congressional representatives. Several were former debaters. At the White House, the students engaged Obama with such ease and comfort that even he seemed amazed. It wasn’t that they used elegant rhetoric, but rather that they exhibited overwhelming command of the facts and an ability to speak on topic clearly and concisely.

This is what the debate experience at Newark schools is doing for young people. It is turning them into confident advocates, who spend many hours after school to research, develop and debate national policy proposals and to compete with the best young debaters in the country.

Debate in Newark originated at Science High School more than two decades ago and was the brainchild of long-time educator and science teacher Brent Farrand, who today leads the Jersey Urban Debate League.

Spreading the gospel of debate, JUDL is serving more than 600 students in Newark in more than 20 middle and high schools. Debate has even moved into the elementary schools.

More than 94 percent of JUDL debaters graduate high school and attend four year colleges with more than 75 percent earning college degrees. JUDL has even been triumphant in getting young people in gangs to turn their lives around as a result of their debate experience. Moreover, hundreds of our former debaters are now leading citizens in the public and private arenas, serving as lawyers, teachers, managers, elected officials, CEOs and administrators.

Evaluation and assessment reports on debate programs have demonstrated that they lead to a measurable increase of GPA in middle schools, a dramatic increase in reading scores and improved student conduct. More than 150 colleges and universities across the country actively recruit urban debaters and many offer four year debate scholarships.

Imagine the change in norms of academic excellence as debaters develop and use critical thinking skills in the classroom.

Imagine the benefit to the school, to parents and to the city of having graduation high school rates above 90 percent (the national average is only 72 percent).

And imagine the benefit to the community economically and socially when more students graduate on time and engage in productive activity.

Indeed, debate is so successful in Newark that it should become a critical component of the sweeping educational reforms underway.

Marcia Brown serves as board member of JUDL and is vice chancellor at Rutgers University-Newark. She has been a debate advocate and supporter since 1988 when her daughter was a debater at science High School.