Rhode Island Urban Debate League Spurs Upsurge of Debating

Michael Murphy, right, a senior at Blackstone Academy Charter School, prepares for a debate with help from Emma Tennant and Michael Ewart, both Brown students.
The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

From http://www.projo.com/education/content/DEBATERS_03-20-08_SG9DS6B_v40.372e248.html

High school debating gains in popularity
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, March 20, 2008
By RANDAL EDGAR

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — In the basement of an old colonial on the East Side, five high school students talk with a teacher and several tutors about the best way to provide afterschool programs.

Should they be run by schools? Or should they be run by social service agencies?

The students, from Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls and Lincoln, will not actually decide the issue, which seems to have an abundance of pros and cons on both sides.

What they are doing is preparing. They are members of the Rhode Island Urban Debate League.

Once popular, debating fell out of favor in urban schools in the late 1970s and early 1980s as support for afterschool programs dwindled and the cost of participating in regional and national events rose, said Will Tucker, the league’s director.

But since the league’s creation in 1999, debate is making a local comeback.

This year, more than 200 students from the state’s urban core — Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls and Woonsocket — have participated in the league’s practice events and about 100 have participated in tournaments, Tucker said.

Participating means researching, practicing and preparing to argue both sides of an issue, regardless of where students’ own views lie. This school year, the topic chosen by the National Forensics League, the country’s oldest and largest debate and speech honor society, is United States aid to sub-Saharan Africa — whether it should be increased and if so how. The topic raises questions and encourages debate about everything from food aid to generic drugs to providing condoms to women to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Arguing both sides can be hard for the students, who often begin with strong views on one side.

But sometimes, those views change.

Mariama Kurbally, 18, a senior at William M. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School in Lincoln, said her view on whether generic drugs should be provided to needy people in sub-Saharan Africa was clear when she joined the league last fall. The obvious answer was yes.

Then she heard the arguments against generics — that some of the drugs are not identical replacements, that some are exacerbating health problems rather than helping.

She has since concluded that the generics should not be distributed.

“I think that’s a real-life skill that I got from debate,” said Kurbally, a native of Gambia who lives in Pawtucket. “Not only did I learn to communicate with people, but I learned to think from different perspectives.”

This week’s practice on the topic of afterschool programs was for a non-tournament debate that will be held on April 2. The debate will be followed by workshops and a general forum among educators and social service providers on the issue of afterschool programs, Tucker said.

Last night, the debaters had another special event, a year-end banquet at the Providence Westin Ballroom that was attended by actor Nate Parker, who stars in the movie The Great Debaters.

In the film, Parker is a member of an underdog debate team from a small black college that competes against the elite team from Harvard University. The film is based on the true story of the Wiley College team, which competed for the 1935 championship by debating the propriety of civil disobedience.

Tucker said Parker has been speaking before debate leagues across the country since making the movie and accepted an invitation from the Rhode Island league.

“It’s a Hollywood movie,” Tucker said of the film, “but it’s a Rhode Island story. It’s very relevant to the stuff that’s happening in schools all around the state.”

For debaters such as Michael Murphy, 17, a senior at Blackstone Academy Charter School in Pawtucket, the actor’s presence, while exciting, raised a question.

“I don’t really know if he was into debate but you know we’ll find out after,” he said.

The question was important to Murphy, who has found debating to be a path to self-expression, learning new ideas and communicating with others.

“I’ve always wanted to hear other ideas and I’ve always wanted to express my own,” he said. “Some people think it’s a sport, but for me, I get something out of it. That’s why I like it.”

Tucker said Parker, in fact, did not participate in debate as a student but has taken an interest since starring in the film.

“He’s really taken a liking to it, and he believes what we believe, that it really can be a powerful tool for these kids in their education,” he said.

With help from Brown University’s Swearer Center for Public Service, the league pursues that vision by encouraging high schools to recognize and compensate teachers who serve as debate coaches and providing Brown students who act as coaching assistants.

Debating can only help the students in school and in the life challenges to come, Tucker said, encouraging them to read, think and communicate.

“Given that they’re reading all the high-level stuff, their reading level goes up,” he said. “So does the ability to write papers, construct arguments and do lots of things that help in college.”