Harvard's Prestigious Debate Team Loses to New York Inmates
BOSTON Months after winning a national title, Harvard's debate team has fallen to a group of New York inmates.
The showdown took place at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison where convicts can take courses taught by faculty from nearby Bard College, and where inmates have formed a popular debate club. Last month, they invited the Ivy League undergraduates and this year's national debate champions over for a friendly competition.
The Harvard debate team also was crowned world champions in 2014. But the inmates are building a reputation of their own. In the two years since they started a debate club, the prisoners have beaten teams from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the University of Vermont. The competition with West Point, which is now an annual affair, has grown into a rivalry.
At Bard, those who help teach the inmates aren't particularly surprised by their success.
"Students in the prison are held to the exact same standards, levels of rigor and expectation as students on Bard's main campus," said Max Kenner, executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative, which operates in six New York prisons. "Those students are serious. They are not condescended to by their faculty."
Students on the Harvard team weren't immediately available for comment, but shortly after the loss, they posted a comment on a team Facebook page.
"There are few teams we are prouder of having lost a debate to than the phenomenally intelligent and articulate team we faced this weekend," they wrote. "And we are incredibly thankful to Bard and the Eastern New York Correctional Facility for the work they do and for organizing this event."
Against Harvard, the inmates were tasked with defending a position they opposed: They had to argue that public schools should be allowed to turn away students whose parents entered the U.S. illegally. The inmates brought up arguments that the Harvard team hadn't considered. Three students from Harvard's team responded, and a panel of neutral judges declared the inmates victorious.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/harvards-prestigious-debate-team-loses-to-ny-inmates/ar-AAfbcez?li=AAa0dzB&ocid=onepro
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Street smarts and critical thinking skills, what a hell of a combo...
Good for the inmates and Brad.
I wonder if the rate of recidivism is lower for those inmates who achieve such success - and if it is, whether their superior educated ability either leads them to a straight life, or helps to make them smarter criminals.
Isbetting allowed on debates, cuz I'm bettin' kind of guy.
Not I. I don't live near Bard College.
Interesting and informative article, ambi. Thanks. Guess the Harvard team is 0-1 in the Bard league.
This goes to prove that so many people in prison, could have had a different life, if they had a chance when they were younger.
I hope that they take this knowledge and become good citizens when they are released. Sadly, no one wants to give an ex-con a chance... which usually leads them back to a life of crime.
That is some of it and I agree, it is a shame the military doesn't take them. There is a strange kind of double jep here in the US. You serve your time, but you never really finish doing your time.
Back in the day, many times you were given a choice, join the military or go to prison.
I was going to say the same thing Kavika.
Anecdotally, the way Iremember my time in, (70 to 74), about 60% of the guys were drafted, 30/35% volunteered and the rest were there because a judge, somewhere @ some time, had given them the choice to either SERVE or serve time.
1959 ambiv, I was given the choice. I took the U.S. Army.
Six years later, 1965 I was discharged (honorable) and never went back to the rez, expect to visit.