In a spirited conversation that recently took place at the UChicago charter school Woodlawn Campus, two high school students practiced their debate skills as they took differing positions on the role of military troops on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
“Okinawa has a large American base and people have protested having it on the island,” said junior A’Shonti McKinney. “The government wanted it out,” she said, referring to a recent parliamentary campaign.
“But what about the bilateral agreement to keep the base there?” countered sophomore Mikhal Randall.
As Randall continued to challenge McKinney's position, another debate team member recorded the arguments and counterpoints on the black board as part of a flow chart. Other members of the 12-student team were taking notes or coaching the half dozen middle school students from the Woodlawn campus who also want to learn how to skillfully debate.
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The Woodlawn Campus debate team has made remarkable progress in just one year, said Shariba Rivers, debate coach. The team won the championship of the AA division of the Chicago Debate League. The school also was asked to send two members to take part in the national qualifying round, something unusual for a first-year team. In a rare move, the team will be moved up to the next level of competition after its first year of competing.
The debate team is part of a rigorous college preparation program at the school, where nearly 100 percent of the graduates go on to four-year colleges.
“All of the things our students do have something to do with getting into college,” Rivers said. “College expects you to defend your arguments and that’s exactly what the students are doing in the debate club.
“Besides enhancing speaking skills, competition in debate teaches students to listen, to take notes, to improve their vocabulary and increase their critical thinking skills, all experiences that will prepare them to do well in college,” she said.
Among the accomplished members of the team is Shaeisha Moore, a senior who received the first-place speaker award at the AA championship, outperforming more than 200 students in the competition.
Moore has been accepted at Georgetown University, the Johns Hopkins University, Tufts, Carleton College and the University of Chicago. She hasn’t decided which school she will attend, but she does plan to be a political science major. Her work in debate makes her well prepared for that challenge.
“In debate, you have to think critically as well as fast,” she explained. “You also have to use evidence and analyze. ”
Vernon Fleming, a high school junior and member of the team, said his involvement has helped him make friends with other Chicago Public Schools students on debate teams. “I like meeting a variety of kids with similar interests to mine,” he said.
“The thing I’m learning most in debate is a way of thinking,” Fleming said. “You have to organize your thoughts. That’s one of the things my English teachers said I had trouble with, but debate has helped me become more organized.”
Fleming added that debate has helped him develop time-management skills because it requires him to get his points across within a limited amount of time.
“Debate also helps me develop study skills,” he said. “You have to know your facts better than your opponent does."
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
