Sharone Mitchell, 14, isn’t interested in sandbox squabbles concerning marbles or blacktop shouting matches over shoddy playground officiating.
If Mitchell is going to have a verbal tiff, he wants to thoughtfully rebut, strategically analyze, forcefully object and relentlessly evaluate issues of the day in a format only some of his peers, a couple of teachers and his father can appreciate.
“When I debate, I really want to have a serious debate. I’m not playing around.” said Mitchell, a freshman at Morgan Park High School on Chicago’s Far South Side. “I debate with my father about everything. Even though I can’t vote, we go at each other about politics, television programs . . . anything that grabs our attention. My father certainly doesn’t go easy on me. And I love it.”
Morgan Park is one of five Chicago public high schools, along with Bogan, DuSable, Lindblom and Whitney Young, to field debate teams this fall. The new teams are a part of the Chicago Debate Commission, a three-year pilot program by the Chicago Public Schools and other public and private organizations to bring formal debating back to the schools.
So when Mitchell joined the new debate team at his South Side high school, the two people most surprised were probably his speech coaches.
“Sharone is truly exceptional,” said Kevin Waller, a Morgan Park social science teacher and speech coach. “He’s new here, so we didn’t know him before. However, when he got in front of us with his strong voice and tremendous presence, everyone noticed. But he is one of many very talented students we have on our team. And one of the many reasons why we are so excited about debating at Morgan Park.”
Formal debating in Chicago Public Schools has had an unpredictable history.
“We would have debating for a couple of years and then it would fade away. Then teams would reappear again,” said Les Lynn, coordinator of the Debate Commission. “There was nothing consistent. So we are hoping this is the beginning of a long history of debating in Chicago Public Schools. We believe that this year will be a foundation for that.”
Not only are the teams new to the schools–debating is new to the 150 students and 9 out of the 10 speech coaches. To prepare, students have been told how to project their voices, improve research skills and articulate their thoughts out loud. Some students and coaches participated in a camp sponsored by the Debate Commission to develop their skills.
“This is basically new to everybody,” said Lynn, former speech coach at Whitney Young High School. “None of the students have participated in this form of debate. We are seeing a great deal of commitment by everyone to make this work.”
The commitment is so strong that the students meet several days a week before classes, during lunch breaks, after school and Saturday mornings to prepare for the first of five tournaments on Saturday at Bogan, 3939 W. 79th St. The remaining tournaments will rotate among the schools.
Even though the students are having fun learning something new, the subjects they talk about are serious. For the five tournaments, the teams will debate what the federal policy should be on renewable energy.
Odis Richardson, the only veteran coach, is celebrating the return of formal debating.
“The benefits of debating in a school like DuSable or any of these other schools are unbelievable,” said Richardson, a DuSable counselor. “The techniques these students will learn from this will help them impress future employers in job interviews or write the perfect essay for a college application or be able to research and find a cure for a deadly disease. These are life skills that our students need.”
Lynn said the Debate Commission hopes that within three years, five new teams will be started and debate classes will be offered as an elective in the school curriculum.
