Convicts beat Harvard debate team
buzzz worthy. . .
A prison debate team consisting of three violent criminals has defeated Harvard's Ivy League educated scholars. The prisoner are enrolled in the Bard College Initiative, a reformation program that gives inmates a second chance at life. Last month the debate was held at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison.
To prepare for the debates inmates were only allowed to use books from the prison library instead of the Internet. They defeated the Cambridge Mass undergraduate debate team successfully arguing in favor of immigrant students being denied enrollment. The Wall Street Journal noted they strongly disagreed with the position they supported. This is not the first time the Bard team triumphed over a formidable opponent. In 2014, they won against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
Their victories confirm the United Negro College Fund tag line: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
The win is bittersweet. The prison debaters are unable to obtain education in the traditional sense, resorting to sharpening their minds while serving time behind bars. Without a way to harness their knowledge, their potential will literally remain locked up. As the justice department and White House push for prison reform, perhaps they will explore ways in which the sharper inmates' knowledge can be used as a resource to benefit society? Many activists argue there is a school-to-prison pipeline that blocks the growth of young black men from being positive contributors to society.
Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal.
A prison debate team consisting of three violent criminals has defeated Harvard's Ivy League educated scholars. The prisoner are enrolled in the Bard College Initiative, a reformation program that gives inmates a second chance at life. Last month the debate was held at the Eastern New York Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison.
To prepare for the debates inmates were only allowed to use books from the prison library instead of the Internet. They defeated the Cambridge Mass undergraduate debate team successfully arguing in favor of immigrant students being denied enrollment. The Wall Street Journal noted they strongly disagreed with the position they supported. This is not the first time the Bard team triumphed over a formidable opponent. In 2014, they won against the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
Their victories confirm the United Negro College Fund tag line: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
The win is bittersweet. The prison debaters are unable to obtain education in the traditional sense, resorting to sharpening their minds while serving time behind bars. Without a way to harness their knowledge, their potential will literally remain locked up. As the justice department and White House push for prison reform, perhaps they will explore ways in which the sharper inmates' knowledge can be used as a resource to benefit society? Many activists argue there is a school-to-prison pipeline that blocks the growth of young black men from being positive contributors to society.
Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal.
