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Kansas City Central Debate: Rules of the Game

From Sylvia Maria Gross | 00:20:48
Producers: Sylvia Maria Gross

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Kansas City Central's debate squad is shaking up the national circuit, by rapping their arguments to music, and making the case that the activity itself is rigged to benefit privileged kids at expensive schools.

INTRO: Senator John Kerry, presidential advisor Karl Rove and senate majority leader Bill Frist were all debaters in high school. High school debaters sometimes think of the activity as the path to power in politics. So, some students from Kansas City's Central High School want in, but on their own terms. Central's squad is shaking up the national circuit, by rapping their arguments to music, and making the case that the activity itself is rigged to benefit privileged kids at expensive schools. KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross followed Central's team to a tournament in Omaha.

*** The team's assistant coach, Joe Miller, has written a book about Central High School's debate team which will be released in October 2006 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. It's called Cross-X: A Turbulent, Triumphant Season with an Inner-City Debate Squad.

This story was produced and aired in April, 2005, it refers to the debate topic for the 2004-2005 season. Hide full description

INTRO: Senator John Kerry, presidential advisor Karl Rove and senate majority leader Bill Frist were all debaters in high school. High school debaters sometimes think of the activity as the path to power in politics. So, some students from Kansas City's Central High School want in, but on their own terms. Central's squad is shaking up the national circuit, by rapping their arguments to music, and making the case that the activity itself is rigged to benefit privileged kids at expensive schools. KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross followed Central's team to a tournament in Omaha. *** The team's assistant coach, Joe Miller, has written ...
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Michael_square

Michael Johnson

Posted on April 24, 2007 at 09:11 PM | Permalink

Review of Kansas City Central Debate: Rules of the Game

Sylvia Maria Gross attempts to reconstruct the story of a couple of students from Kansas City's Central High School who shake up the national debate circuit with rap and by making the case that the debates themselves are rigged to benefit privileged kids at expensive schools.

It's a long 20 minutes that tries to chronicle the students journey, from the locals to the nationals, but the complexity of the story and the narration heavy presentation, make this a tough listen.

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KCUR, April 2005

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