Prison Debate Team Beats Harvard's National Title Winners 191
HughPickens.com writes: Lauren Gambino reports at The Guardian that months after winning this year's national debate championship, Harvard's debate team has fallen to a debate team of three inmates with violent criminal records. The showdown took place at the Eastern correctional facility in New York, 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. The Bard prison initiative has expanded since 2001 to six New York correctional facilities, and aims to provide inmates with a liberal arts education so that when the students leave prison they are able to find meaningful work. A three-judge panel concluded that the Bard team had raised strong arguments that the Harvard team had failed to consider and declared the team of inmates victorious. "Debate helps students master arguments that they don't necessarily agree with," says Max Kenner. "It also pushes people to learn to be not just better litigators but to become more empathetic people, and that's what really speaks to us as an institution about the debate union."
The prison team has proven formidable in the past, beating teams from the US military academy at West Point and the University of Vermont. They lost a rematch against West Point in April, setting up a friendly rivalry between the teams. The competition against West Point has become an annual event, and the prison team is preparing for the next debate in spring. In the morning before the debate, team members talked of nerves and their hope that competing against Harvard—even if they lost—would inspire other inmates to pursue educations. "If we win, it's going to make a lot of people question what goes on in here," says Alex Hall, a 31-year-old from Manhattan convicted of manslaughter. "We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted, but we work really hard."
The prison team has proven formidable in the past, beating teams from the US military academy at West Point and the University of Vermont. They lost a rematch against West Point in April, setting up a friendly rivalry between the teams. The competition against West Point has become an annual event, and the prison team is preparing for the next debate in spring. In the morning before the debate, team members talked of nerves and their hope that competing against Harvard—even if they lost—would inspire other inmates to pursue educations. "If we win, it's going to make a lot of people question what goes on in here," says Alex Hall, a 31-year-old from Manhattan convicted of manslaughter. "We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted, but we work really hard."
Good for them (Score:5, Interesting)
From the article:
"Among formerly incarcerated Bard students who earned degrees while in custody, fewer than 2% have returned to prison within three years, a standard measurement period for assessing recidivism. This is exceptionally low, when contrasted with the statewide recidivism rate, which has hovered for decades at about 40%."
Sounds like a wonderful program.
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Interesting)
I have a crazy idea...
Get a degree in prison, get out on probation....
Ok, maybe there are some details to be worked out, but perhaps it isn't the worst idea ever...
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Funny)
Get admitted to a university in Germany? So ... drive under 100kph on the Autobahn and be vegetarian and designated driver during Oktoberfest? I think those are crimes there.
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Fun fact: Driving too slow could get you fined, indeed. (Though you would have to drive slow enough to obstruct others)
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Fun fact: Driving too slow could get you fined, indeed. (Though you would have to drive slow enough to obstruct others)
Fun Fact: the above law is rarely enforced in most countries that have it on the books (looking at you Mr doing 20 under in the passing lane).
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(looking at you Mr doing 20 under in the passing lane)
Hang up and drive!
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In the late 80s, which was the last time I drove in Germany, I twice saw people being pulled over for hanging on the left of a car without passing quickly enough. Tellingly, it was non-German plates, both times.
I was myself nearly ticketed for waiting for someone to pull out of a parking spot instead of driving further into a parking structure. I had law enforcement papers at the time, so I got a free pass, but also quite a lecture. The Germans have amazingly strict driving laws, and few enough law brea
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So what crime do I need to commit to get a free degree? Gotta make sure I stay in at least four years.
I think you have that backwards. Once you've been imprisoned, you're going to have a helluva time getting a job even with a degree. I see this as people finding themselves in a worst-case scenario, and picking up the pieces and making the best of things. You could go out and make the best of things all on your own, right now, no need for some external party to force you to face harsh choices.
Free doctor is the real deal with going to prison (Score:2)
Free doctor is the real deal with going to prison and before the ACA some broke the law just to get into the system.
Re: Good for them (Score:2)
Virtually all major corporations in North America perform criminal record checks as part of the hiring process. Who knows if a random tech start up does background checks, but they will start doing so if they get big enough to have an HR department, that much is certain.
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You beat me to it.
Apparently the OP either works for a small company that honestly doesn't care, or didn't read everything they were signing/agreeing to when accepting the job.
Fun fact: These background checks often aren't just a check to see IF you've been convicted of criminal wrongdoing, but to make sure you own up to them.
I knew a guy who was offered a job at a rather large SW house, underwent the background check and because he failed to pre-emptily disclose a thing or to they found (nothing overly ser
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In my experience, if somebody has something on their record then the goal is to evaluate their accuracy of disclosure, sense of responsibility, and relevance to the job.
If somebody was convicted of a crime and they're still making excuses, then I don't care if the crime related to the work or not; they're probably not going to have a good work ethic. I don't care what their other job skills are if they don't have that.
If they can do the whole song and dance deferentially, then it can move forward to "does t
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Says the person who typed, "shot up in dictionaries." Pot, meet kettle. Or, more descriptive, if you're too stupid to figure it out from context then you probably don't belong here. Seeing as you've admitted you don't understand then...
Also, it's iPhone. Even I know that and I don't even own one.
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I work for a tech company. I don't think anyone has ever been asked if they had a criminal record during job interview in the 100+ people hired over the years.
Asked? Heavens no. The background check takes care of that. They only ever ask you to fill out the "have you had any felonies" form if they know you did and want to catch you lying.
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I work for a tech company. I don't think anyone has ever been asked if they had a criminal record during job interview in the 100+ people hired over the years.
Asked? Heavens no. The background check takes care of that. They only ever ask you to fill out the "have you had any felonies" form if they know you did and want to catch you lying.
It is common to give everybody the form, so that if something comes up later that didn't make the initial background check you can measure them for honesty whenever new information shows up, without any additional notice or disclosure required.
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Share a movie/song on the internet.
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Interesting)
For a while, I worked as a transport officer in a detention facility. This was a military prison and not a civilian prison. I did interview at a civilian facility at one point. I've also spent a few hours in jail waiting to be bailed out because I used to be a drunken moron at times. One mistake that people make is assuming that those who are incarcerated are automatically stupid. The reality couldn't be further from the truth. There are a higher percentage of smart people, from what I witnessed, than there are on the outside. However, those who are stupid really make up the difference.
The smart people are brilliantly smart. They have all the time in the world to learn a skill. There are phenomenal musicians, artists, and chess players. They screwed up, often in horrific ways, but that doesn't mean that they're not smart. The ones who are dumb, however, seem to really be on the low end of the scale. I suspect those get more publicity than the smart ones.
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The Bard prison initiative has expanded since 2001 to six New York correctional facilities, and aims to provide inmates with a liberal arts education so that when the students leave prison they are able to find meaningful work.
I dont know about you but all my friends who got liberal arts degrees are still doing nothing with their lives. Having said that, its better than staying in prison even if you are still only making barely above min wage
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That's not what that means -- they mean "a real university degree" as opposed to the kind you get from a trade school / technical school.
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Wouldn't that depend on the quality of the education you get?
I've met far too many people who were dumb as hell who had a "real university degree" compared to those who spent a year or two at a trade/tech school leaning a trade.
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This seems to be a recurring theme on /. There's a HUGE difference between a liberal arts education and a liberal arts degree.
A liberal arts education is something you generally get from a liberal arts college, typically involves taking classes in a variety of subjects outside one's major to be more well rounded, and requires that you're able to think. A degree in liberal arts on the other hand is something that's usually obtained by those who have accumulated enough total credits to graduate but don't have
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
It's high time the US as a society fell out of love with the perp walk and permanent punishment as embodied by long term criminal records and started to embrace the idea of real rehabilitation, making "convicts" part of normal society again. And for pity's sake stop prison rape, what the actual fuck.
Puritanism (Score:3)
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So you support torture then? I wonder if you were one of the same people screaming about the evils of waterboarding.
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To your first question, through some error prone process. There's no real way to look into someone's soul.
To your second question, yes. We have to accept some risk of letting people out of jail. Because what if I put "convicted druggie" in there? "Convicted speeders"?
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Prison rape is homosexual. (Almost exclusively, there are some staffer/inmate issues).
It's not a myth, approximately 2% of inmates in the US are victims.
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It's not a myth, approximately 2% of inmates in the US are victims.
If that number is accurate, then yes, it is largely a myth. The way prison rape is bandied about you'd think it was closer to 50%.
Some team! (Score:3)
I'm just wondering. Is one of these guys named "Lex Luthor" or "Padraic Ratigan"?
Re:Good for them (Score:5, Insightful)
The biggest part of recidivism is in the fact that too many inmates have literally nowhere to go and nothing to do once they leave prison [youtube.com], they literally end up sleeping on the streets on day one and quickly return to a life of crime for the goal getting incarcerated in order to get sent back to prison. Programs like this debate team and liberal arts education programs give prisoners a few extra tools and critical thinking skills that are sorely needed to survive out in the free world in order to find housing and subsequently get a job that they need to survive in a stable life. There are plenty of prisoners who have learned of the harshness of prison life and want to live a reformed and peaceful life after prison but there are normally no support programs to help prisoners integrate back into normal society.
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81 people and 0% recidivism at this point. It doesn't appear for it to have been in place long enough for that to be a truly valuable metric. Usually they go by a five year time period when calculating recidivism. Hopefully the metrics hold true over a longer time frame. It looks like a nice program and I hope that it's being well funded or adequately funded. I'd like to see more programs like that and I don't think we need to wait for the official numbers to try it on a larger scale.
As an aside, according
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81 people and 0% recidivism at this point. It doesn't appear for it to have been in place long enough for that to be a truly valuable metric. Usually they go by a five year time period when calculating recidivism. Hopefully the metrics hold true over a longer time frame. It looks like a nice program and I hope that it's being well funded or adequately funded. I'd like to see more programs like that and I don't think we need to wait for the official numbers to try it on a larger scale.
As an aside, according to the FBI statistics, murders and sex offenders are the two groups least likely to re-offend. Two of the worst crimes on the planet and they're the least likely to re-offend. I'm not sure why that is.
Dunno about sex offenders, but it makes sense for murderers: most murders are crimes of passion. Once the object of that passion is dead, well, the murderer can't kill them again, now can they?
Back away slowly (Score:2)
Have you always been psychotic? If so, clearly you've forgotten your meds. Otherwise, I suggest you see a healthcare professional specializing in the profoundly disturbed immediately.
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How many people are not within walking distance of a free public library? Any person actually interested in bettering himself can do it there.
Somebody in jail has to fill his waking hours with something. Education is an excellent choice, and the incremental burden it places on society (beyond being a prisoner) is miniscule. The cost of public schooling generally is about $10,000 / year / student, a substantial burden on society (the added costs being buildings, teachers' and administrators' wages, etc.). A
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nipping the problem in the bud before it happens is a great idea. (though its also good to help those who have fallen into the system)
unfortunately certain groups which shall remain nameless think public education is wrong, and should be privatized, think libraries are a waste of tax dollars, and further support the dog eat dog world of unfettered capitalism and seek the abolition of social programs, the same programs that support at risk individuals and prevent them from making a life altering decision.
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Sad, they can't read and then the junior primary can't speak...
Oh. English. You mean your mom. Never mind. Most of us don't actually speak English over here, you know. :)
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Of course, there's always the question - is it because they completed the program, or because they were selected for the program? Not all prisoners are eligible, and not all who are eligible gain a berth. It could just as easily be the prisoners that gained a berth would be within the 60% who don't come come back to prison within three years regardless of their participation due to personal drive and existing educational accomplishments (which are large factors in whether or not they qualify in the first
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Re:Good for them (Score:5, Interesting)
who cares about correlation vs. causation.
I care. If it reduces recidivism from 40% to 2%, then enrolling more inmates could save billions in incarceration rates and reduced crime. If the class size was limited, an obvious comparison would be the recidivism rate of graduates vs. the rate for applicants that were turned away.
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Different country, different crime rates etc etc etc but here is a study done on Recidivism rates in Australia with the differential being participation in educational and vocational training programs - http://www.aic.gov.au/publicat... [aic.gov.au]
Summary is that re-offend rates were 32% for non participants & 23% for participants.
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Summary is that re-offend rates were 32% for non participants & 23% for participants.
This is an uncontrolled study, so it is not very meaningful. The participants were self-selecting, and likely those already more motivated to straighten themselves out. You cannot confidently say that the program did any good at all.
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The summary is backed by a number of other studies which controlled for background, education, crime type, region, gender, race and also covered those people that were court mandated to courses as well as those that chose to do courses. The full report is linked off the bottom of the summary page. I would suggest that you can have a high confidence that the schemes have a positive effect of reoffend rates.
The results had already corrected for the following:
The analysis found that prisoners who are less li
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Summary is that re-offend rates were 32% for non participants & 23% for participants.
This is an uncontrolled study, so it is not very meaningful. The participants were self-selecting, and likely those already more motivated to straighten themselves out. You cannot confidently say that the program did any good at all.
The same can be said of the NY program; the participants are self-selecting. Maybe that is just what those least-likely to re-offend want to do with their time inside, if given the chance. I don't believe that, I think there is real value in the program, but I don't think you're going to be able to do a study where the volunteers all get sent to prison in order to make sure that you have the right demographic mix for the study. This is a type of human situation that just isn't going to have high quality res
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Don't let perfection be the enemy of good. While there may be some doubt as to how effective this programme is, combined with evidence from other similar programmes around the world there is enough reason to continue and expand it.
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Re: Good for them (Score:1)
And how long would it take before they realize that they can cut years off their time by taking a easy course ?
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And how long would it take before they realize that they can cut years off their time by taking a easy course ?
Most inmates don't serve their full sentence, and many are released early for dumber reasons that this. We have way too many people in prison, so almost anything that gets people out earlier is a step in the right direction.
Headlines in five years (Score:4, Funny)
Released inmates from Eastern Correctional Facility quickly work their way up the chain of command in their respective gangs.
Re:Headlines in five years (Score:5, Insightful)
their respective gangs
DuPont, Exxon, Pfizer, Wells Fargo...
Re:Headlines in five years (Score:5, Informative)
You are only going to get hired by one of those companies with a felony record if a standing board member vouches for you and your job will never need public scrutiny. It's just simply a fact.
But they can certainly start their own businesses to compete with them, and hope that the ease with which competition can create a negative media influence will only slightly affect their bottom lines.
That's true if you mean you want your paychecks to be from Exxon, et al, but if you're comfortable being recompensed by an Exxon subcontractor, you're dreams are still fulfillable.
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Released inmates from Eastern Correctional Facility quickly work their way up the chain of command in their respective gangs.
The Guardian had the best headline and sub-head on this story:
Harvard debate team beaten by prison inmates.
Maybe they lacked conviction?
Next group to beat Harvard? (Score:1)
The inmates in Bellevue's psych ward.
Are not most prison inmates liberal arts majors? (Score:2)
I guess it's better than teaching metal shop or lock picking,
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Please note that counting Wal-Mart as a prison is not as ridiculous as it might sound--they have been known to lock workers inside the store:
Pretty sure Wal-Mart sells bolt cutters. Just sayin'
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And leaving could also jeopardize the jobs of their coworke
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Apparently these are people who fear losing their jobs. Probably they have themselves and family members to support and don't think that they can easily get another job if they lose the one they have.
Oh, that is certain. Which is why the "locking them in" is pointless (I've certainly had deeply stupid managers in my life as well, but still: pointless). Telling someone he can't leave will keep anyone who cares about his job, chaining a door adds nothing at all to that.
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No, that's not how that works - false imprisonment is an actual crime, escaping it is not. Anyway, turns out here were fire doors the employees were told not to use. It's the fear of losing the job that keeps them there, not locking the doors. Locking the doors is just a braindead manager doing what they do best - making an ass of himself.
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Among people with college degrees in the first place, that might be true if we consider places like Wal-Mart to be private run prisons.
Please note that counting Wal-Mart as a prison is not as ridiculous as it might sound--they have been known to lock workers inside the store:
I used to work in a place that was surprisingly prison-like. We all had to wear orange, could basically only do things when told to do it, conditions were dangerous, the entire facility was fenced in, had controlled access, people coming in were constantly searched for forbidden items, and it was constantly patrolled by armed guards. I used to work at an airport.
sounds like the prison team (Score:3, Funny)
Re:sounds like the prison team (Score:5, Funny)
I heard the women's prison has cunning linguists.
Liberal Arts? (Score:1)
...provide inmates with a liberal arts education so that when the students leave prison they are able to find meaningful work.
Do they also teach them how to cook? That seems like it will be useful when they apply their degree to their McDonalds' job.
Joking aside, I think this is amazing. Actually trying to meaningfully rehabilitate offenders so they can re-integrate into society and actually do something productive. I would also hope that they would offer more specialized or in-depth programs for individuals that show the initiative and promise.
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Do they also teach them how to cook? That seems like it will be useful when they apply their degree to their McDonalds' job.
They cook at McDonald's?
Re: Liberal Arts? (Score:2)
Well of course they won a debate... (Score:2)
A three-judge panel concluded that the Bard team had raised strong arguments that the Harvard team had failed to consider and declared the team of inmates victorious.
They're Bards.
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But are they spoony?
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Yes, but the spoons have been ground down to sharp points.
Seriously, though, this is awesome. I seem to recall that getting educated in prison is one of the best ways to avoid future prison time.
koick (Score:3)
Ug (Score:2)
So? (Score:4, Insightful)
Harvard's a *legacy* school!
You don't go there for an education, you go to make "contacts".
It's basically just a papermill for rich kids to buy degrees, and you expect them to be educated? LOL - the whole reason they're buying a degree from a legacy school in the first place is so they don't have to do any work.
What proportion are legacy? (Score:2, Interesting)
Not to mention the admissions department doesn't simply tell the entire school what to do and who t
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Harvard's a *legacy* school!
Only 10-15% of Harvard's undergraduates are "legacy" students.
You don't go there for an education, you go to make "contacts".
To some extent, that's true of any well-known university. Employers like a "recognized brand." People also tend to like "alumni networks" of known quality. You can guess what a "B+" GPA means at your home institution and evaluate a candidate somewhat. You have less idea of what the standards are at Upper Bucksnort State Bible College when they show up with a "B+" average for their degree.
Anyhow, this is all separate from the educational qua
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You don't go there for an education, you go to make "contacts".
Isn't that also true of prison?
Sure, if you want to meet contacts that can teach you "how to get caught".
That would be like if the only contacts you got from going to Harvard were serial entrepreneurial failures who are bankrupt.
The competent criminals you actually want for contacts don't get caught.
Harvard lost? (Score:3)
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Master(De)baters
Thanks for explaining the joke, Captain.
Movie material? (Score:3)
I couldn't help but think, while reading this story, that it'd be perfect for a "based on real life" movie script. Has all the ingredients to be a "feel good, downtrodden guys make good" film.
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That's about the stupidest comment I've seen on Slashdot in years ... and I've seen a lot of 'em.
Jews are anti-Christians?! Really? Please enlighten me on that one. (Former Catholic myself, but even Jesus was a Jew.)
I'd like to see the video. (Score:2)
I think most people are unaware of what constitutes debate.
How To Speak Gibberish & Win A National Debate Title
http://www.theamericanconserva... [theamerica...vative.com]
Default (Score:2)
Hell I'd let them win too, no way I'm running afoul of dudes in maximum security prison!
Opening statement (Score:3)
"..... and that concludes my opening statement. You got a problem with that, punk?"
Unfair advantage to the prison team: (Score:2)
TFA says it's inmates with violent criminal records in a maximum security facility.
I suppose Harvard students on their debate team are good academic performers and are out of the school in five years.
You have a lot more time for honing your skills on a prison debate team.
Lifelong learning FTW!
"We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted" (Score:2)
and have a lot of time on our hands.
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2. Look at the position that the good left-wing indoctrinated Harvardites were asked to take: That forcing public schools to educate any and all children of illegal aliens is not necessarily a good thing.
RTFA. That is the position the inmates were asked to argue for.
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Liberal arts majors on the outside never have to deal with nuanced and subtle issues like that.
Either the customer wants fries with that, or he doesn't.
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After all, they heartily approve of forcing taxpayers to pay for free schooling that teaches illegal alien kids that America is evil & racist while failing to teach them English, because English literacy == racism. After all, they go to private prep schools and don't have to see any of those kids, so it's all well and good if the the lower classes have to put up with them.
Plus, by losing to the prison debate team, they demonstrated that a reformatory rather than punitive agenda in incarceration can work. Win-win!
Re:Outside factors (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Harvard doesn't necessarily mean genuinely smart, believe me I have first-hand experience.
Well the title of the article refers to the Harvard team as "National Title Winners". In fact the article's first sentence says "Months after winning a national title, Harvard’s debate team has fallen to a group of New York prison inmates." While you could say that about random people from Harvard, you'd expect a team that won a national title in debate to be somewhat good.
Additionally, a bunch of cocky elitists from an Ivy League school probably didn't prepare in for this little shindig to the same extent as their opponents.
I'm curious to know how you think being in prison that gives a person an advantage that an elitist college student doesn't have
In fact, you might say their opponents were captivated with their training...
Er what does that mean? If anything the prison inmates were at a disadvantage in debate preparation as their access to the resources such as books and the Internet is severely limited. [cnn.com]
Inmates face any number of challenges preparing for debate, including a lack of access to the Internet and a requirement for prison administration approval of necessary written materials, which can delay access to information.
Look at the position that the good left-wing indoctrinated Harvardites were asked to take: That forcing public schools to educate any and all children of illegal aliens is not necessarily a good thing.
Um, no. That was the position the inmates had to argue. The skill of debater is not whether the debater believes in the position personally but what arguments they can make for the position they took. In some formats, the positions are not decided until the debate so the teams have to prepare for both sides.
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you'd expect a team that won a national title in debate to be somewhat good.
It is unlikely that it was the same people. After winning the national title, it is likely that the seniors left the team, and were replaced by incoming freshmen.
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1. Harvard doesn't necessarily mean genuinely smart, believe me I have first-hand experience. Additionally, a bunch of cocky elitists from an Ivy League school probably didn't prepare in for this little shindig to the same extent as their opponents. In fact, you might say their opponents were captivated with their training....
Or it could be that the prisoners had a lot more time to dedicate to preparation, the advantage of experience since the Harvard team has probably just assembled, and even did a legitimately good job.
2. Look at the position that the good left-wing indoctrinated Harvardites were asked to take: That forcing public schools to educate any and all children of illegal aliens is not necessarily a good thing.
They can use all of their technical debate skills all day long, but you know that they secretly wanted to lose. After all, they heartily approve of forcing taxpayers to pay for free schooling that teaches illegal alien kids that America is evil & racist while failing to teach them English, because English literacy == racism. After all, they go to private prep schools and don't have to see any of those kids, so it's all well and good if the the lower classes have to put up with them.
Yeah, I'm certain the "bunch of cocky elitists" secretly wanted to lose to a bunch of prisoners.
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1. Harvard doesn't necessarily mean genuinely smart, believe me I have first-hand experience. Additionally, a bunch of cocky elitists from an Ivy League school probably didn't prepare in for this little shindig to the same extent as their opponents. In fact, you might say their opponents were captivated with their training....
So how do you rationalize the prisoners beating West Point as well?
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1. Harvard doesn't necessarily mean genuinely smart, believe me I have first-hand experience.
Maybe. Nobody has ever managed to work out what they are actually saying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Hahvahd (Score:2)
It sure doesn't. In fact, it may signal that you're dealing with an utter dolt:
George W. Bush. I rest my case.
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I took an algorithms course at Harvard. It was just as hard as anything I took at MIT, and I took 18.313 back when G.C. Rota was still alive (greatest math teacher ever, by the way).
Of course there are people who are there because they're "legacies", and I suppose they take different courses, but the kids who get in because they're smart are pretty damned smart.
As for left-wing indoctrination, Harvard is a bastion of the establishment. The prep school crowd in particular has been thoroughly indoctrinated i
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Yeah, we really need a "-1, Stupid" option.
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Illegal means forbidden by law. Are you implying that illegality is determined by race? That sounds racist to me.
Alien means from another country, and does not specify race. Most aliens in the United States are Mexican or other Latin Americans, which means a Spanish (Caucasian) and/or Amerind ancestry. Racism usually means anti-negro in the U.S.
In short, your claim is nonsensical and borderline incoherent.
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Citizenship has little to do with it since Plyler v. Doe [wikipedia.org], and I would imagine that ones legality in the country would not come into play with regards to qualifying for such a program while serving a sentence in prison... however the illegal alien may find themselves deported along with their degree after completion, while the citizen would be forced to go look for work with their degree and a local criminal record.
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" liberal arts education so that when the students leave prison they are able to find meaningful work."
A liberal arts degree is infinitely better than no degree at all.
I'm glad to see prisoners getting a chance at education. One theoretical intent of prison is reform; our society hasn't done very well with that.
Sure, some prisoners are hopeless and would be a danger if ever released ... leave them inside. But give others a chance.