JACKSON HEIGHTS — Debating topics ranging from community college tuition to abolishing the midterm elections, the Garden School’s team defeated a host of schools from around the city to take the top prize at a regional middle school competition.
The team faced off against seven other private and charter schools at the Big Apple Division of the New York Debate League, which is part of the English-Speaking Union of the United States (ESUUS), in the seven-hour competition held at the Jackson Heights school on Feb. 28, organizers said.
The Garden School, on 79th Street, sent nine players broken up into three teams to compete — with all three placing in the top 10.
Individual competitors also earned top scores, and the school was awarded "School of the Tournament" by the judges, which graded the debates based on argument, rebuttal and other factors. It’s the second “School of the Tournament” debate award this year, a feat unmatched by any other competing school, Garden said.
It now heads to the state tournament, to be held in Tarrytown next month.
The Garden School grabbed the top spot despite having to learn a whole new style of debating after it joined a new division, made up of charter and private schools from around the city.
“We had to re-teach the kids how to debate all over again,” said co-coach Richard Kruczek, noting that the new rules added an extra minute of debating and rebuttals to the arguments. “It was a pretty rough go in September.”
But the 11-member team, now in its fifth year, adapted to the changes and out-argued competitors from schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including The Dwight School and Success Academy Harlem West.
"Garden's academic focus ensures that our students are encouraged to speak up in class, to make presentations and to participate in school life through student government and athletics,” Kruczek said.
He and co-coach Phil D’Anna created the squad five years ago, and the team practices for up to five hours a week researching topics and holding mock debates.
Debating at the school is taken seriously, Kruczek noted.
Athletic teams at Garden School don’t have tryouts, but the debate team does — because every competitor has to be able to come off the bench to perform.
To join, students from the fifth through eighth grades are given a random topic and have to argue either for or against it for a minute off the top of their head.
“From there we pick kids who can think on their feet, and we give them a shot,” Kruczek said.
During competition season, the team will spend weeks researching the provided topics, formulating arguments for and against the question presented.
They don’t know until the moment of competition what side they’ll be on, so they have to be prepared for both, Kruczek added.
Judges then score debaters on the strength of their arguments and on how they challenge those across the table.
“Heckling” is even allowed from the sidelines, as opposing teams can verbally challenge statements made by competitors with a chant of “source” if a statistic or fact is in question.
“You actually have to give your source and back it up,” the coach said. “You can't just say 'I think'; you have to know.”
At the Feb. 28 tournament, teams debated whether community college should be free, if the media should show the full horrors of war, and if Internet users have the right to be forgotten.
The April 16 finals round will feature topics ranging from whether it’s unjust to have the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial in Boston to whether political advertising does more harm than good.
Kruczek — who played baseball up until high school— said he frequently tells his students he couldn’t do what they do in competition.
"You can lead them to academics, but they have to want to go with you," he said. "I cant stress enough how good they are, they are unbelievable."
