Full Disclosure: In the 1990's prior to his relocation to Kansas City, I worked with Joe Miller at a newspaper in Denver, and I am glad to count him among my friends today.
The neighborhood East of Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri is the very picture of poverty. Rows of ramshackle houses separated by abandoned lots line garbage strewn streets; peeling paint and boarded windows attest to the 42% unemployment rate and the fact that more than 1/3 of households with children in the neighborhood live below the poverty line. High School students in this area attend Central High School, or more accurately they don't. Central High, in 2001 declared "academically deficient" by the state's education commissioner, is known for its 1968 race riots, its costly attempts at desegregation, and its dismal academic reputation. With metal detectors flanking the half-empty classrooms where apathetic teachers hopelessly baby-sit the students who do show up, it's easy to miss the school's crown jewel: its debate program.
In Cross-X, Joe Miller tells the compelling story of an inner city high school debate squad that in spite of overwhelming educational, economic, and racial odds, excels in a game dominated historically by privileged students with prep school backgrounds.
In Cross-X, Joe Miller tells the compelling story of an inner city high school debate squad that in spite of overwhelming educational, economic, and racial odds, excels in a game dominated historically by privileged students with prep school backgrounds.
Miller, a local journalist, joins the Central debate team for a season, initially as a detached observer, but finds himself progressively becoming more involved, advocating for a team that was beset not only with racial and economic challenges, but also crippled by an educational system mired in bureaucracy.. In the end, Miller, having become enthralled with the game and its participants, is coaching the team. In Cross-X, he tells a story that in its scope goes well beyond that of a handful of Kansas City youths:
"I understood Central's debate program to be a sort of anti-public-education system, a positive charge to counter the negative of segregated schools. These shelves of shiny metal documented several cycles of high school students who had, in a game of fast-talking, wit, and sheer brilliance, closed the academic achievement gap between black and white students - something educators and policy makers across the country have been grappling with for years. This, I thought, is the sort of success that should be told and retold until it takes root in every urban school across America."
"I understood Central's debate program to be a sort of anti-public-education system, a positive charge to counter the negative of segregated schools. These shelves of shiny metal documented several cycles of high school students who had, in a game of fast-talking, wit, and sheer brilliance, closed the academic achievement gap between black and white students - something educators and policy makers across the country have been grappling with for years. This, I thought, is the sort of success that should be told and retold until it takes root in every urban school across America."
Miller follows the debaters from tournament to tournament, becoming increasingly engrossed in their progress. Marcus Leach and Brandon Dial, the reigning senior team, are intrepid in their face-offs with even the most privileged of teams. At one tournament, an opponent who remarked of the Central team, "They're UDL (Urban Debate League). This should be an easy win," quickly learns that Marcus and Brandon are among the best debaters in the nation. Practiced in policy, political, and philosophical debate, the duo pull arguments from such philosophers as Michel Foucault and Slavoj Zizek as they chop the logic of team after team en route to the Tournament of Champions.
The underclassmen, Ebony Rose, who had spent his youth being bounced from foster home to foster home, and Antoine Lewis, whose native intelligence made him distrustful of anything school-related are no less compelling in their bid to attend the UDL Novice Nationals in Atlanta. By the end of the book, Rose, hampered since childhood by a debilitating speech-impediment, is reading dense educational theory by the likes of Paulo Freire and is recognized by scholarship-wielding University officials as one of the best debaters in the country.
The underclassmen, Ebony Rose, who had spent his youth being bounced from foster home to foster home, and Antoine Lewis, whose native intelligence made him distrustful of anything school-related are no less compelling in their bid to attend the UDL Novice Nationals in Atlanta. By the end of the book, Rose, hampered since childhood by a debilitating speech-impediment, is reading dense educational theory by the likes of Paulo Freire and is recognized by scholarship-wielding University officials as one of the best debaters in the country.
The team's coach, Jane Rinehart, is the unstoppable force in conflict with the immovable bureaucracy of a dysfunctional school district. Rinehart could have taken a job at a chichi school in Chicago, but gave that up so that she could level the playing field for these kids from the Kansas City. Her personal sacrifices for Central's debate students are too numerous to list and span a decade, but as Miller becomes more involved with her program, Rinehart finds herself at odds with the radical turn it takes.
As Cross-X progresses, Miller, transitions from journalist to Rhinehart's coaching assistant and later to coach. His passion at the tournaments is palpable, and he keeps the readers awash in the same suspense as he was during the actual debates:
"I was a wreck. My palms were sopping with sweat, and all my muscles and nerves felt twitchy from a lack of food and an overload of coffee and adrenaline. I honestly can't remember feeling more nervous and excited-not before my rare dates in high school, or for big job interviews, or when I was a student at the University of Colorado and the Golden Buffaloes won a nail-biter against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl for the national championship. I desperately wanted Central to win."
As Cross-X progresses, Miller, transitions from journalist to Rhinehart's coaching assistant and later to coach. His passion at the tournaments is palpable, and he keeps the readers awash in the same suspense as he was during the actual debates:
"I was a wreck. My palms were sopping with sweat, and all my muscles and nerves felt twitchy from a lack of food and an overload of coffee and adrenaline. I honestly can't remember feeling more nervous and excited-not before my rare dates in high school, or for big job interviews, or when I was a student at the University of Colorado and the Golden Buffaloes won a nail-biter against Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl for the national championship. I desperately wanted Central to win."
