Share

Photo: Brian Harkin for The New York Times

Students from Eugene Lang College, a divison of The New School in the US, recently experienced a taste of life inside a prison… but only for the duration of the debate they were there to participate in.  The students battled it out against a team of prisoners on the subject of higher education in prisons, and whether the government should finance the programs.  The somewhat ironically named Arthur Kill Correctional Facility have previously participated in debates with the New York Law School and St John´s University and remain undefeated in their two-year history of debating.  Yes, it was the prison team that won the debate.

So who started with the upper hand?  The students had the advantage of all the research they could get their hands on, including, as one prisoner pointed out, access to the internet.  But the prisoners had real-life experience and a topic that hit very close to home.  Three of the men on the prison team are actually special students at The New School, as are several other inmates.  The students decided to take their argument beyond just the education system, quoting Foucault and talking about the class system.

Is it that surprising that the prison team won?  Maybe it is, maybe it isn´t.  What seems practical is that giving prisoners access to education while in jail has positive implications for the prisoners and in turn, for society.  And what a great opportunity for the students to be able to enrich their education with such an experience.

Has this sparked any thoughts about your views on eduation programs in prisons?

Source: The New York Times

Tags: Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Debate, Eugene Lang College, Higher Education in Prison, The New School, United States