Customer Reviews

Cross-X: The Amazing True Story of How the Most Unlikely Team from the Most Unlikely of Places Overcame Staggering Obstacles at Home and at School to ... Community on Race, Power, and Education

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Journalist Joe Miller takes readers deep inside the world of high school debate in his first book, Cross-X, recounting the 2002-2003 school year he spent with several members of the Kansas City, Missouri Central High School squad. But rather than focus on the mechanics of the debate world (though there's plenty of bureaucratic politics and minute rule-making and breaking here), this is a story about race, desegregation, class, education, power, and hope. He takes readers inside the lives of coach Jane Rinehart and the stars of her team, Ebony Rose, Antoine Lewis, Brandon Dial, and Marcus Leach. By the end, Miller's given us Foucault, poverty, a shooting, the high of winning and the despair of losing. Also college recruiters, internal debate sniping, crying during rounds, rap music, and travel around the world.

Miller doesn't just dryly observe what he's seeing; from the first page, it's clear that he cares deeply about the topic he's covering and the racial divides in Kansas City, situating himself, a white journalist, in one of the "stylish nooks that make cities bearable for people like me." He contrasts his neighborhood with the boarded-up houses and general disrepair he sees on the mostly black side of town, but the inequalities come into full focus when he talks about Central High School, the attempts to revitalize it, and their abysmal failure. His history of both Central and the effects of desegregation are one of the most fascinating parts of the book--part legal history and part shameful discrepancies in educational funding.

Yet he contrasts these stories with the actual emotions, dreams, ambitions and lives of the students he's covering, quoting them extensively and giving a real feel for what they see as the possibilities of their worlds. It's through their eyes that readers see the power debate has not just to win them trophies or travel, but to interact with people they never would have met otherwise, to perhaps get scholarships to college, to expand their minds and their horizons. Debate becomes a way of life for them, shaping their actual days but also reconstructing how they see the world. Toward the end of the book, Miller explores the ways the various Central debaters use their life experiences to further the terms of debate discussions, taking theory about race, education, and class and presenting it on a very personal level, playing rap songs and sharing with often highly privileged schools the reality of their daily lives.

Miller is clearly rooting for Central, but that doesn't stop him from relaying the debaters at their best, and their worst. He doesn't pass judgment, though does point out the preferential treatment the male teammates receive, and the volatile, tumultuous relationship they have with their coach, along with her goals for the team and strict rules for them (no cursing, for one). Miller makes this 478-page book a fast read, in a style that gets into the hearts and minds of his subjects through traveling with and befriending them far past the point of objectivity, which he also chronicles. A fascinating look at debate for former and current nerds, or those just looking for a great, true story relevant to anyone who cares about the future of education in this country, race, teenagers, class, and the power of argument.

Cross-X by Joe Miller covers about a year in the lives of several students from Central High School in Kansas City, Missouri as they travel on the debate team. They face racism, infighting from the state activities board, and the choices made by their own family. Miller does an amazing job taking this story and making it accessible to all readers. The stories of Ebony, Marcus, Antoine, and Brandon are poignant stories of survival. These black teenagers compete against white kids from private schools and win because of their quick wit and determination to win. Miller completely changed my ideas about debate: what it is and what it stands for. He includes a history of Central High School, a flashpoint in the controversy over Brown vs. Board of Education and also the site of an astronomically expensive renovation to encourage white families to move to the district. Instead these teens have to face ambivalent teachers, tough home lives, and peer pressure in an environment that expects them to fail. The story ultimately becomes about racism and the right to be different. The only disappointment in the book is when Miller inserts himself into the story by becoming a coach to two of the boys. As an objective observer, Miller was able to narrate a tale showing all of the different sides to these young men. As an active participant, he becomes strident as he attempts to be their savior. As such, the ending is a bit of a let-down. The book exposes the deep differences between black and white education and points out that we need to make a change so that all children have the same opportunities for education so they can succeed. It opened my eyes to the incipient racism in schools today.

I think that Cross-X may be one of the best non-academic education-related books that I have ever read. I want to recommend it to everyone. The book's got a lot of things that make it great: nailbiting suspense (during the descriptions of intense debate competitions), depressing history (about farcical desegregation efforts in Kansas City), highly detailed character portraits (when delving into the histories and quirks of the main characters and their families), musings on journalist ethics (when the author Joe Miller [no relation, by the way] realizes that he's becoming personally involved in the story) and reflections on the nature of racism (throughout the entire book).

As a debate teacher, many of the details about inner-city schools, their students, and the students' parents rang true to me -- and Joe Miller's self-critiques about his perceptions of the debaters and their backgrounds also rang true.

This book is so fascinating that I carried it with me everywhere so I could keep reading and find out what happens next. Usually when I do that with books, they're well-written works of fiction with detailed characters and amazing plot twists; the real-life story that Joe Miller tells is every bit as captivating as the best fiction.

I have never before felt compelled to write a book review, but I would love to see this book become more well known and widely read. Most white Americans do not intimately interact with black Americans, and there is a racial and economic divide in this country. This book might be able to provide insight into others lives, and it will bring daily injustices to light. One core American ideal is that of justice, unfortunately as a society I feel we are too apathetic to complicate our already complicated lives by going out of our way to help others. Fortunately as human beings it is difficult for us to ignore injustice when it is out in the open. This book has the ability to change race relations in this country because it shows that the poor black teenagers are actually human beings, they are neither the stereotypical inner city black thugs or genius nerds fighting the man. The characters are real people, and they experience things that people should not experience in a just society. That is why I was compelled to write this review.

Joe Miller does a remarkable job of not only illustrating the trials of a remarkable high school debate team and their persistent coach, but also provides a glimpse into the greater challenges affecting high school policy debate. Interventionist, unqualified "soccer mom" judges, uneven ground between elite academy schools and under-funded inner city programs, and the failure of organizations charged with educational advocacy all come into play.

As a relatively new coach and varsity policy judge in the same upper-Midwest circuit (who has judged Jane's teams as well as Linda Collier's from Barstow), I can attest to the challenges Joe picks up on. Joe gets inside the very issue of judging bias prevelant in many rounds and effectively communicates its impact on the educational experience of debate. So many well-intentioned participants in our world end up causing greater harm.

Policy debate is a unique and vitally important program -- a place where William Barrett (of "Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy") would most likely recognize that philosophy had moved out of the Academy and was alive and well in the minds of young debaters. But through the rejection of creative exploration of debate through critical theory, the misunderstanding of speed and spread (which Joe correctly explains is a method to provide much greater depth, coverage and exploration of rather deep issues in the limits of a single hour debate round) and the inclusion of laymen judges left to render horribly interventionist decisions that often drag in extensive socioeconomic (and indirectly, racist) bias all harms the value of this important intellectual activity.

As an insight into the policy debate world, Joe's book is remarkable, fresh and personal. Coaches, parents of policy debaters and debaters themselves are well served to read Cross-X.

I bought this book for my daughter, who teaches in an inner city high school, after hearing it reviewed on NPR. She has loved it! The book addresses two areas very dear to her heart: high school debate and American race relations. Since I have not read the book myself, I can only tell you that it was a winner with my daughter (an educational award-winner herself).

This is a good book and a very telling narrative of the type of obstacles that these students faced on a daily basis to participate in the activity and in high school in general. However, what is noticeably absent from this books description of the KC UDL is the ability of debaters in similar circumstances to succeed with the more traditional styles of argumentation at the very same time that this book was written. That is not to say that this story is not in itself valuable, but it would be a mistake to understand this as a prevailing description of all UDL teams. It is a dangerous mischaracterization to assume that the only way UDL students can participate is through these "non-traditional" formats, particularly when that type of training vastly limits the number of opportunities those students will have to participate on the collegiate level.

As a sidenote, Joe Miller abandoned the KC UDL 2 to 3 years after writing this book. This "eye-opening experience" was based far more on self-interest than helping these students.

Joe Miller's Cross-X profiles four high school debaters and their motherly coach. It goes into details about their home lives (a drug addicted mother), their school lives (sub-par school), their would-be sex lives (non-existent, but all-so important), their encounters with racism (subtle, but influential) and the world of policy debate (too fast to understand). A palpable picture is painted that shows how all of these seemingly disparate elements of a student's life come together to influence these teenagers. Cross-X zeros in on how debate reflects the successes and hardships of inner-city youth. Will they practice hard? How will they act after victory and defeat? How does their race and culture influence the relationship with their peers and coach?

Cross-X relays the shameful and racist history that has made their school, Central High in Kansas City, an under-performer. Again, it is the multiple dimensions of the students' lives that gives depth of understanding to the issues that make Central High a bastion of underachievement. The debate team provides a friendly and intellectually stimulating haven for a select few of Central's students. Unlike initiatives like the Harlem Children's Zone, which seeks to make strong the least empowered, Central's debate coach seems to handpick the best and the brightest. The debate coach needs witty and sharp minds and isn't afraid to search for recruits in unlikely places like the in-school suspension room. Still, you get the feeling that these students are some of the most motivated and privileged at Central High School. Nonetheless, these students don't have the same kind of in- or out-of-school support compared to the students on the state and national debate circuit that they occasionally bring to tears during an emotional debate round. This is a story of bright students who get the type of challenge they need to thrive. Playing football, playing in a music group, or running with a drug-dealing gang are not the kinds of activities these particular students want or need: they desire fast-paced intellectual competition. But, the debaters are not just nerds: they cuss, drink alcohol, and are into pop-culture.

Having myself been a policy debater for one year in high school, I enjoyed Miller's descriptions of the twirling pen culture and overly fast reading during debates. A sizable portion of the book is devoted to a deconstruction of debate and whether its rules and culture should be changed. The fierce competition described makes me wonder if debate might form unnecessarily adversarial personality traits. In addition, the lightening fast reading of cases, that the debaters don't always understand, makes the debate culture appear somewhat insincere. However, I do not for a second feel this makes it a worse activity than playing basketball or running for student council. Policy debate can be used to defend or reject long-standing beliefs about anything. It is what is debated and how the debate unfolds that makes for a worthy learning experience. Miller gives us a look at debate in the context of four black students' lives, which makes Cross-X a valuable resource that peers into a minority culture that is too seldom acknowledged in mass media.

Miller is an observer who inevitably gets involved with his subjects. His candid acknowledgments of his biases and influences make this book stronger than if he had not relayed those elements. For instance, he becomes mad when he witnesses racism, he gives friendly advice and he also fights for what he feels will help these kids. So for better or worse, he is not just a fly-on-the-wall bystander, but an impassioned writer how can't help but get involved in the lives of the students. Reading this book made me want to become more involved.

As a former (and still nerdy) high school debater from the KC suburbs, this book about high school debate in KC's urban core was a real eye-opener. The KC area has a number of first-rate high schools that regularly produce National Merit Scholars and Ivy Leaguers. Central High School is not one of these schools. In fact, Central High School has an abysmal graduation rate and a lackluster reputation. The school district is engaged in what seems like a never ending struggle to maintain accreditation. Despite this, year after year, Central High School produces award-winning debaters, debaters that compete and win at the national level, debaters that routinely outperform the kids from the monied suburban schools. In this book, Miller explores this phenomenon, while giving us a real behind-the-scene looks at high school debate, the challenges of growing up poor in the urban core, the sometimes indistinguishable line between arrogance and insecurity, racism, and the singular dedication of a debate coach who is instrumental in propelling her students to success, sometimes in spite of themselves.

Although on one hand, I was rooting for success of the Central team, particularly in the face of racism and seemingly ridiculous bureaucratic rules, I also got ticked off with the debaters for the arrogance and disrespect they occasionally showed others, particularly their coach. Their willingness to buck the system was laudable while at the same time uncomfortable -- it's okay to push but don't mock the entire system. The unsung hero of this book is clearly the coach. Without her constant push and self-sacrifice to her occasionally unappreciative charges, Central's debate team, if it even existed, would be lackluster at best.

As soon as I finished the book, I wanted to know what became of the debaters and their coach, to ascertain whether the debaters were able to put their debate experiences to use in future endeavors.

Although this book is non-fiction and somewhat lengthy, it reads like a novel -- very fast, a real page turner. Overall, a very good read.

This book works on many levels. It has a great narrative, which drives one to keep reading. The fast-paced story is also one of underdogs who succeed against all odds.

The exciting narrative is a vehicle the author uses to effectively share with the reader how truly awful some inner-city schools are and how uneven the playing field really is. This information is contained in the story and is not preachy.

The author also uses the narrative to teach readers about debate and the on-going controversies within the debate world. I highly recommend this book for both teenagers and adults.