School portraits / Wednesday lab · Mock trial
Ten Hours for the Defense
Ten hours of preparation. Students with objections. Parents may wish to consider the implications.
Most parents spend years trying to discourage teenagers from arguing for sport. A mock trial class inverts that domestic effort: it invites them to discover that interrupting another person can be an act of civic distinction.
At Grace Church School, the mock trial program had to fit into a weekly Wednesday lab, with preparation limited to ten classroom hours across the term.
Ten hours in high school is barely enough time to arrange carpools, let alone master procedure and mannerisms. Yet ten hours on the calendar turns out to be quite enough to give adolescents dangerous ideas.
Anna Grafton, the history teacher advising the squad, warned them that New York City competition was formidable. With little practice behind them and earlier seasons in mind, the team expected to bow out by the second round at best.
In round two against Lycée Français de New York, the contest became a duel of decorum. Jed S. delivered a standout opening statement for the defense, while Luci W. challenged the prosecution with sharp, persistent objections.
Courtroom etiquette is a marvelous instrument for adolescents. It provides a formal license to be devastatingly inconvenient while remaining impeccably polite.
Grace advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time in school history. After the team lost there, Blake H., a member writing for the student paper, wondered how far they might have gone without illness and last-minute replacements.
I find that speculation magnificent. There is a world of difference between expecting an early exit and wondering what stood between you and the next round.