At Middle School 50 in Brooklyn, New York, principal Benjamin Honoroff and his students are pumped to start the day — a dramatic transformation from when he came in a decade ago.

"We were on a list of persistently dangerous schools, and there'd been some pretty drastic enrollment decline from over a thousand students to 160 students," Honoroff said.

But the former high school debate coach had an idea. He took a chance and integrated debate into every class, across all grade levels. He also expanded the debate team, and a third of the students enrolled with a select group traveling to tournaments.

Seventh grader Aria Rana says being on the debate team has helped her academically.

"I've noticed my words and my writing structure has become much better just in the time I've been in deb

See Full Page