A debate class is using the presidential election to learn not only the craft of good debating but also the policy issues.

On a recent Wednesday morning, at the Bronx Hall of Justice, Augustin Bizimungu, the former Rwandan army chief, was being grilled by a prosecutor over his role in the Rwandan genocide. Luckily for him, the stakes at this second trial were much lower than at his first. In fact, all that really hung in the balance was a grade, since the trial was being conducted by a class of sophomores from the Facing History School, a small high school in Manhattan that set up the mock trial to help students learn the importance of ethical decision-making.