Education
1. No government support vs. fairness to parents who pay twice for education
2. Separation of church and state vs. religion’s contribution to the public good
3. Placement by age vs. placement by academic ability
4. Mainstreaming students with disabilities vs. special classrooms for their special needs
5. Required standardized tests for advancement vs. course requirements only
6. National standardized tests vs. local control of education
7. Discrimination in education
8. Multicultural/bilingual education vs. traditional basics
9. Teacher competency tests vs. degree requirements only
10. Teacher’s needs/demands vs. teaching as a service profession
11. Policing schools
12. School’s responsibility vs. parental responsibility for school violence
13. Drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide
14. Zero tolerance toward violence vs. toughness with flexibility
15. Permit corporal punishment
16. Exams often do little more than measure a person’s ability to take exams. Should exams be outlawed in favor of another form of
assessment?
17. Should teens in the U.S. adopt the British custom of taking a “gap year” between high school and college?
18. In some European schools, fewer than 10% of students get “As”. Is there grade inflation in the U.S.? Why so many “As” for
Americans?
19. Education and funding
20. Grade inflation
21. No Child Left Behind Act: Is it working?
22. Home schooling
23. Standardized tests
Internet
1. Are children smarter (or more socialized) because of the Internet?
2. Should the federal government be allowed to regulate information on the internet?
3. How has the music industry been affected by the internet and digital downloading?
4. How does a search engine work?
Interpersonal Communication
1. Decline of communication due to technology
2. Online social networks and their influence
3. Impact of texting and cell phones
4. How do men and women communicate differently using body language, and why does it matter (in dating, the workplace, and
social circles)?
Discrimination
1. Protection of victims vs. freedom of speech/rights of the accused
2. How to improve race relations
3. Profiling
4. Reverse discrimination
5. Women still earn only 75 cents for every $1 a man earns. Explain why.
6. Discrimination in education
7. Discrimination in the workplace: analyzing issues for today’s corporations.
8. Gender discrimination
9. Interracial marriage
Schools
1. Should government impose restrictions on what kinds of foods can be served in school cafeterias?
2. Pros and cons of school uniforms.
3. Do children learn better in boys-only and girls-only schools?
4. Charter schools
5. Prayer in schools
Alcohol
1. Limits for campus safety vs. personal freedom
2. Implications on violence and crime
3. Issues with binge drinking
4. Should the U.S. lower the drinking age to 18?
5. Leniency because of condition vs. community safety
6. Revoking drivers license vs. being able to attend classes and work
7. Age discrimination of violator
Animals
1. Animal rights vs. medical research
2. Should it be illegal to use animals for sports and entertainment?
3. Humane treatment of animals vs. factory farms
4. Animal welfare in slaughter houses
5. Animal protection vs. business, employment interests
Athletes
1. School prestige vs. academic standards
2. Should shoe companies be able to give away free shoes and equipment to high school athletes?
3. Should college athletes be paid?
4. Doping in sports
5. What are the effects on children whose parents push them in sports?
6. Steroids: Should they be legalized?
7. Title IX: Has it helped women’s sports? Has it harmed men’s sports?
8. Social effects of team sports
Computer Crimes and Security
1. Online porn vs. freedom of speech
2. Stalking, invasion of privacy vs. reasonable access
3. Hacking crimes–workable solutions?
4. What are the latest ways to steal identity and money?
5. From where does spam email come and can we stop it?
6. How do computer viruses spread and in what ways do they affect computers?
7. Cyber security
8. Securing Internet commerce: is it possible in today’s arms’ race of hackers and evolving technology?
Bullying
1. Negative texting, instant messaging, email
2. Is cyber-bullying as bad as face-to-face?
3. Kinds of punishment for cyber-bullying
4. Media response
5. Should the state or federal government put laws into place to prevent bullying
Drugs
1. Punishment vs. treatment
2. Family reactions
3. Social acceptance
4. Community safety vs. legalization
5. United States military involvement in Colombian drug trade?
6. Drug legalization
7. Abstinence Program: Do they work?
8. Should the federal government legalize the use of marijuana?
9. Cocaine
10. Heroin
11. Nicotine
12. Doping in sports
Environment
1. Pollution, air, and water
2. Endangered species
3. What are the risks of climate change and global warming?
4. Rain forests
5. Acid rain
6. Alternative energy
7. Alternative fuel/hybrid vehicles
8. Conservation
9. Deforestation
10. Endangered species
11. Greenhouse effect
12. Landfills
13. Marine pollution
14. How have oil spills affected the planet and what steps are being taken to prevent them?
15. Pesticides
16. Sustainability of buildings
17. Recycling programs
18. Cost of “green” programs
19. Wind turbines
20. Landfill issues
21. Renewable fuels
22. Pollution
23. Radioactive waste disposal
24. Smog
25. Soil pollution
26. Wildlife conservation: what efforts are being taken to protect endangered wildlife?
27. Excessive burden on industries?
28. Drilling for oil in Alaska’s ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)
29. Gasoline consumption vs. SUV’s popularity
30. Wildlife protection vs. rights of developers
31. Clean air and water standards–weakened vs. strengthened
32. What are the dangers of scuba diving and underwater exploration?
33. Should the use of coal be subjected to stricter environmental regulations than other fuels?
34. Is global warming a hoax? Is it being exaggerated?
35. How much is too much noise? What, if anything, should we do to curb it?
Family Violence
1. Protecting victims vs. rights of the accused
2. Women who kill abusive husbands vs. punishment for murder
3. Marital rape?
4. How to protect children vs. respect for parental rights
5. Children who kill abusive parents
6. Child abuse–workable solutions?
7. Child abuse
8. Domestic abuse
Gays
1. Should there be a constitutional amendment that allows gays and lesbians to legally marry?
2. Adoption rights?
3. Need special rights for protection?
4. College campus response
5. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender
6. Gay parenting
7. Gay pride
Generational Conflict
1. Elderly to share in the tax burden vs. government support of elderly
2. Future of social security
3. Job discrimination
4. Child rearing
5. Employment issues
6. Generational differences
Poverty
1. Food programs
2. Welfare reform
3. Governmental supplementation
4. Homeless: urban restrictions vs. needs of the destitute
5. Workable solutions?
Population Explosion
1. How serious? Causes? Workable solutions?
2. Funding abortion as a form of birth control in third world countries?
3. What would happen globally if the demand for natural resources is greater than the supply?
Religion
1. Is there one true religion?
2. Freedom of religion
3. Offer distinct reasons why the Bible should be studied as literature, removed from religious significance.
Technology
1. How is text messaging affecting teen literacy?
2. Cell Phones: How have they changed us socially?
3. Does the Information Age mean we are losing important historical information?
Relationships
1. Should we reform laws to make it harder to get a divorce?
2. Divorce rates
3. Family relationships
4. Family values
5. Race relations
6. Marriage and Divorce
7. A view of home life and its effect on child development