High School Debate Topics

From LoveToKnow Teens

There are plenty of high school debate topics available; perfect for flexing your intellectual muscles!

Scales of justice

Debating is Fun!

Whether it’s joining your high school debate team or talking about topical discussions in class, debating is a wonderful way to shore up your speaking skills and to build confidence in yourself. Here are a few great reasons to join the conversation:

  • Learn about yourself.

Debating an issue is a great way to learn more about you. You get to see, depending on what side of the argument you support, what is important to you. The more passionate your argument, the more likely you are to understand what you truly care about.

  • Helps you think on your feet.

Most things that improve how quick you can think on your feet are worth doing. This is a skill with real world application. Whether it’s acing a job interview, or negotiating the price of a home, being able to quickly access a situation, and weigh the pros and cons of a given point, is a great skill to have at your finger tips.

  • Builds confidence.

Participating in a high school debate topic is a terrific way to build your confidence, both in your public speaking and in your command of your native language. Once you begin winning debates, you’ll quickly see that confidence spill over into other areas of your life.

Great High School Debate Topics

Most high school debate topics tend to be controversial ones. This usually translates into passionate and persuasive arguments. A few of these topics include:

  • The Death Penalty

This is definitely a controversial topic that tries to answer the question: how can we balance the safety of the public against the rights of the individual? Many feel that no one has the right to take the life of a fellow human being, while others insist that the punishment must fit the crime. The death penalty continues to be a relevant topic of discussion from the highest courts of the land to the local halls of our high schools.

  • Television is a bad influence.

We told you things would get controversial! This is one of those topics that folks seem to have a lot of strong opinions about. Is television, as many Congress men and women would say, a major contributor to the continued erosion of our moral fiber?

Or is television one of the greatest tools ever invented? One with the inherent capacity to educate tens of thousands of individuals at the same time? As can be expected, the debate ranges on.

  • Should the United States eliminate its own weapons of mass destruction?

Controversial indeed. Some claim that the United States should practice what it preaches, while others believe that the US has the right to defend itself in anyway it sees fit. Where do you stand?

  • Human cloning should be permitted in the United States.

Science has been astounding us for years and now the true possibility exists for us to actually clone ourselves. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? What would this do to our society if we allow it? What would it do to our society if we don’t allow it, but other countries do?

  • Violent video games should be banned.

The question of censorship and the role it plays in our society is always a hot button issue. Do violent video games encourage our young people to become more violent? Or are video games a natural release of the inherent capacity of violence in man? Are there levels of acceptable violence, and if so, what are those levels?

  • Standardized Testing

Another hot high school debate topic is whether or not schools should use standardized testing. This debate topic has been raging for years, with proponents on both sides of the fence energetically defending their arguments year after year.

One side of the fence sits a group who believes that standardized tests don’t actually test how smart children really are. On the other side we have proponents that argue, if not standardized tests, then what? How will we assess how well children are doing in school?

The Debate Rages On

No matter what side of the fence you sit on, we hope that you will take part in these types of debates!



 


Comments

this is a great information source. but this ... up here saying the n word needs to shut up

-- Contributed by: chris

this made everything easy

-- Contributed by: these are enough topics

Thanks sooooooooooo much! These topics really helped!

-- Contributed by: Stacy
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