List of Debate Topics (300+)

A democracy without effective citizenry for large sections of the political community is democracy only for the few.

A person cannot be whole while most of the world is broken.

A presidential form of government would be better than the current parliamentary system.

Abortion rights are necessary

Adult-oriented cartoons should only be broadcast on television after 10PM.

Advertisements around schools should be banned.

Advertising creates artificial needs.

Affirmative action is a good idea.

Algebra should not be required for high school graduation.

All Americans should be required to provide one year of national service.

All middle schools should require student uniforms.

All public high schools should have childcare facilities for their students on site.

All public middle schools should have student-run disciplinary courts.

All schools should provide students with music and art education.

All students should be required to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

American military involvement in Iraq has done more good than harm.

Americans should not be allowed to burn the United States flag as an act of free speech.

Animal performances should be banned in circuses.

Animals should not be used for entertainment.

Anyone who watches five days of cricket should be declared brain death.

Are the Olympic Games a waste of money?

Arranged marriages are better than ‘love’ marriage.

Asian Oyster seeding in the Chesapeake Bay should be banned.

Ban boxing!

Ban plastic bags in grocery stores.

Beauty pageants do more good than harm.

Being unwanted is the most terrible of diseases.

Birth control/education in schools BU should be a “wet” campus

Boys are higher achievers than girls.

Businesses should not place advertisements in schools.

Cable TV has done more damage than good.

Campaign finance reform Capital punishment

Capital punishment is unjust and degrading.

Capital punishment should be banned by the United States federal government.

Celebrities should not be role models.

Cellular phones should be allowed in schools.

Cigarettes should be illegal.

Class size in primary and secondary school should not exceed 30 students.

Cloning (Human/organs/therapeutic)

Cloning is immortal and dangerous.

College athletes should be paid.

College football should be exempted from Title IX requirements.

Colleges’ early admissions policies do more harm than good.

Community service should be mandatory in high school.

Congress should pass the “Clear Skies” initiative.

Consumers should not purchase SUVs.

Corporal punishment of children should be illegal.

Corruption, the abuse of public power for private gain, cannot be eradicated.

Cosmetic Surgery

Credit cards do more harm than good.

Daycare (universal provision of)

Desert area residents should be required to use desert landscaping.

Development programs hardly ever benefit the poor.

Development that sustains the present inequalities is undesirable.

Diet Pills Should be banned

Drinking Age

Drug companies should not be allowed to advertise prescription drugs to the general public.

Drug testing (mandatory) DUI convictions should include mandatory sentences

Elections are not the best test of democracy.

Employment creation should be the chief aim of our planning.

English as the official language Federal Funding of Faith-Based Organizations

Extra-terrestrial intelligence exists.

Fast food restaurants do more harm than good. Agree or not?

Food aid does more harm than good.

Football is a better game than cricket for Indian youth.

For adolescents, television is a better teacher than books.

Foreign Language Requirement in College

Fossil fuels are easily replaced.

Fried foods should have warning labels.

Friends are the most important thing in life.

Gambling

Gay marriage Gay adoption of children

GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness) is more important in judging the well-being of a country than GDP (Gross Domestic Product)

Genetic Engineering

Genghis Khan did more good than harm.

Gentrification does more harm than good.

Giving money to panhandlers is justified.

Good economics is good politics.

Gun control Health care/national health insurance

High school students should have to pass a national exit exam to graduate.

Hollywood movies have a good influence on the world or not?

Home schooling does more good than harm.

Homeland security is more important than protection of civil liberties.

Homework does more good than harm.

Homework should be banned.

Hospital employs should have the right to strike.

Human cloning should be allowed in the United States.

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.

In the case of student lockers, school safety is more important than student privacy.

In the contest of global interdependence, security and sovereignty must be re-defined.

In today’s world a ‘culture of death’ is gaining supremacy over a ‘culture of life.’

Ineffective communication is the fault of the communicator.

Iran should be allowed to develop nuclear energy.

Is it unethical to eat meat?

Is our nation still unprepared for disasters?

It is better to be a follower than a leader.

It is impossible to eradicate violence in the country.

It is morally acceptable to experiment on animals for medical purposes.

It is unethical to buy an SUV.

It is unethical to eat meat.

It should be illegal to sell coffee and coffee products to minors anywhere in the United States.

James Hahn should be reelected mayor of Los Angeles.

Job flexibility and job security cannot co-exist.

Job security is the biggest motivator than money.

Junior high and high schools should randomly test their athletes for drug use.

Junk food should be banned from school cafeterias and vending machines.

Junk food should be banned in schools.

Juveniles should be tried as adults for felonies.

K-12 schools should ban junk food sales.

Letter grades in schools do more harm than good.

Lower the legal drinking age in the U.S. to 18.

Marijuana/or other drugs legalized Obesity Lawsuits

Medical testing on animals does more good than harm.

Middle grades should require students to wear uniforms.

Middle schools should allow outside food vendors for lunch.

Middle schools should have mandatory drug testing for participation in extracurricular activities.

Middle schools should have student lockers.

Middle schools should increase required classes and reduce electives.

Middle schools should not have promotion ceremonies.

Middle schools should require students to wear uniforms.

Missile Defense System Prayer in public schools

Money is more important than love.

Money is the biggest motivator of people at the workplace.

Movies penetrate the deepest corners of one’s soul.

NAFTA should be extended throughout the Americas.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton should be elected President of the United States in 2008.

Nontraditional English should be acknowledged in academia.

On average, zoos do more good than harm.

On balance, children’s television does more good than harm.

On balance, George W. Bush has done more good than harm.

On balance, nuclear energy does more good than harm.

On balance, special interests are a positive influence in American politics.

On balance, video games do more good than harm.

Organ donation should be compulsory for all United States citizens.

Ought to students necessary to put on school uniform??

Our problem is not overpopulation but under-population.’

Pakistan is more an enemy than an ally of the United States.

Parental spanking of children should be a crime.

Parents should avoid encouraging their children in getting toys which might sow the seeds of violence.

Parents should be held legally responsible for their children’s actions.

Parents should be punished for their children’s’ mistakes.

Parents should not buy war toys for their children.

Parents should not purchase war toys for their children.

PE should be compulsory in school.

Peer pressure does more good than harm.

Peer pressure is more beneficial than harmful.

Physical education in grades K-12 should be compulsory.

Physician-assisted suicide should be legalized.

Pledge of Allegiance

Private swimming pools are unethical.

Privatization of Prisons

Professional athletes should be role models.

Professional athletes should not be allowed to compete in the Olympic Games.

Public funds should not be used for professional sports stadiums.

Public schools should have single sex classrooms.

Puerto Rico should be a state.

Rap music does more harm than good.

Rap music does more harm than good.

Released felons should have voting rights.

Reservation of seats in Parliament is neither desirable nor helpful to women.

SAT/ACT prep classes do more harm than good.

School attendance should be voluntary.

School should be year-round.

School uniforms

School vouchers should be allowed.

Schools in the United States should ban animal dissection.

Schools should ban animal dissection.

Schools should ban junk food or not?

Schools should be year round.

Schools should eliminate letter grades.

Schools should end the practice of giving awards.

Schools should not support competitive interscholastic sports. Schools should ban animal dissection.

Schools should not use standardized testing.

Schools should provide for single sex instruction.

Schools should provide for single sex instruction.

September 11 should be made a national holiday.

Should 16 year old people be allowed to get a tattoo?

Should homework assignments be limited to a maximum of three nights a week?

Should minorities be treated differentially?

Should skateboards be prohibited on sidewalks?

Should the use of animals in sports and entertainment be banned?

Should there be a curfew for people under 18 years to reduce crime?

Single-sex education is better than co-ed.

Size zero fashion models should be banned.

Smoking in public places Megan’s Law

Soccer players should wear helmets.

Social networking technologies will bring about great changes in educational methods, in and out of the classroom.

Spanish should be a mandatory course in public schools.

State high schools should substantially expand vocational training.

State lotteries should be ended.

States should abolish the death penalty.

States should ban drivers’ use of cellular phones in cars.

States should eliminate its “three strikes” law.

States should issue drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants.

States should legalize physician-assisted suicide.

States should provide free wireless internet access.

States should raise the minimum driving age to 18.

States should substantially increase the minimum wage.

Stem cell research should be expanded.

Students should be able to have cell phones at school.

Students should be allowed to chew gum in school.

Students should be punished for failing to report cheating.

Students should be required to learn a second language for high school graduation.

Students should be required to learn a second language for high school graduation.

Students should take parenting classes.

Supreme Court proceedings should be televised.

Surveillance of Employees Terrorism Laws

Teachers should not be allowed to give candy as rewards.

Teachers should not use candy as rewards.

Teachers should not use candy as rewards.

Television does more harm than good.

Television is a bad influence.

Tenure should be abolished Violence/sex on television

Term limits for state legislators should be eliminated.

The “digital divide” is a secondary problem in the educational needs of the developing countries.

The American presidential primary and caucus system does more good than harm.

The assault weapon ban should be extended.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was justified.

The Bush administration guest worker program should be implemented.

The Constitution should be amended to follow foreign born citizens to serve as President of the United States.

The continuing introduction of new technologies and new media adds little to the quality of education.

The development of a sound educational and health system insures the nation’s security more than military strength.

The District of Columbia should become the 51st state.

The effects of economic reforms are trickling down.

The electoral college should be abolished.

The elimination of global poverty is the greatest moral challenge facing the work today.

The focus on standards-based education in public middle schools does more good than harm.

The French government should permit students to wear visible religious symbols in state schools.

The gifts people hold in common are more significant than those by which they differ.

The image of the human person affirmed by the electronic media is incompatible with Indian values.

The Internet has done more harm than good.

The late-night Metrorail service is a failed transportation experiment.

The legal system should have the option to charge juveniles as adults in murder cases.

The movie rating system is ineffective.

The NBA player dress code is justified.

The new economic policy is helping the poor.

The No Child Left Behind Act does more harm than good.

The only war worth fighting is the war on poverty.

The President of the United States should be elected by the direct vote of the people.

The private life of the politicians is no concern of the public.

The public sector has proved a great failure.

The public’s right to know is more important than the privacy of celebrities.

The Supreme Court should end affirmative action in higher education.

The test of democracy is its protection of minority rights.

The treatment of women is steadily improving.

The U S Government subsidy of the arts should end.

The U. S. should end the embargo on Cuba.

The U.S. invasion of Iraq has done more harm than good.

The U.S. should have a draft for military service.

The U.S. should not send humans into space.

The U.S. should take military actions against Iran.

The U.S. troop surge in Iraq is desirable.

The United Nations has failed at its mission.

The United Nations Security Council should have no permanent members.

The United States Constitution should be amended to establish a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court Justices.

The United States Federal Government should ban production of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The United States government should provide free healthcare for all U.S. citizens.

The United States is losing the War on Terror.

The United States military should immediately withdraw from Iraq.

The United States should adopt a new timber policy.

The United States should adopt English as the official national language.

The United States should amend the Constitution to allow foreign-born citizens to serve as President.

The United States should amend the constitution to criminalize flag burning.

The United States should ban the death penalty.

The United States should ban the importation of all products from China.

The United States should close its Guantanamo prison.

The United States should eliminate its own weapons of mass destruction.

The United States should end its use of the penny.

The United States should end the embargo on Cuba.

The United States should expand its use of nuclear power.

The United States should guarantee health care for its residents.

The United States should guarantee health care for its residents.

The United States should guarantee health care for its residents.

The United States should have a draft for military service.

The United States should launch a preemptive strike against Iran.

The United States should lower the voting age.

The United States should negotiate with Osama Bin Laden

The United States should open federal lands and offshore areas for oil drilling

The United States should pay reparations for slavery.

The United States should significantly expand its use of nuclear power.

The United States should significantly increase space exploration.

The United States should withdraw its military from Iraq.

The US Federal Government should significantly increase taxes on gasoline.

The US prison at Guantanamo Bay should be closed.

The US should eliminate farm subsidies.

The war against child labour is be being lost.

The world is getting more (ethical) every year.

There are no bad children, only bad parents.

There is more intellect than emotion in our way of life.

There should be mandatory drug testing for all high school athletes in the U.S.

There should be mandatory drug testing for participation in extracurricular activities.

There should be year-round schooling for students in grades K-12.

To be eligible for college, a student should have done twelve months social service in reforestation, road building, soil conservation, health or literacy work.

Torture is justified for national security.

Torture is justified for national security.

TV and films influence children more than parents.

U.S. intervention in Iraq has done more good than harm.

Under Indian conditions coalition governments are neither effective nor long lasting.

United States military forces should intervene in the Sudan.

US military involvement in Iraq has done more good than harm.

US troops and its allies should withdraw their forces from Iraq immediately.

Violent video games should be banned.

Voters should be given the choice “None of the above”

Voting rights of United States felons should be reinstated after they have served their time.

Voting should be made mandatory.

Wal-Mart is good for America.

War toys are good for children.

Warrantless wiretaps in America do more harm than good.

Water rates should be the same price for farmers and residential customers.

We are as sick as we are secret.

Which is more important money or love?

Women are underpaid, undervalued and underutilized.

Women have no rights to have an abortion.

Women make better politicians than men.

Women make better teachers than men.

You get more news from the radio than from TV.

Zoos do more good than harm.

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