http://www.debate.org/debates/?order=1&sort=&category=Education Customize this RSS feed by going to http://www.debate.org/rss/ en-us 2009-11-07T09:20:22-08:00 2009-11-07T09:20:22-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Resolved-Public-high-school-students-in-the-United-States-ought-not-be-required-to-pass-standard-e/1/ (Debating Period) Shauna D'Alessandro, president of the South Hills Area School Districts Association, states that "After 13 years of class work, class participation, term papers, projects and classroom projects, [this graduation requirement] may deny a diploma to children who may not be able to demonstrate proficiency on a standardized test." Today in the United States, several states require students to pass exit exams in order to earn their diploma, but instead of actually achieving their main goal of "significantly improving student achievement", these exit exams are actually unfairly denying hard-working students from earning their right to graduate. Thus, I affirm the resolution: Resolved: Public high school students in the United States ought not be required to pass standard exit exam to graduate. I will offer the following definitions to clarify today's debate: Ought – Used to express moral obligation Standardized – To compare with a standard In today's debate, http://www.debate.org/debates/Resolved-Public-high-school-students-in-the-United-States-ought-not-be-required-to-pass-standard-e/1/comments/ 2009-11-05T21:28:08-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Students-going-barefoot-to-school-as-a-school-rule-would-a-good-idea./2/ (Voting Period) This debate is about should schools in the United States (grades K-12) have their students go barefoot and not allowing having any students to have any footwear on school campus would be a helpful tactic for student's education (not including swimming classes or sports activities). For an example, students can't wear any footwear like shoes, socks, and sandals on campus for any reason so a student must go barefoot at the start of the school hours until the end of school hours, even if it rains or snows. I am against this rule for a couple of reasons… First reason is weather conditions. Students can get sick if they go barefoot in an inappropriate weather for a certain length period of time. Schools are usually 6-8 hours a day, a bad weather conditions for going barefoot would make a student sick, most likely with the flu. In the northern part of the United States, they get snowy weather. Students can get frostbite if the students go barefoot in snowy weat http://www.debate.org/debates/Students-going-barefoot-to-school-as-a-school-rule-would-a-good-idea./2/comments/ 2009-10-16T21:31:34-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Debate-should-be-a-required-subject-in-High-School/1/ (Post Voting Period) Many students never have the opportunity to study any form of formal argument. Students would benefit in a variety of ways by being exposed to the debate format. First, they would become more informed consumers, as a fundamental understanding of logic and of fallacious argument would allow them to make more need based and useful decisions in the consumer market. Second, for much of the same premise of the first, students who were trained in logic and debate would be better able to become informed voters and make more logical decisions regarding who they vote for. Finally, students who understood the principles of logic would be far more productive members of society. I look forward to reading an opposing response. Thank you! http://www.debate.org/debates/Debate-should-be-a-required-subject-in-High-School/1/comments/ 2009-10-10T11:55:39-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/vegetarian-school-lunches/1/ (Post Voting Period) I feel that High school and JH's should feature something other than meats drenched in sauce, ketchup, oils, and salt. Many schools, still are based on the fact that a child will at meat if there is nothing else, or they suppose that you will pack your own lunch if you don't eat meat. I sit with 2 vegetarians at my lunch table and for a week and a half they had nothing but meats in our lunch lines. Now I don't think that they should be able to provide a lunch for kids who cant eat peanut butter, but not for vegetarians. I leave the rest up to my opponent to make an argument, Thank you. http://www.debate.org/debates/vegetarian-school-lunches/1/comments/ 2009-10-07T14:18:13-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Standardized-Exit-Exams-Lincoln-Douglas-Format/1/ (Post Voting Period) Though I will readily admit that this is possibly one of my least favorite LD topics of all time, I want to run my cases for blocking purposes. Plus, I feel as though I have been long absent from DDO. :) I ask that my opponent use LD format, but I'm not going to be a huge stickler about it. In other words, the purpose of running this is two-fold: I want a good debate, but I also want to be able to run it in such a way that helps my kids block out my arguments and a decent neg case. This requires LD format. I also ask the the rounds mimic competition slightly in that RD 3 is reserved for voting issues only (i.e. please no new arguments). --------------------------------------------------------- I affirm, resolved: public high school students in the United States ought not be required to pass standardized exit exams to graduate. Observation 1: Definitions Standardized Exit Exam: any state-wide assessment that must be passed prior to receiving one' http://www.debate.org/debates/Standardized-Exit-Exams-Lincoln-Douglas-Format/1/comments/ 2009-10-12T19:41:41-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/students-of-public-high-schools-ought-not-be-required-to-pass-standardized-exit-exams-to-graduate/1/ (Voting Period) I stand to negate the resolution: public high school students in the united states ought not be required to pass standardized exit exams to graduate. My value for this round will be that of education. Education is what enables humans to grow and experience life to its fullest. By valuing education we are motivated to act in the best interest of students, which is what this topic should be about. My standard will be that of extrinsic motivation. This is defined as: the desire or push to perform a certain behavior based on the potential external rewards that may be received as a result (dictionary.com). Extrinsic motivation should be the standard because it does stimulate an individual to perform a certain task even if there is no interest in it. However, it is not right to say that the person does not get satisfaction from working or completing the task. In fact, the person does get gratification-only that the external reward extends the duration of the a http://www.debate.org/debates/students-of-public-high-schools-ought-not-be-required-to-pass-standardized-exit-exams-to-graduate/1/comments/ 2009-10-12T16:29:05-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Evolution-is-false-for-more-than-three-reasons-these-are-some-of-them./1/ (Post Voting Period) In this debate, I will point out that evolution is false for many reasons. I will begin with Darwin and how he narrowly mindly thought up evolution due to the way he saw the creatures and the universe around us. Darwin was brought up in a rich family, had his college paid for and all was well for him. Like Adam, God made a perfect world for him to live in, all the fruit to eat, no paid, no death, amazing land to live it. Life was at it's full. When Darwin grew up, his father wanted him to go learn science at college, but instead Darwin did not want to, he wanted to explore nature and its glory by him self. Adam also disobeyed God and was drawn in by the serpent, Satan. Darwin then journied around the world. On his voyage he saw that some birds, which were finches. He saw that the beaks were different sizes. After 20 years of writing his book, Origin of Species. Dawin conluded that there was no need for God, so there must be no God. Due to him thinking t http://www.debate.org/debates/Evolution-is-false-for-more-than-three-reasons-these-are-some-of-them./1/comments/ 2009-07-31T21:48:14-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Public-HighSchool-Students-of-the-U.S.-ought-not-be-required-to-take-a-standardized-exit-exam-to-g/1/ (Voting Period) This arguement is in the form of LD format please if you don't know the format here's the format Aff, Cross-X, Neg, Cross-X, AFF rebuttal, NEG rebutal, then Aff rebuttal. Negative: High School Exit Exams In this round I negate the resolution: Public high school of the United States should be required to take the High School Exit Exams. Definitions: United States – A democracy in which 50 states are entitled the right of a public education. Public High School – An area of which students to learn in grades 9-12 grades to be prepared for this exam. Utilitarianism - the ethical doctrine that virtue is based on utility, and that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number of persons. My value for this round is: utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. This goes with the test because the greatest amounts of people pass the exam. My criterion for http://www.debate.org/debates/Public-HighSchool-Students-of-the-U.S.-ought-not-be-required-to-take-a-standardized-exit-exam-to-g/1/comments/ 2009-10-22T22:53:37-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-Book-of-Bunny-Suicides-should-be-banned-from-public-schools./1/ (Voting Period) Good day to you all! Though I have a pending engagement in a tournament of sorts, the inspiration to debate has struck at this odd time, and at the encouragement of a fellow debater, have decided to put this topic up on the market: The Book of Bunny Suicides (Andy Riley) should be banned from public schools. This topic is near and dear to my heart, as I work for the school district in Oregon who became internationally famous for about 15 minutes when a parent spearheaded a movement to ban this book from our library shelves. In fact, I was on the review committee who made the recommendation to keep the book to our school board. So, I'd like to know if someone can prove me and my committee wrong! Since I am taking Con, I'll allow my opponent to make initial arguments, and we'll go from there. I'll lay out the following framework, though: This topic is meant to be treated as if the deciding body is a nebulous school board weighing the pro's and http://www.debate.org/debates/The-Book-of-Bunny-Suicides-should-be-banned-from-public-schools./1/comments/ 2009-07-23T01:34:46-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Cell-phones-should-be-allowed-in-school/3/ (Voting Period) I think that cell phones should be allowed to be used in schools, but put on vibrate in classes. I think that teachers should only let students accept calls from their families. cell phones should be face up on a desk though, so that when testing, no cheating is advised. Besides, even if one forbids cell phone usage, it doesnt prevent the problem... it only makes people use a phone in a place that it is uncalled for. (the bathroom or locker room) http://www.debate.org/debates/Cell-phones-should-be-allowed-in-school/3/comments/ 2009-09-17T09:15:00-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/School-uniforms-ought-to-be-worn-in-primary-and-secondary-schools./1/ (Voting Period) School Uniform: An outfit of clothing to be worn daily to school. "Traditionally, school uniforms have been subdued and professional. Boys' uniforms often consist of dark trousers and light-colored shirt, often with a tie. Girls' uniforms [...] typically consist of a dress or a blouse worn either with a skirt or culottes or under a pinafore." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_uniform) It is assumed that wearing the school uniform (as described above) does not conflict with any religious beliefs. Since my opponent is Pro, I will allow him to make the opening argument. http://www.debate.org/debates/School-uniforms-ought-to-be-worn-in-primary-and-secondary-schools./1/comments/ 2009-06-30T09:21:25-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Resolved-That-NCLB-is-a-negative-policy-and-should-be-terminated./1/ (Voting Period) This will be my first debate on this site. With that said, I will take the Pro side of this debate and is open to any debater The education in America has been suffering for years and we have been falling behind other countries very drastically. Therefore, the U.S. government established the No Child Left Behind Act. The No Child Left Behind Act for education is not helping education. Pro Argument 1) Improvements cannot be linked to No Child Left Behind "The interaction of the NCLB policies has created an incentive for states to lower testing standards in order to avoid federal sanctions. Researchers have reported a pattern whereby states lower passing thresholds and otherwise "dumb down" assessments to boost proficiency scores and avoid federal sanctions under NCLB." Essentially, the standards set by No Child Left Behind require schools to lower their testing standards so that schools can still receive funding. Thus, just reading state test sc http://www.debate.org/debates/Resolved-That-NCLB-is-a-negative-policy-and-should-be-terminated./1/comments/ 2009-05-11T19:09:15-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/The-philosophy-of-the-existence-of-God./1/ (Voting Period) The philosophy of God is a great topic to look into if you want to think a little. I am for God's very existence 100%, you would have to do alot of work and persuading to convince me into believing God ceases to exist. It would be like persuading me to live in a prison for my entire life in till I drop dead inside the prison walls, and not enjoying anything that life offers. Now I have touched down on the matter of a prison cell, I would like to compare it with there being no God. A prisoner who will be in prison till death has no fear or no real control, no understanding of behavior or no law or rule which keeps the prisoner good to the law. Like those who lack the belief or knowledge of a living and just God. Like a prisoner has limits to what he can do, in that he can not break out or make a wall crumble to his knees and then walk out freely. But the prisoner can only scruple and attempt to fight his way out by tossing the prison guards about a room. http://www.debate.org/debates/The-philosophy-of-the-existence-of-God./1/comments/ 2009-06-09T19:29:52-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/A-teachers-pay-should-be-merit-based./1/ (Post Voting Period) Though I believe this resolution to be fairly self-explanatory, allow me to clarify just a bit: 1) Merit-based: based upon a system of student achievement to be defined by the affirmation. As long as the advocacy doesn't switch and student achievement is fairly defined, I'm all set with it. 2) Student achievement: a quantitative measurement of the attainment or mastery of academic skills (for example) Brief resolutional analysis: 1) We are talking about teachers of public schools in the US. We aren't limiting it by grade, but we are limiting it by country. Having to argue about schools in Zimbabwe is a waste of our time :D As I've adopted the negation's stance, I will allow my opponent to lay out his/her case prior to posting mine. I also really like the idea of a cross-ex opportunity in the comments. Can we do that if questions arise? They won't be considered offensively within the debate unless introduced to the debate page, but it'll be a http://www.debate.org/debates/A-teachers-pay-should-be-merit-based./1/comments/ 2009-04-21T16:36:45-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Should-studens-in-the-united-states-be-forced-to-stand-up-and-say-the-pledge-of-allegiance/1/ (Post Voting Period) I stand in firm negation on this topic for the simple fact that we are al American. One of the many great things that america was founded on was the wright to freedoms, so there for by makeing our young americans pledge we are takeing away that right. http://www.debate.org/debates/Should-studens-in-the-united-states-be-forced-to-stand-up-and-say-the-pledge-of-allegiance/1/comments/ 2009-02-06T11:01:00-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/THBT-student-should-learn-the-third-language./1/ (Post Voting Period) - Only 2 languages aren't enough! Everybody know that student have to learn their local language and English in school. But I think only 2 languages aren't enough. Suppose you are Thai ,and you want to find a good materials which are only in India. You have to contact someone but if he can't speak English and also Thai. How do you do? This is a problem that we have to solve it at the root cause from education in school. Student who learns third language E.G. Chinese ,Hindi ,Spanish , Japanese ,or Thai they will get more opportunities in real life!! You can easily find a job if you told the company that you can speak more than 2 or 3 languages. I strongly believe that If student learn third.. maybe forth language, they will gain more advantage. - The advantages from learning many language! Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself. I'm very advocate to these opinions. Suppose ag http://www.debate.org/debates/THBT-student-should-learn-the-third-language./1/comments/ 2009-10-04T02:15:55-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Marxist-methods-of-teaching-and-Marxist-ideologies-should-be-implemented-in-school-curricula/1/ (Voting Period) High school curricula should be focused more than they are at present on utilizing the pedagogy espoused by Paulo Freire and on encouraging students to understand communism, by which I mean an economic theory espousing these three principles (lists your stated principles 1,2,3). I recognize that my assertion may be proven invalid if either (a) true communism is shown to be unachievable or (b) that education would not be improved by either (1) Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy approach or (2) students' better understanding of communist principles. My opponent's only limitation is that he cannot use real world examples of the consequences of the implementation of communist principles." - This is my extended topic as it could not fit into the confined space. Recently, within the year, I was introduced to the Communist Manifesto by my English teacher. From reading the Manifesto, examining the core beliefs and speaking to a professor of philosophy who has given Ma http://www.debate.org/debates/Marxist-methods-of-teaching-and-Marxist-ideologies-should-be-implemented-in-school-curricula/1/comments/ 2009-05-17T23:59:39-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Debate.org-ought-to-use-Lincoln-Douglas-formatted-debate-as-required/1/ (Voting Period) I'm just going to use this round to set up the debate. I urge the con to do the same as well. So what is Lincoln Douglas (also known as "LD") debate? Well, it's a structered debate used in high school Speech and Debate tournaments. Nationally recognized and practiced, the National Forensics League of America (also known as "NFL") maintains a roling set of rules regarding this debate. For those who don't know the structure of Lincoln Douglas, it's a formatted, timed, alternating speech debate. Specifics can be found just about anywhere online. After all, Google is your friend :]. So what does this debate come down to? Essentially, we're asking whether or not Debate.org ought to use LD as the only form of debate. Every member debating on this website would be required to use this format. The CON is essentially arguing that we shouldn't use LD. The PRO, of course, has to argue that we ought to. We're not going to argue in LD style for this debate; a http://www.debate.org/debates/Debate.org-ought-to-use-Lincoln-Douglas-formatted-debate-as-required/1/comments/ 2009-05-13T19:42:07-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/By-2040-the-FG-should-mandate-that-all-new-passenger-vehicles-sold-in-US-be-powered-by-alt-fuels/2/ (Post Voting Period) Please accept if you are willing to have good conversation I stand to negate the following: "Resolved: That, by 2040, the federal government should mandate that all new passenger vehicles and light trucks sold in the United States be powered by alternative fuels." 1. To start of, the fact that we are changing to alternative fuels is bad and means no improvement of the status quo : pollution and oil shortage; What happens is that when you introduce these new vehicles with their alt. fuels, is that these are still fuels. To get them will cost more CO2 and they themselves won't solve much. What we need is alternative energy run cars: solar energy, not onother CO2 producer. 2. The resolution calls for "alternative fuels", thsi i presume to be all types of fuels other than oil. Nuclear energy is a type of alt. fuel and it in itself is the worst idea of the century, imagine cars runing on nuclear fuel. My oponent has to defend all types of alternative fuels w http://www.debate.org/debates/By-2040-the-FG-should-mandate-that-all-new-passenger-vehicles-sold-in-US-be-powered-by-alt-fuels/2/comments/ 2009-01-02T14:01:38-08:00 http://www.debate.org/debates/Should-Sixth-form-year-12-13-16-year-olds-to-19-participate-in-extra-curriculum-the-school-offers/1/ (Voting Period) I believe that sixth formers will further there knowledge by going to extra curriculum actievities. Firstly let me define Extra curriculum - it is activities that are not part of the required curriculum; outside the regular course of study but under the supervision of the school. One of the main points is that no matter if you do not take english and go to english clubs it only broadens your knowledge and is only for 1 hours per week average. http://www.debate.org/debates/Should-Sixth-form-year-12-13-16-year-olds-to-19-participate-in-extra-curriculum-the-school-offers/1/comments/ 2009-06-04T15:58:41-08:00