Topics for Debate

Here are 20 topics to discuss with a friend or group. Practise agreeing and disagreeing even if you have to argue against something you actually believe in. One way to have fun with this is to make up a bunch of cards that say agree or disagree. Each person has to pick up a card and then the topic is read out. It is more fun to have a debate this way because you don't have to play your true self. Try to continue each discussion for at least five minutes. Use the expressions that you learned, including agreeing, disagreeing, asking for opinions, interrupting, etc.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Swimming in the ocean is better than swimming in a public pool. Alcohol should be illegal. Children should provide room and board for their aging parents. Studying grammar is more important than practising conversation skills. Television is the leading cause of violence in today's society. Dogs make better companions than cats. Smoking should be permitted in public places. Females are better students than males. A parent shouldn't pierce a baby's ears. Women should be allowed to go topless in public. Lawyers should make a higher salary than nurses. Everyone should plan their own funeral. Reading English is more difficult than writing English. Summer is the best season of the year. Children under 13 should not be allowed to babysit. High school students should wear uniforms. 21 should be the legal driving age around the world. Rock and Roll is the best kind of music. The government should pay for post secondary education.

Television Plays a Positive Role in Society -- Debate Number 1 Arguments in Favor: 1. Television is now playing a very important role in our lives. 2. Television is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparative cheap one. 3. Television keeps you informed about current events. It allows you to follow the latest developments in science and politics. It offers an endless series of programs that are both instructive and entertaining. 4. Many television programs introduce people to things they never thought of before and have never heard of before. 5. Television series have done a great job in popularizing many literary masterpieces. 6. Television has been good company to those who do not work, like housewives, lonely old people, etc. 7. With television people are still free to enjoy other "civilized pleasures", or even more. 8. There are a considerable variety of programs on television. The viewer is always free to choose whatever he wants to see. 9. Television provides enormous possibilities for education, like school programs via closed-circuit television. 10. Television provides special broadcasts for those in a TV University, or Open University. It also offers specialized subjects like language teaching, sewing, cooking, painting, cosmetics, etc. 11. Television does the job of education in the broadest sense. Instructive programs achieve their goal through entertaining the viewers. 12. Television provides an outlet for creative talents. 13. People all around the world are no longer distant and isolated from each other. It brings most distant countries and the strangest customs right into your living room. 14. Compared with radio, everything on television is more lifelike, vivid, and real. 15. Television may be a vital factor in holding a family together. Especially where there are economic problems that cause the husband and wife to be at a breaking point. 16. Television keeps people informed about the government and its programs. 17. Television keeps people informed of the news and weather. 18. Television keeps people informed of disasters like floods, winds, etc. 19. In the case of serious problems television tells people what to do. 20. People can be taught about safety through television. 21. People can be informed about special sales at stores. Television Plays a Positive Role in Society -- Debate Number 1 Arguments Against: 1. Television is a great time waster. 2. People who don't watch television are happier than those who watch it. Television goes with the kind of life that leaves the viewer nothing to spare, nothing left. 3. Television makes the viewer completely passive because everything is presented to them without any effort on their part.

4. The very danger of watching television lies in the fact that the viewer takes no initiative. They make no choice and exercise no judgment. 5. Television passes on to children the corrupting values of a corrupt society. 6. Television is to blame for the fact that children take longer to learn to read today and barely see the point at all of getting that skill. 7. Television takes up too much of our time. We no longer have enough time for hobbies, entertaining activities. Other outside amusements like theaters, movies, sports, etc get ignored. 8. Unfortunately all of our free time is now regulated by television. 9. People rush home, gulp their food, which is often as simple as a sandwich and a beer, and then start watching the television. 10. The monster, i.e. television, demands absolute silence and attention. No one dares open his or her mouth during a television program 11. People have grown addicted to television, often neglecting the necessary and more important things like meals, sleep, and even work. 12. Many parents use television as a pacifier for their children. They put their children in front of the TV set. They don't care whether it exposes children to rubbish, and stupid commercials. They see spectacles of violence or sex as long as the children are quiet. 13. Many of the television programs are bad. They do not keep pace with the high demand of viewers and do not maintain high quality standards. 14. The wide coverage of television programs has reduced society to the conditions in illiterate communities. We are utterly dependent on the most primitive media of communication, pictures and spoken words. 15. What the viewer receives from television is nothing but secondhand experience. TV completely cuts the viewer off from the real world. 16. The more the viewer watches television, the lazier they become. The TV glues them to the set instead of allowing them to go out. 17. Television prevents people from communicating with each other. It has done much harm to the relationship between family members. 18. People no longer see the need to read books when they can just watch it on television. 19. Families sit and watch television at dinner instead of talking with each other. Students Should have a Part-time Job -- Debate 2 Arguments in Favor: 1. It is good for students to have part-time jobs because this helps cultivate independence among young people. 2. Part-time jobs in business can foster a sense of competition, which is important for students in the future. 3. After-school work enhances a young person's social development. 4. Being able to earn their own money gives students a feeling that they've become adults and, therefore, makes them feel more mature. 5. Part-time jobs make students more confident in themselves. Through the work they can realize their own value and prove that they are capable people.

6. Part-time jobs experience gives students an insight into what work is about and prepares them psychologically for their future jobs. 7. After-school work teaches students how hard it is to earn money and helps develop thriftiness in our younger generation. 8. Part-time jobs can help students apply their knowledge in practice. And, in return, their experience will make them know better what they have learned in classes and books. 9. Part-time jobs give students a feeling of achievement through contributing to the national construction and economy. 10. Part-time jobs can make the students' lives more colorful and is good for their personal development. 11. Students who have part-time jobs can relieve, to some extent, the economic burdens of their parents. 12. With the money earned, students can buy many books they like. 13. Because they earn money, students can pay for their education and thus will value their education even more. 14. Part time work helps the economy by providing additional inexpensive labor. 15. Part time labor helps the employer by providing labor at peak workloads without the costs of the labor when the workload goes down. 16. Students, part-time jobs contribute a lot, in one way or another, to our socialist construction. Students Should have a Part-time Job -- Debate 2 Arguments Against: 1. It's not good for students to do part-time jobs because they will become moneyoriented. 2. Many students who have part-time jobs have shown a decline in their studies. 3. Part-time jobs do not help develop a sense of thriftiness among young people. Because many students spend the money on high-priced items, luxuries that their parents can hardly afford. 4. Part-time jobs often distract the students' attention away from their studies, and some students even play truant. 5. The main task of students is to study hard and learn what is needed for the development of our nation. Social experience can be gained later after they finish their studies. 6. Students are in their formative years. Part-time jobs may expose them to social ills at an age when they cannot differentiate the good from the bad. 7. Some students become juvenile delinquents because they come under the influence of bad people through part-time jobs. 8. Students who have part-time jobs may relieve their parents' economic burdens. But their early contact with society adds greatly to the worries of their parents. 9. Though some after-school work can help students to practice what they learn in classes, many jobs require nothing of the students' knowledge. 10. Some students have become dropouts because through part-time jobs they've found that the more education you have, the less money you make.

11. After the chaotic 10-year-long Cultural Revolution, China now has a shortage of 60 million engineers. The problem of dropouts only makes the situation worse. 12. Because of the low cost of part time workers, employers are tempted to employ only part time and not employ full time workers. 13. Part time workers are not given vacations, sick pay, and health care. 14. Most part time jobs are very menial and do not lead to meaningful full time jobs. Smoking Should Prohibited -- Debate 4 Arguments in Favor: 1. Smoking should be prohibited. People who smoke smell bad to nonsmokers. The World Health Organization points out that diseases linked to smoking kill at least three million people each year, one every six seconds. 2. Scientific research has shown that the risk of developing lung cancer increases with smoking. The number of cigarettes smoked per day and the duration of the smoking habit increase your chances. It diminishes with the cessation of smoking. 3. Smoking is not only harmful to the smoker but also results in the deaths of nonsmokers. Statistics show that passive smoking is causing 3000 to 5000 lung cancer deaths a year among American non-smokers. 4. Smoking not only leads to lung cancer, but also many other diseases. This includes heart attacks, sore throats, headaches, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary emphysema, etc. 5. An American scientist estimated that smokers who average a package a day for 20 years would lose about eight years of their lives. 6. Smoking makes the indoor environment far more polluted than the outdoor environment. 7. Pregnant women who smoke run the risk of having deformed babies. When the mother smokes so does the baby. 8. Smoking is an expensive habit, for a smoker who consumes a package a day will spend much money every month. 9. Smoking has a bad impact on the psyche of the smokers. On the one hand, smokers realize the bad effects of smoking and are persuaded from time to time to stop. On the other hand, many of them can hardly resist the temptation to smoke. Thus, they often lose confidence in themselves. 10. Children exposed to parental cigarette smoking are put at a higher risk of developing lung cancer later in their lives. 11. In the countryside, some smokers share the same pipe, which is even more unhealthier. 12. Smoking not only pollutes the air but also makes the streets dirty. Some smokers flick ash off their cigarettes and throw cigarette butts everywhere. 13. Smoking speeds up the process of aging and helps cause wrinkles on people's faces. 14. Smokers cause many fires that kill people and destroy property. 15. Each cigarette smoked costs smokers six minutes of their life. Smoking Should Prohibited -- Debate 4

Arguments Against: 1. Smoking should not be prohibited, for cigarettes give many people a good deal of pleasure much of the time. 2. Nicotine can produce a tranquilizing effect during high emotions and shock situations, and therefore, helps to calm people down. 3. Smoking counteracts the decrease in efficiency that typically occurs in boring, monotonous situations. 4. Smokers can improve their performance in complex situations while smoking. 5. Smokers help increase the revenue of our country. 6. Smoking kills no more people than epidemics or traffic accidents. 7. Most nonsmokers spend much money on snacks, a habit costing as much as smoking if not more 8. Many young women admire handsome boys with a cigarette on their lip. 9. Young women who smoke appear cool and capable. 10. If we eliminated smoking, many people in the tobacco industry will be out of jobs, and that will create many social problems. 11. Smoking may not always lead to death, Winston Churchill was a chain-smoker but he enjoyed a long life. 12. Facts have shown that if a chain-smoker suddenly quits smoking, He's more likely to have lung-cancer than those who keep the habit. 13. Everybody has the right to keep his or her habits. Smokers are no exception. 14. Many smokers live to a very old age. 15. Many non-smokers die an early death. 16. The government should not restrict the rights of an individual to seek pleasure that does not hurt anyone. 17. Tobacco has not been proven to be harmful to health. 18. Tobacco and smoking is a harmless pleasure enjoyed by many for many years. 19. Many older people derive great pleasure for a smoke now and then. Money is the Most Important Thing in Life -- Debate 5 Arguments in Favor: 1. Everything in modern society is based on money. As the saying goes, money makes the world go around. 2. Parents object to their daughters' marriages unless their future sons-in-laws have jobs with good prospects. 3. Many young people marry for money rather than love. Security is more important than happiness. 4. Some people in Shanghai would even trade their self-esteem for money. 5. Materialism influences education, too. Students acquire knowledge not for its own sake, but for a bigger wage. 6. Students choose business courses rather than liberal arts for the sake of earning big money in the future. 7. Very few people want to be teachers because teaching is not a lucrative profession. 8. More emphasis is put on material life than on spiritual life in modern society. People do anything in their power to earn money to buy their houses, furniture, cars, etc.

9. People are trained to be acquisitive from an early age and are not considered successful unless they make good money. 10. People spend most of their lives struggling frantically to keep up with their neighbors. 11. Wealthy nations can succeed by offering their poorer talented neighbors bigger salaries. 12. Financial rewards for pop stars make many people envy them. 13. A desire to earn more money is nothing to be ashamed of. 14. Deng Xiao-ping said, "To get rich is glorious." 15. Being poor is not very much fun. 16. Being rich allows you to do what you want. 17. If you are rich, many people want you for a friend. 18. It is easier to marry well if you are wealthy. 19. Being wealthy allows you to enjoy life to the fullest. 20. The man who has the money makes the rules. Money is the Most Important Thing in Life -- Debate 5 Arguments Against: 1. Too much wealth leads to disaster. Murder or kidnapping might occur when big money is involved. 2. There is a marked reluctance among people to work long hours for money. Many people desire to have a rich and interesting life is thwarted by their quest for money. 3. Money corrupts. The more money you have, the more you want. 4. Success and wealth often earn you envy and even hostility, which ruins good human relationships. 5. Some young people reject materialistic values. They are motivated by their interest in work. 6. Some people think it is vulgar to be always after money. They give away their money to less fortunate people. 7. Some devoted teachers consider teaching a noble career and are not demoralized by their low salaries. 8. There is now a return of interest in the humanities, which arouse people's academic interest. Money is obviously not the sole interest to these people. 9. There exist many volunteer organizations, such as neighborhood communities in China, people involved in work without a reward. 10. What scientists and engineers want is often better conditions or work rather than more money. 11. The love of money is the root of all evil. 12. Some Chinese officials are corrupted by the love of money and the power it brings. 13. Wealth often brings out the worst in people. 14. Wealthy people are not always the happiest. 15. When you are rich it is hard to tell who is your real friend. 16. Many people try to kidnap and steal from the wealthy. 17. You must spend a lot of time to protect your wealth. 18. The wealthy spend too much time trying to get wealthier. 19. With much wealth simple things lose their pleasure. 20. The pursuit of money causes some to neglect their children.