Controversial Topics for Persuasive Papers or
Speeches
Adoption
Interracial adoption
Open adoption records
Airlines
Airline strikes
Airline safety
Airline regulation
Arming airline pilots
Alcohol
Lowering the Legal Drinking Age
Drunk Driving
Animals
Animal experimentation
Should certain breeds of dogs,
like pit bulls be banned?
Spaying and neutering of pets
Exotic animals as pets
Animal euthanasia
Bioethics
Genetic engineering
Cloning
Stem cell research
Birth Control
Celebrity Privacy
Censorship
Wartime censorship
Charitable Contributions
Celebrities raising money
Accountability of charities
Creation vs. Evolution
Crime
see also: Law and Crime
“Three strikes” crime laws
Hate crimes (hate crime laws)
Death
Death penalty (capitol punishment)
Televised executions
Right to Die (Euthanasia, assisted suicide)
Detention Facilities
Tactics used at Guantanamo Bay and Abu
Ghraib
Discrimination
Drugs
Medical marijuana (legalization of
marijuana)
Performance enhancing drugs
Economics
Government bailouts of private
business/industry
Credit cards and young people
Education
see also: Schools
Bilingual education
College entrance exams
On-line education
Emphasis on college admissions tests
Retention of students due to failing grades
Year-round schooling
Value of homework
School vouchers
Testing to hold schools accountable for
student achievement
Mainstreaming disabled children
Inflation of grades in high school & college
Necessity of teacher certification
Inclusion of pre-schools in public
education
College for everyone
Early decision programs for college
admission
Bilingual education
Too much emphasis on computers in
schools
Concentration on academics rather than
sports
Electoral Reform
Eminent Domain
Energy
Development of alternate forms of energy
Fuel efficiency in automobiles
Environmental Protection
Wetlands regulation
Ethics
Presidential ethics
Medical ethics
Extraterrestrial Life
Family
Unmarried mothers keeping their babies
Unmarried couples living together
Visitation rights for grandparents
Same-sex marriages
Postponing parenthood
Age discrimination
Race discrimination
Divorce
DNA
Database controversy
Driving
Driving age for teens
Drug Testing
In the workplace
Mandatory drug testing for athletes
Freedom
Freedom of speech (1st amendment)
Gambling
Dangers of Gambling
Global Warming
Guns
Right to own guns (Gun control)
Zero Tolerance policies in schools
Harassment
Sexual Harassment
Health
see: Medical
Homelessness
Homosexuality
Immigration
Illegal immigrants
Restricting immigration into the U.S.
Insanity Plea
Internet
Downloading music from the Internet
Internet regulation
Children’s Internet Protection Act
Plagiarism and the Internet
On-line purchasing hurts brick-and-mortar
businesses
Internet filters
Gambling on the Internet
Ivory Trade
Labor
Child Labor
Labor Unions
Language
Making English the “official” language of
the U.S.
Law and Crime
Execution of the mentally retarded
Death penalty for teens
Prison boot camps for young offenders
Spanking children
Kids too busy to be kids
Taking children out of abusive homes
Parent staying home with the children
Requiring a license before you can have
children
Men sharing birth control burden
Living together replacing marriage
Food Industry
Meat industry’s use of antibiotics
Safety of genetically engineered foods
Media
Sex on TV
Video game violence causing violence in
children
Violence on television causing increase in
violence
among children/teens
Medical
Managed Heath Care
Medical treatment refusal rights
Medical malpractice
Public access to personal health records
On-line purchase of prescription drugs
Smokers with lung cancer collecting
damages
Pregnancy in post-menopausal women
Donating blood
Human cloning
Liposuction health risks
Military
Conscientious objectors
Women in military combat assignments
Women in military schools
Homosexuals in the military
Use of military tribunals
Morals
Decline of morality in America
Mysteries/Unexplained phenomena
Paranormal phenomena
Bermuda Triangle
Big foot…fact or fiction
Loch Ness Monster
Myths and Misconceptions/Paranormal
Phenomena
Paranormal phenomena
Bermuda triangle
Big foot, fact or fiction?
Loch Ness Monster
Existence of ghosts
UFO’s
Real-life vampires
Battered woman syndrome as a defense
Sex-offender registries
Criminals getting off too easily
Voting rights for prisoners
DNA testing of criminals
Children prosecuted as adults
Media publicity for serial killers increases/
decreases threat to society
Voting rights for ex-prisoners
Abusing the right to sue
Motorcycle helmet laws
Seat-belt laws
Legal driving age
Toleration of “hate speech”
Lotteries
Eliminating the lottery
Marriage
Same-sex marriages
National Deficit
Nuclear Arms Control
Nuclear Test Ban
Organ and Body Donation
Parenting
Surrogate parenting
Homosexual parenting
Police Corruption
Politics
Campaign finance reform
Presidential ethics
Pornography
Harm to society
On the Internet
Stronger child pornography laws
Pregnancy
Fetal Abuse
Prisons
Prisoner’s Rights
Rehabilitation as a job of the prisons
Privacy
Right to privacy
Racial Profiling
Surveillance Operations
Legal concerns
Will public surveillance technology make
your
city safer or just invade your privacy?
Sweatshops
Tattoo/Body Piercing
Dangers of tattooing
Teen curfews
Tobacco
Tobacco regulation
Smoking bans
Transplants
Organ transplants
Racism
Rainforest Destruction
Recording Industry
Ethics of the recording industry
Recycling
Personal responsibility
Reproduction
Reproductive Rights
Reproductive Technologies (Ethics)
Schools
see also: Education
Drug testing in schools
Corporal punishment in schools
Harassment in schools
School uniforms
Dress codes for students
Home schooling
School prayer
Religion in the school curriculum
Violence in schools
Hazing
Later start to school day
Four-day school week
Out-of-school suspension
Video camera surveillance in schools
Nutritional content of school lunches
Longer school day/year
Home-schooled students taking part in
public
Vaccinations
Violence
Teen gangs/Youth violence
Violence on TV
Flag desecration
Domestic violence
War
U.S. intervention in Iraq
Gulf War Syndrome
War on terrorism
U.S. war crimes
Powers of the government during war
Weapons of mass destruction
Welfare reform
school activities
Corporate presence in public school (like
Pepsi
having rights to all drink machines in
return
for giving the school some of the
profit)
Single-sex schools
Value of pre-schools
Fund raising in schools
Banning book bags in school
Being a “school snitch” (reporting
classmates
and being rewarded for doing so)
Problem of plagiarism in American schools
Sex-offender notification
Social Security
Changes in laws to start benefits later due
to
increased life span
Sports
Professional sports salaries
Competitive sports being unhealthy for
children
Gender inequities in school sports
Team sports create leaders
Subsidies
Farm subsidies