Middle School Public Debate Program

2023-24  Season Topics 

Saturday, January 20, 2024  Tournament

2022-23 Season Topics

April 29th Championship Tournament

• Ban Hate Speech
• Streaming services are bad for music
• Parents should be able to control the curricular content of their children's schools.
• Genetically-modified plants are more beneficial than harmful to the environment
• Give the Black Hills back to the Sioux Nation

March 4th Tournament:

• • This house prefers a world in which AI is smarter than humans
  • Ban Hate Speech
  • Earth should be governed by a single-world government. (Varsity only)

November 5th Tournament:

Novice and Varsity

• • Captive live animal displays (such as zoos and aquariums) do more harm than good.
    
    Television is a bad influence.
    
    
    Varsity Only
    
    This house believes that America should have a four-day work week.

Topics from the April 30th, 2022 Championship Tournament Were: 

• Children under 14 should not use smartphones.

  • The United States should implement compulsory voting in general elections.
  • Sanctions do more harm than good
  • Abolish the Olympic Games
  • Schools should have cameras in classrooms.

Some of the Topics Debated during  the 2021-2022 Season Were:

• • Ban plea bargains.
  • Schools should not give grade
  • This house supports the death penalty (Varsity Only)

• This house supports genetic engineering of human embryos

• This house prefers a world in which national secession is widely permitted.

• Ban Plea Bargains (Varsity Only)

2021 New York Debate League Championship

We are so proud of all our schools and students for participating in this year's program! Congratulations to the ESU NYDL Middle School Debate team from The Dalton School in New York City for winning the 2021 Middle School Debate Championship, and to all of this year's participants. Read more about this year's season.

• • New Topics

    1. The US should not develop or use lethal autonomous weapons.

    2. Dysfunctional democracy is better than benevolent dictatorship.

    3. Overall, private schools do more good than harm.

    4. Pandemic lockdowns have done more good than harm.

    
    
    Returning Topics
    1. US citizens should be required to complete two years of national service
    2. The two-party system is bad for American democracy
    3. There should be no required subjects in high school
    4. Museums and galleries should display works of art anonymously
    5. The US should implement a UBI
    6. Abolish the senate
    7. Countries responsible for the greatest share of greenhouse gas emissions should pay reparations to the countries most threatened by climate change.

• City and Country School
• Blind Brook Middle School
• East New York Middle School of Excellence
• Ethical Culture Fieldston
• Garden School
• Hackley School
• Hoboken Charter School
• NEST +m
• Nightingale-Bamford School
• School for Global Leaders
• Speyer Legacy School
• The Dalton School
• Salk School
• The School at Columbia University
• Tuckahoe Middle School
• United Nations International School
• Unity Preparatory Charter School
• West End Secondary School