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Debate Topics for the Institution of Education
by E.H. Epstein, University of Missouri, Rolla
Debate 1: Is Social Experience the Key to Quality Education?
Debate 2: Should Greater Teacher Accountability be Required?
Debate 3: Should We Abandon Bilingual Education?
Debate 4: Is Competency Testing Necessary to Assure Educational Quality?
Debate 5: Do We Need Drastic Changes in Schooling?
Debate 6: Should Schools Determine What is Learned?
Debate 7: Should Compusory Education Be Abolished?
Debate 8: Should the Federal Role in Education Be Increased?
Debate 9: Are the Schools Achieving Desired Social Goals?
Debate 10: Is Religion Essential in Education?
Debate 11: Does Behavioral Control Provide the Best Learning Envirnoment?
Debate 12: Should the Schools Promote Cultural Pluralism?
Debate 13: Are Tuition Tax Credits an Appropriate Federal Function?
Debate 14: Should Creationism Be Kept Out of the Science Curriculum?
Debate 15: Are Schools the Appropriate forum for Sex Education?
In a Sociology of Education course, Epstein expected each student to participate in three debates during the semester. In Introduction to Sociology, it might be possible to do only one. Epstein had students present the debates orally in class and as written documents. They were evaluated largely on the written content and partly on their oral presentation. Students were asked to do a typed report, prepared as a library research paper, with generous use of graphics whenever feasible. Using a wide range of source materials was considered very important.
Source: Adapted from Teaching Sociology of Education: Syllabi and Instructional Materials, 4th edition. 1996. Edited by Jeanne Ballantine, Floyd Morgan Hammack, Edith King, Caroline Hodges Persell, and Theodore C. Wagenaar. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association Teaching Resources Center, p. 45.