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arguments-and-debates

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# Was Bill Clinton a Good President?' Argument Science / Technology: Clinton cut NASA’s budget by $715 million in 1995 (about 5%) and did not restore the bulk of the money until three months before he left office. The result was a space program struggling to operate with less money for most of Clinton’s time in o...
# Animal Dissection - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Animal dissection is a productive and worthwhile use for dead animals. A large portion of dissected animals were already dead before being allocated for dissection. Having students dissect the animals allows for a learning opportunity instead of just wastin...
# Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?' Argument If the minimum wage is increased, companies may use more robots and automated processes to replace service employees. If companies cannot afford to pay a higher minimum wage for low-skilled service employees, they will use automation to avoid hiring people...
# Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?' Argument Animal testing contributes to life-saving cures and treatments. The California Biomedical Research Association states that nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from research using animals. Animal res...
# Should Pit Bulls Be Banned? Top 3 Pros and Cons' Argument BSL is expensive to enact. Nationwide, BSL would cost an estimated $476 million per year, including enforcement of the law, related vet and shelter care, euthanization and disposal, and legal fees. There are about 4.5 million dog bites per year, resultin...
# Internet & "Stupidity" - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument The internet is causing us to lose the ability to perform simple tasks. “Hey, Alexa, turn on the bathroom light… play my favorite music playlist, cook rice in the Instant Pot… read me the news… what’s the weather today…” “Hey, Siri, set a timer… call m...
# Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?' Argument Increasing the minimum wage would reduce poverty. A person working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour earns $15,080 in a year, which is 20% higher than the 2015 federal poverty level of $12,331 for a one-person household under 65 years...
# Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?' Argument Simulating violence such as shooting guns and hand-to-hand combat in video games can cause real-life violent behavior. Video games often require players to simulate violent actions, such as stabbing, shooting, or dismembering someone with an ax, swo...
# Is Human Activity Primarily Responsible for Global Climate Change?' Argument Permafrost is melting at unprecedented rates due to global warming, causing further climate changes. According to the IPCC, there is “high confidence” (about an 8 out of 10 chance) that anthropogenic global warming is causing permafros...
# Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?' Argument Raising the minimum wage would help reduce the federal deficit. According to Aaron Pacitti, PhD, Associate Professor of Economics at Siena College, raising the minimum wage would help reduce the federal budget deficit “by lowering spending on public assist...
# Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?' Argument There is no adequate alternative to testing on a living, whole-body system. A living systems, human beings and animals are extremely complex. Studying cell cultures in a petri dish, while sometimes useful, does not provide the opportunity to...
# Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?' Argument Raising the minimum wage would disadvantage low-skilled workers. From an employer’s perspective, people with the lowest skill levels cannot justify higher wages. A study by Jeffrey Clemens, PhD, and Michael J. Wither, PhD, found that minimum wage increase...
# Universal Basic Income Pros and Cons - Top 3 Arguments For and Against' Argument UBI removes the incentive to work, adversely affecting the economy and leading to a labor and skills shortage. Earned income motivates people to work, be successful, work cooperatively with colleagues, and gain skills. However, “if...
# Space Colonization - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Technological advancement into space can exist alongside conservation efforts on Earth. While Earth is experiencing devastating climate change effects that should be addressed, Earth will be habitable for at least 150 million years, if not over a billion y...
# Ride-Sharing Apps - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Ride-hailing apps are convenient, affordable, and safe for riders and other drivers. The technology used by ride-hailing companies increases reliability and decreases wait times for consumers, and can offer a 20% to 30% discount over the cost of a taxi. T...
# US Supreme Court Packing - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Historical precedent most strongly supports a nine-judge Supreme Court. While the US Constitution does not specify the number of Supreme Court justices, neither does it specify that justices must have law degrees or have served as judges. However, ...
# Should Vaccines Be Required for Children?' Argument Diseases that vaccines target have essentially disappeared. There is no reason to vaccinate against diseases that no longer occur in the United States. The CDC reported 57 cases of and nine deaths from diphtheria between 1980 and 2016 in the United States. Fe...
# Pokémon Go - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument People are playing the game in inappropriate places. In their quest to capture creatures, players are failing to respect their surroundings, spawning countless articles, such as Evan Dashevsky’s compilation, “18 Completely Inappropriate Places to Play Pokemon Go,”...
# Ride-Sharing Apps - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Ride-hailing services have a history of poor driver screening that puts passengers at risk. While taxi drivers are subject to rigorous security screening involving fingerprint checks through the FBI database, ride-hailing drivers are only subject to limited...
# Should Recreational Marijuana Be Legal?' Argument Legalizing marijuana is opposed by major public health organizations. Some of the public health associations that oppose legalizing marijuana for recreational use include the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), ...
# Is Human Activity Primarily Responsible for Global Climate Change?' Argument Rising levels of human-produced gases released into the atmosphere create a greenhouse effect that traps heat and causes global warming. Gases released into the atmosphere trap heat and cause the planet to warm through a process called...
# Dress Codes - Top 3 Pros and Cons \| ProCon.org' Argument Uniformly mandated dress codes promote safety. From school chemistry labs to manufacturing jobs, some dress code requirements are obviously about safety. Many places require protective glasses, steel-toed boots, fire-resistant jackets, hard hats, or refle...
# Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?' Argument 18 is the age of legal majority (adulthood) in the United States. Americans enjoy a range of new rights, responsibilities, and freedoms when they turn 18 and become an adult in the eyes of the law. 18-year-olds may vote in local, state, and...
# Should Adults Have the Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun?' Argument The Second Amendment does not guarantee concealed carry. The Second Amendment states: “a well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” There is ...
# Should All Americans Have the Right (Be Entitled) to Health Care?' Argument Providing a right to health care could worsen a doctor shortage. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) predicts a shortfall of up to 104,900 doctors by 2030. If a right to health care were guaranteed to all, this shortage...
# Should Social Security Be Privatized?' Argument Private accounts give individuals control over their retirement decisions. Americans are capable of making their own decisions regarding how their retirement contributions are invested. Peter Ferrara, JD, former Director of the International Center for Law and E...
# Kneeling during the National Anthem: Top 3 Pros and Cons \| ProCon.org' Argument Kneeling during the national anthem is a legal form of peaceful protest, which is a First Amendment right. President Obama said Kaepernick was “exercising his constitutional right to make a statement. I think there’s a long history ...
# Bottled Water Bans - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Banning bottled water restricts consumers' access to a product they want, and negatively affects small businesses. A survey by Harris Poll for the International Bottled Water Association found that 93% of Americans think “bottled water should be available ...
# Ride-Sharing Apps - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Ride-hailing services increase traffic congestion, emissions, and total vehicle miles traveled. Ride-hailing adds a total of 5.7 billion miles of driving each year in the nine metropolitan areas (Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, ...
# Should People Become Vegetarian?' Argument It is cruel and unethical to kill animals for food when vegetarian options are available, especially because raising animals in confinement for slaughter is cruel, and many animals in the United States are not slaughtered humanely. Animals are sentient beings that have...
# Is Binge Watching Bad for You? Top 3 Pros and Cons' Argument Binge-watching makes a show more fulfilling. While binge-watching, the viewer can feel the pleasure of full immersion (aka “the zone”), which is a great feeling similar to staying up all night to finish a book or project. Shows made for binge-watchin...
# Is a College Education Worth It?' Argument Many recent college graduates are un- or underemployed. The unemployment rate for recent college graduates (4.0%) exceeded the average for all workers, including those without a degree (3.6%) in 2019. The underemployment rate was 34% for all college graduates and 41.1%...
# Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?' Argument Animals themselves benefit from the results of animal testing. Vaccines tested on animals have saved millions of animals that would otherwise have died from rabies, distemper, feline leukemia, infectious hepatitis virus, tetanus, anthrax, an...
# Private Prisons - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument All prisons—not just privately operated ones--should be abolished. Author Rachel Kushner explained, “Ninety-two percent of people locked inside American prisons are held in publicly run, publicly funded facilities, and 99 percent of those in jail are in publi...
# Should People Become Vegetarian?' Argument A diet that includes meat does not raise risk of disease. Saturated fats from meat are not to blame for modern diseases like heart disease, cancer, and obesity. Chemically processed and hydrogenated vegetable oils like corn and canola cause these conditions because the...
# American Socialism - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument The job of the US government is to enable free enterprise and then get out of the way of individual ingenuity and hard work. The government should promote equal opportunity, not promise equal results. As the Dallas Federal Reserve explained, “Free enterpri...
# Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?' Argument The vast majority of biologists and several of the largest biomedical and health organizations in the United States endorse animal testing. A poll of 3,748 scientists by the Pew Research Center found that 89% favored the use of animals in sc...
# Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?' Argument Armed civilians are unlikely to stop crimes and are more likely to make dangerous situations, including mass shootings, more deadly. None of the 62 mass shootings between 1982 and 2012 was stopped by an armed civilian. Gun rights activists regularly state that...
# Should the United States Continue Its Use of Drone Strikes Abroad?' Argument Drones limit the scope, scale, and casualties of military action, keeping the US military and civilians in other countries safer. Invading Pakistan, Yemen, or Somalia with boots on the ground to capture relatively small terrorist group...
# Is Social Media Good for Society?' Argument Social media allows people to improve their relationships and make new friends. 93% of adults on Facebook use it to connect with family members, 91% use it to connect with current friends, and 87% use it to connect with friends from the past. 72% of all teens connect...
# Should Teachers Get Tenure?' Argument Tenure makes it costly for schools to remove a teacher with poor performance or who is guilty of wrongdoing. It costs an average of $313,000 to fire a teacher in New York state. New York Department of Education spent an estimated $15-20 million a year paying tenured teache...
# Should Birth Control Pills Be Available Over the Counter (OTC)?' Argument OTC birth control pills would increase access for low-income and medically underserved populations. Twenty million women live in “contraception deserts,” places with one clinic or fewer per 1,000 women who need government-funded birth con...
# Is Cell Phone Radiation Safe?' Argument Numerous peer-reviewed studies have shown an association between cell phone use and the development of brain tumors. In 2018, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) concluded, “high exposure to RFR (900 MHz) used by cell phones was associated with: [1] Clear evidence of an...
# Should Birth Control Pills Be Available Over the Counter (OTC)?' Argument OTC status for birth control pills could result in more unwanted pregnancies. The birth control pill is not the most effective form of birth control. Among birth control methods, the Pill ranks seventh in effectiveness. Typical use of the...
# Fracking Pros and Cons - Top 3 Arguments For and Against' Argument Natural gas is a necessary bridge fuel to get to 100% clean energy and eliminate coal and petroleum, and fracking is the best way to extract natural gas. Mark Little, President and Chief Executive for Suncor, explained, “The choice is not betwee...
# Should the United States Maintain Its Embargo against Cuba?' Argument The embargo harms the US economy. The US Chamber of Commerce opposes the embargo, saying that it costs the United States $1.2 billion annually in lost sales of exports. A study by the Cuba Policy Foundation, a nonprofit founded by former US...
# Should Recreational Marijuana Be Legal?' Argument Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, which are already legal. Alcohol and tobacco are legal, yet they are known to cause cancer, heart failure, liver damage, and more. According to the CDC, six people die from alcohol poisoning every day and 88,00...
# Should Tablets Replace Textbooks in K-12 Schools?' Argument Tablets lower the amount of paper teachers have to print for handouts and assignments, helping to save the environment and money. A school with 100 teachers uses on average 250,000 pieces of paper annually. A school of 1,000 students on average spends...
# Was Ronald Reagan a Good President?' Argument Environment: Between 1982 and 1988, Reagan signed 43 bills designating more than 10 million acres of federal wilderness areas in 27 states. This acreage accounted for nearly 10% of the National Wilderness Preservation System at the time. Reagan had signed more wilde...
# Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?' Argument Violent video games are a convenient scapegoat for those who would rather not deal with the actual causes of violence in the US. Patrick Markey, PhD, Psychology Professor at Villanova University, stated: “The general story is people who play video g...
# Should the Drinking Age Be Lowered from 21 to a Younger Age?' Argument MLDA creates a mindset of non-compliance with the law among young adults. Lowering MLDA from 21 to 18 would diminish the thrill of breaking the law to get a drink. Normalizing alcohol consumption as something to be done responsibly and in mo...
# Should Teachers Get Tenure?' Argument Tenure protects teachers from being prematurely fired after a student makes a false accusation or a parent threatens expensive legal action against the district. After an accusation, districts might find it expedient to quickly remove a teacher instead of investigating the ...
# Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?' Argument Legally owned guns are frequently stolen and used by criminals. A June 2013 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report states that “[a]lmost all guns used in criminal acts enter circulation via initial legal transaction.” Between 2005 and 2010, 1.4 million guns were s...
# Should the United States Continue Its Use of Drone Strikes Abroad?' Argument Drone strikes make the United States safer by remotely decimating terrorist networks across the world. Drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia have killed between 7,665 and 14,247 militants and alleged militants, inc...
# Should More Gun Control Laws Be Enacted?' Argument Guns are rarely used in self-defense. Of the 29,618,300 violent crimes committed between 2007 and 2011, 0.79% of victims (235,700) protected themselves with a threat of use or use of a firearm, the least-employed protective behavior. In 2010 there were 230 “ju...
# Was Bill Clinton a Good President?' Argument Other: Clinton was aware of the threat of Al Qaeda and authorized the CIA to kill Osama bin Laden. He sought to hunt down bin Laden after the Oct. 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole, but the CIA and FBI refused to certify bin Laden’s involvement in the terrorist act. “I...
# Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?' Argument Most experiments involving animals are flawed, wasting the lives of the animal subjects. A peer-reviewed study found serious flaws in the majority of publicly funded US and UK animal studies using rodents and primates: “only 59% of the studi...
# Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?' Argument The US military uses violent video games to train soldiers to kill. The US Marine Corps licensed Doom II in 1996 to create Marine Doom in order to train soldiers. In 2002, the US Army released first-person shooter game America’s Army to recruit sold...
# Is Human Activity Primarily Responsible for Global Climate Change?' Argument Many scientists disagree that human activity is primarily responsible for global climate change. A report found more than 1,000 scientists who disagreed that humans are primarily responsible for global climate change. The claim that 9...
# Should Abortion Be Legal?' Argument Abortion bans endangers healthcare for those not seeking abortions. Medical treatment for nonviable pregnancies is often exactly the same as an abortion. occur when a fertilized egg implants somewhere other than the uterine cavity. About one in 50 pregnancies are ectopic,...
# Dress Codes - Top 3 Pros and Cons \| ProCon.org' Argument Dress codes promote inclusiveness and a comfortable, cooperative environment while eliminating individualistic attire that can distract from common goals. As Bonneville Academy, a STEM school in Stansbury Park, Utah, explained, “The primary objective of a...
# Should All Americans Have the Right (Be Entitled) to Health Care?' Argument A right to health care could lead to government rationing of medical services. Countries with universal health care, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, all ration health care using methods such as contro...
# Was Ronald Reagan a Good President?' Argument Health: Reagan almost completely ignored the growing AIDS epidemic. Although the first case of AIDS was discovered in the early 1980s, Reagan never publicly addressed the epidemic until May 31, 1987 when he spoke at an AIDS conference in Washington, DC. By that time...
# Should People Become Vegetarian?' Argument A vegetarian diet lowers risk of diseases. A vegetarian diet reduces the chances of developing kidney stones and gallstones. Diets high in animal protein cause the body to excrete calcium, oxalate, and uric acid—the main components of kidney stones and gallstones. A ...
# Should the Federal Corporate Income Tax Rate Be Raised?' Argument Raising the corporate income tax rate would make taxes fairer. As a 2021 Biden Administration White House statement explains, “The current tax system unfairly prioritizes large multinational corporations over Main Street American small businesses...
# Zoos - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org' Argument Zoos produce helpful scientific research. 228 accredited zoos published 5,175 peer-reviewed manuscripts between 1993 and 2013. In 2017, 173 accredited US zoos spent $25 million on research, studied 485 species and subspecies of animals, worked on 1,280 research projects...
# Should Tablets Replace Textbooks in K-12 Schools?' Argument Tablets allow teachers to better customize student learning. There are thousands of education and tutoring applications on tablets, so teachers can tailor student learning to an individual style/personality instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. Ther...
# Should Tablets Replace Textbooks in K-12 Schools?' Argument High-level education officials support tablets over textbooks. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Federal Communications Commission chair Julius Genachowski said on Feb. 1, 2012 that schools and publishers should “switch to digital textbooks within...
# GMO Pros and Cons - Should Genetically Modified Organisms Be Grown?' Argument Tinkering with the genetic makeup of plants may result in changes to the food supply that introduce toxins or trigger allergic reactions. An article in Food Science and Human Welfare said, “Three major health risks potentially associa...