Our graphics from the Round 3 debates
Archive | Topical
Round 2 Debate Graphics
Our graphics from the Round 2 debates
Round 1 Graphic
Our graphic from the Round 1 debates, 2023-2024
Richie Rich and the Increase in Allowance
Classic Richie Rich!
Value of Music Education
The Higashi School in Boston for students with ASD has a whole webpage dedicated to why they teach music and singing to all students!
Cover Graphic for Round 1
Another classic cover graphic for our round 1 debaters.
Cash-free Society? Not yet.
Our 2013-14 debate topic “In the future, all currency should be virtual” continues to be in the news!
The New York Times reports on a cash-free ice cream store that is being forced to accept cash payments.
Lawsuit to Remove Outdoor Dining Sheds
The topic of outdoor dining sheds — 2022 Topic 4: Outdoor dining sheds in NYC should stay — is not going away soon. The New York Daily News reported that a lawsuit seeks to have New York remove the outdoor dining sheds, due to excessive garbage, rats, graffiti, and other concerns.
Where are the Dining Sheds?
Students may or may not have seen outdoor dining sheds in person, and it probably depends on the borough they live in. Here is an interactive map that lists all the outdoor dining sheds, by borough and more.
Open Restaurants NYC
Read about the official New York City program, entitled “Open Restaurants,” which explains how and why restaurants are allowed to use “curbside roadway space in front of their businesses for outdoor dining.”
Shed Go Bye-Bye
A New York City driver crashed into this outdoor dining shed. Thankfully, no one was eating there at the time.
News: Teens Getting Covid Shots without Parents Knowing
Once again, the D75 Debate program is ahead of the headlines. The article in NPR tells how teenagers are getting covid vaccinations without telling their parents. This was our first topic for 2021.
Oil Pipeline Debate, revisited
Do you remember the Dakota Access oil pipeline debate (“The US should immediately stop construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline,” 2016-2017)? It pitted the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in South Dakota with an oil company who wanted to build an oil pipeline near their land. When we debated this topic several years ago, the pipeline had the “green light” to be built. Now, that light has turned “red.”
Subways at Social Studies Fair
The 36K student scholars presented the History of the Subway at the 2020 social studies fair. I wonder if their debate team knows about this….
Voting for Disabled Citizens
With all the hubbub over the next debate topic (whether election day should be a national holiday) and this November’s presidential election, did you ever wonder how New Yorkers with limited dexterity or other disabilities can exercise their right to vote?
This website shows how the Image Cast ballot-marking device (BMD) helps disabled citizens to vote.
Bye-Bye No-Cash Restaurants, We Hardly Knew Ya
A debate topic several years ago discussed whether a cash-free society would be the right way to go in the future. And for a while it looked as if New York City was going cash-free. Many restaurants started implementing a no-cash policy, and only accepted credit cards or other “digital currency” instead of cash.
That may be about to come to an end. The government got involved, and the New York City Council may pass a law that prohibits credit-card-only stores.
The New York Times has more information on this story.
One or the other: Sports vs Musicals
This article argues that high school musicals are as important as sports.
What do you think?
Should Washington D.C. be a state?
The third topic of our debate season is “Washington D.C. should be a state.” It is a tough call. Already there is a Washington state over on the west coast. If Washington D.C. were to become our 51st state, what would we name it? New Washington? What if I sent a letter to my sister in Seattle, and it wound up in the Potomac River? So many questions…
The News Literacy Project
The News Literacy Project is an organization that helps students learn to tell media fact from fiction.
Among other resources, they have a crop of videos that may be very useful for your student debaters. I watched the one entitled 
Double Check Your Facts and got most of the quiz questions wrong! Hah!
Watch the video and see how well you do.
For more information on The News Literacy Project and what they offer:
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Single Use Plastic, continued
Did you hear about Seattle? They just outlawed single-use plastic straws and cutlery in the city’s restaurants and bars. Do you think this is a good idea? It sounds like Topic #3 of our 2017-2018 debate season.