<p> Topics for Persuasive Speeches</p><p>SPORTS  Electroshock treatment is (or is not) a humane form of therapy?  Athletes should (or should not) be allowed to use steroids.  Drug addicts should (or should not) be put in hospitals for medical treatment instead of in  American professional athletes are (or are not) prisons for punishment. overpaid. U.S. POLITICS  College athletes should (or should not) be required to meet the academic requirements of  The President should (or should not) be limited to their school. a single six-year term?  The Olympic Games should (or should not) be held  The minimum wage should (or should not) be every two years? waived for adolescent and young adult workers.  Boxing should (or should not) be outlawed.  American workers should (or should not) be guaranteed a three-day weekend by law? EDUCATION  State and local governments should (or should  IQ tests are (or are not) valid measures of human not) operate lotteries and gambling casinos. intelligence.  The Social Security system should (or should not)  Everyone should (or should not) be required to be voluntary for employees? pass a competency exam before being allowed to graduate from high school. TAXES  Sex education should (or should not) be required  Despite their legal tax deductions and loopholes, course in all schools as early as sixth grade. all millionaires should (or should not) be required to pay federal income tax.  Every student should (or should not) be required to learn a foreign language?  The present-day tax system is (or is not) unfair to middle-class and lower-income Americans.  Busing should (or should not) be used to achieve racial integration of public schools.  Churches should (or should not) be required to pay taxes.  Group prayers should (or should not) be permitted in public schools. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS HEALTH  The U.S. should (or should not) cut off all foreign aid to dictatorships.  Regardless of income, all Americans should (or should not) be guaranteed basic medical care  The U.S. should (or should not) remain in the under a national health insurance program. United Nations.  Heroin should (or should not) be legal as a pain  The U.S. should (or should not) send aid to Haiti reliever for terminally ill patients. or other world disaster areas.  Counseling can (or cannot) help a troubled U.S. OR STATE LAW marriage.  The death penalty for murders should (or should  Acupuncture is (or is not) a valid medical not) be imposed on juveniles. technique.  Drug dealers convicted of distributing large  Heredity is (or is not) a more powerful influence quantities of drugs should (or should not) receive on personality development than environment. the death penalty.  Chronic mental patients should (or should not) be  Immigration into the U.S. should (or should not) housed in “halfway houses: or residences in the be restricted. community, rather than in remote mental hospitals.</p><p>Page 1 of 2 Topics for Persuasive Speeches</p><p> In times of military conscription in the U.S.,  Divorce should (or should not) be easy to obtain. women should (or should not) be drafted along  In divorce settlements, fathers and mothers with men. should (or should not) be granted joint, equal-  Women should (or should not) serve in combat time custody of the children. areas.  Trial marriages should (or should not) be  The U.S military should (or should not) be used to encouraged. curb drug smuggling into the U.S.  Businesses should (or should not) be permitted to  Psychologists and psychiatrists should (or should make unsolicited telephone calls to citizens. not) testify in court on behalf of the not-guilty-  We should (or should not) censor scenes of sex by-reason-of-insanity plea. and violence from family-hour television. PUBLIC SAFETY  Beauty pageants do (or do not) debase women.  Every automobile driver should (or should not) be NATURE, SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENT required to take a new driver’s test every three years.  ESP is (or is not) a demonstrable scientific fact.  Helmets should (or should not) be required of all  Scientific experimentation on animals should (or motorcycle riders. should not) be outlawed.  Police should (or should not) be allowed to set up  Catch-and-release fishing restrictions should (or roadblocks to isolate and arrest impaired drivers. should not) be lifted.  Assault weapons should (or should not) be  Logging should (or should not) be banned in outlawed? Montana.  All owners of firearms should (or should not) be  Deer, bears, wildcats or other large wildlife required to register their weapons with the should (or should not) be banned from urban police? areas.  A two-week waiting period should (or should not)  Hybrid cars should (or should not) be made be required for anyone attempting to purchase a mandatory. firearm.  Alternative fuels should (or should not) be made  Billboards should (or should not) be outlawed on mandatory. interstate highways.  The use of plastic bags and Styrofoam containers  Billings should (or should not) have more rotaries. has (or does not have) a negative impact on the environment. LIFESTYLES  Solar energy is (or is not) a viable alternate fuel source?  Buying your own home is (or is not) preferable to renting?  Smoking should (or should not) be banned in public areas such as restaurants and airport terminals.</p><p>Page 2 of 2</p>