1. Explain why you admire a particular person.

2. Explain why someone you know should be regarded a leader.

3. Explain why parents are sometimes strict.
4. If you had to be an animal, which would you be and why?
5. Explain why you especially enjoy a particular teacher.
6. Explain why some cities have curfews for teens.
7. Explain why some students are forced to leave school once they are sixteen.
8. Explain how moving from place to place affects teens.
9. Explain why getting a driver's license is an important event in the lives of many teenagers.
10. Describe the major stressors in teens' lives.
11. Explain why you like or don't like working in a team.
12. Describe some nonmaterial things that make you happy.
13. Explain why some teens commit suicide.
14. Explain how music affects your life.
15. Explain the impact of different music genres on society.
16. Explain why students listen to a particular type of music.
17. Explain why some teens skip school.
18. Explain the likely consequences of skipping school.
19. Describe the likely consequences of doing poorly in school.

1. Explain why teens do drugs.

2. Describe the likely consequences of selling drugs.
3. Describe the likely consequences of taking drugs.
4. Explain why teens smoke cigarettes.
5. Explain the likely consequences of being kicked out of school.
6. Explain the likely consequences of skipping classes.
7. Explain the likely consequences of brothers and sisters constantly fighting.
8. Explain why teens wear makeup.
9. Explain the consequences of having alcohol on the school campus.
10. Explain the likely consequences of being sexually active without using protection.
11. Explain why some teens' parents do not like to be alone with their child's boyfriend or
girlfriend.
12. Explain the likely consequences of increasing the time between classes from five to 15
minutes.
13. Explain why some teens join gangs.
14. Explain the difficulties some teens have once they are in gangs.
15. Explain how life for a teenager changes once she has a baby.
16. Describe what you feel a boy should do if he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant.
17. Explain why you should or should not laugh at embarrassing moments.

1. Describe the effects of marijuana.

2. Explain the likely consequences of teens becoming sexually active.
3. Explain why it is helpful to organize your materials and activities.
4. Explain why your school work is important.
5. Describe the ways you help out at home.
6. Explain the likely consequences of abolishing capital punishment.
7. Explain the consequences of adopting a pass/fail grading system.
8. Explain the likely consequences of enforcing an 11:00 p.m. curfew.
9. Explain the likely consequences of ending forced busing.
10. Explain why some teenagers dislike saying the pledge to the flag.
 11. Explain why some schools don't have open lunch policies.
12. Explain why most teenagers are materialistic.
13. Explain why some teens get jobs.
14. Explain the consequences of having a job while in high school.
15. Explain the likely consequences of dropping out of school.
16. Describe some productive ways students can spend their leisure time.
17. Explain why dealing with their parents' divorce can be difficult for many teens.
18. Explain why teens love their parents even when family situations are difficult.

1. Describe the things that bring you the greatest happiness.

2. Describe three things you would like to change the world and explain why you would
change them.
3. Explain why you prefer living in an apartment (or house).
4. Describe the likely consequences of requiring a childbearing license.
5. Describe three objects that symbolize our culture and explain why you selected them.
6. Explain why you are interested in a particular career.
7. Explain the likely consequences of requiring students to wear school uniforms.

You can use a topic from this list, or use the list as inspiration for your own idea.

 What conditions and events led to the Great Depression?

 What prompts a change in fashion trends?
 Why do some people fear darkness?
 How did some dinosaurs leave footprints?
 What causes criminal behavior?
 What causes people to rebel against authority?
 What conditions lead to a powerful hurricane?
 What developments led to regional accents in the United States?
 Why do good students become truant?
 What causes war?
 What factors can lead to birth defects?
 How are insurance rates determined?
 What factors can lead to obesity?
 What can cause evolution to occur?
 Why does unemployment rise?
 Why do some people develop multiple personalities?
 How does the structure of the earth change?
 What factors can cause bulimia nervosa?
 What makes a marriage fail?
 What developments and conditions led to the Declaration of Independence?
 What led to the decline of the automobile industry?
 What factors led to the decline of the Roman Empire?
 How did the Grand Canyon form?
 Why did slavery replace indentured servitude in the American colonies?

 How has popular music been affected by technology?

 How has racial tolerance changed over time?
 What led to the Dot Com bubble burst?
 What causes the stock market to fall?
 How does scarring occur?
 How does soap work?
 What causes a surge in nationalism?
 Why do some bridges collapse?
 Why was Abraham Lincoln assassinated?
 How did we get the various versions of the Bible?
 What factors led to unionization?
 How does a tsunami form?
 What events and factors led to women's suffrage?
 Why did electric cars fail initially?
 How do animals become extinct?
 Why are some tornadoes more destructive than others?
 What factors led to the end of feudalism?
 What led to the "Martian Panic" in the 1930s?
 How did medicine change in the nineteenth century?
 How does gene therapy work?
 What factors can lead to famine?
 What factors led to the rise of democratic governments in the 18th century?
 How did baseball become a national pastime in the United States?
 What was the impact of Jim Crow laws on black citizens in the United States?
 What factors led to the growth of imperialism?

 Why did the Salem Witch Trials take place?

 How did Adolf Hitler come to power?
 What can cause damage to your credit?
 How did the conservationism start?
 How did World War I start?
 How do germs spread and cause illness?
 How do we lose weight?
 How does road salt prevent accidents?
 What makes some tires grip better than others?
 What makes a computer run slowly?
 How does a car work?
 How has the news industry changed over time?
 What created Beatlemania?
 How did organized crime develop?
 What caused the obesity epidemic?
 How did grammar rules develop in the English language?
 Where do political parties come from?
 How did the Civil Rights movement begin?
Beginner

1. Kids should get paid for good grades.

2. Students should have less homework.
3. Snow days are great for family time.
4. Penmanship is important.
5. Short hair is better than long hair.
6. We should all grow our own vegetables.
7. We need more holidays.
8. Aliens probably exist.
9. Gym class is more important than music class.
10. Kids should be able to vote.
11. Kids should get paid for extra activities like sports.
12. School should take place in the evenings.
13. Country life is better than city life.
14. City life is better than country life.
15. We can change the world.
16. Skateboard helmets should be mandatory.
17. We should provide food for the poor.
18. Children should be paid for doing chores.
19. We should populate the moon.
20. Dogs make better pets than cats.

Intermediate

1. The government should impose household trash limits.

2. Nuclear weapons are an effective deterrent against foreign attack.
3. Teens should be required to take parenting classes.
4. We should teach etiquette in schools.
5. School uniform laws are unconstitutional.
6. All students should wear uniforms.
7. Too much money is a bad thing.
8. High schools should offer specialized degrees in arts or sciences.
9. Magazine advertisements send unhealthy signals to young women.
10. Robocalling should be outlawed.
11. Age 12 is too young to babysit.
12. Children should be required to read more.
13. All students should be given the opportunity to study abroad.
14. Yearly driving tests should be mandatory past age 65.
15. Cell phones should never be used while driving.
16. All schools should implement bullying awareness programs.
17. Bullies should be kicked out of school.
18. Parents of bullies should have to pay a fine.
19. The school year should be longer.
20. School days should start later.
21. Teens should be able to choose their bedtime.
22. There should be a mandatory entrance exam for high school.

1. Public transit should be privatized.

2. We should allow pets in school.
 3. The voting age should be lowered to 16.
4. Beauty contests are bad for body image.
5. Every American should learn to speak Spanish.
6. Every immigrant should learn to speak English.
7. Video games can be educational.
8. College athletes should be paid for their services.
9. We need a military draft.
10. Professional sports should eliminate cheerleaders.
11. Teens should be able to start driving at 14 instead of 16.
12. Year-round school is a bad idea.
13. High school campuses should be guarded by police officers.
14. The legal drinking age should be lowered to 19.
15. Kids under 15 shouldn't have Facebook pages.
16. Standardized testing should be eliminated.
17. Teachers should be paid more.
18. There should be one world currency.

Advanced

1. Domestic surveillance without a warrant should be legal.

2. Letter grades should be replaced with a pass or fail.
3. Every family should have a natural disaster survival plan.
4. Parents should talk to kids about drugs at a young age.
5. Racial slurs should be illegal.
6. Gun ownership should be tightly regulated.
7. Puerto Rico should be granted statehood.
8. People should go to jail when they abandon their pets.
9. Free speech should have limitations.
10. Members of Congress should be subject to term limits.
11. Recycling should be mandatory for everyone.
12. High-speed internet access should be regulated like a public utility.
13. Yearly driving tests should be mandatory for the first five years after getting a license.
14. Recreational marijuana should be made legal nationwide.
15. Legal marijuana should be taxed and regulated like tobacco or alcohol.
16. Child support dodgers should go to jail.
17. Students should be allowed to pray in school.
18. All Americans have a constitutional right to health care.
19. Internet access should be free for everyone.
20. Social Security should be privatized.

1. Pregnant couples should receive parenting lessons.

2. We shouldn't use products made from animals.
3. Celebrities should have more privacy rights.
4. Professional football is too violent and should be banned.
5. We need better sex education in schools.
6. School testing is not effective.
7. The United States should build a border wall with Mexico and with Canada.
8. Life is better than it was 50 years ago.
9. Eating meat is unethical.
10. A vegan diet is the only diet people should follow.
11. Medical testing on animals should be illegal.
12. The Electoral College is outdated.
13. Medical testing on animals is necessary.
14. Public safety is more important than an individual's right to privacy.
15. Single-sex colleges provide a better education.
16. Books should never be banned.
17. Violent video games can cause people to act violently in real life.
18. Freedom of religion has limitations.
19. Nuclear power should be illegal.
20. Climate change should be the president's primary political concern.

 Your bravest moment

 How you met your best friend
 What makes your mom or dad special
 When your life changed forever
 How you overcame a fear
 Why you will succeed
 Why you made a difficult choice
 A special place
 A place you try to avoid
 When a friend let you down
 An event that changed your life
 A special encounter with an animal
 A time when you felt out of place
 An odd experience that didn't make sense at the time
 Words of wisdom that hit home and changed your way of thinking
 A person that you do not like
 A time when you disappointed someone
 Your fondest memory
 A time when you saw your parent cry
 The moment when you knew you were grown up
 Your earliest memory of holiday celebrations in your home
 Times when you should have made a better choice
 A time when you dodged a dangerous situation
 A person you will think about at the end of your life
 Your favorite time period
 A failure you've experienced
 A disappointment you've experienced
 A surprising turn of events
 What you would do with power
 What superpower you would choose
 If you could change lives with someone

 How money matters in your life

 Your biggest loss
 A time when you felt you did the wrong thing
 A proud moment when you did the right thing
 An experience that you've never shared with another person
 A special place that you shared with a childhood friend
 A first encounter with a stranger
 Your first handshake
 Where you go to hide
 If you had a do-over
 A book that changed your life
 Words that stung
 When you had the desire to run
 When you had the urge to crawl into a hole
 Words that prompted hope
 When a child taught you a lesson
 Your proudest moment
 If your dog could talk
 Favorite time with family
 If you could live in another country
 If you could invent something
 The world a hundred years from now
 If you had lived a hundred years earlier
 The animal you'd like to be
 One thing you'd change
 The greatest movie moment
 The type of teacher you would be
 If you could be a building
 A statue you'd like to see
 If you could live anywhere
 The greatest discovery
 If you could change one thing about yourself
 An animal that could be in charge

 Something you can do that robots could never do

 You most unfortunate day
 Your secret talent
 Your secret love
 The most beautiful thing you've ever seen
 The ugliest thing you've seen
 Something you've witnessed
 An accident that changed everything
 A wrong choice
 A right choice
 If you were a food
 How you'd spend a million dollars
 If you could start a charity
 The meaning of color
 A close call
 Your favorite gift
 A chore you'd do away with
 A secret place
 Something you can't resist
 A hard lesson
 A visitor you'll never forget
 An unexplained event
 Your longest minute
 An awkward social moment
 An experience with death
 Why you'll never tell a lie
 If your mom knew she'd kill you
 A kiss that meant a lot
 When you needed a hug
 The hardest news you've had to deliver
 A special morning

 The impact when a parent loses a job

 The Revolutionary War and slavery
 Food poisoning causes
 Repercussions of cheating in school
 The effects of exercising
 How bullying affects victims
 How severe acne affects teens
 Effects of telling lies
 The impact of technology on family time
 The impact of technology on religion
 The effects of smoking
 Why friendships end
 The effects of divorce
 The effects of traveling abroad
 What would happen if aliens landed in your town
 What causes kids to try drugs for the first time
 Why ships sink
 The effects of poison ivy
 Why weddings look the way they do
 How Christmas trees became a part of American culture
 Effects of eating too much junk food
 The impact of winning the lottery
 The effects of going without sleep
 What causes natural disasters
 The effects of strip mining
 The effects of the moon missions
 Effects of the Black Death in the Middle Ages
 Early trade patterns
 The effects of over-fishing
 How procrastination affects grades
 The events that led to the fall of Rome