Fostering the art of debate at a young age is very important, which is why we came up with 15 persuasive debate topics for elementary school students.
Don’t expect scholarly questions fit for the presidential debate- these issues are all relatively basic. But that’s exactly what kids need at this age. They may not have a clue about the state of the economy or the political unrest in Venezuela, but that never stops them from arguing about what they do know. (Just ask their parents.)
We derived some of our questions from Kids World Fun. But most of them just came from a knowledge of what kids are into these days, namely candy, pets, and their favorite Disney character. How much simpler can you get?
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But though they may sound simple, some of these issues may reveal something a little deeper, too. By asking kids what subjects they like best, you might get an idea of what they’d like to be when they grow up. By questioning them on their favorite vacation spots, you might know where they’d like to attend college. And of course, whether a person likes cake or pie can say a lot about their inner selves.
It’s understandable for middle school, high school and college students to be debating more intelligent topics (like in 17 Controversial Debate Topics for Teenagers.) In fact, if they haven’t moved on from Elsa vs. Ana by the age of 22, there’s something wrong.
But just think of what an elementary school kid would answer to the question “Should kids have cell phones in school?” They’ll say yes, they should, of course. Because that’s a well-thought-out answer? No- because they want a cell phone.
What about the intelligent question of whether video games are constructive for children to play? An elementary school kid would answer a resounding yes, of course they’re good for them. It’s just what you expect from them.
But here’s a list of basic, persuasive debate topics for elementary school kids. It might be fun to answer these yourself as you read them, even if you’re not a child. You’ll probably know yourself a lot better for it.
