Teacher Discussion Forums

Just curious, for those of you who have taught any sort of debating to high school age students, what topics have you used (with success, of course)?

I'm looking at topics for short-term drills as well as for larger productions.

I taught ESL in Mexico, and many of my students were teens. A few topics that worked well:
Childhood is the best time of life.
High school students should be required to wear uniforms.
A couple should live together before deciding to get married.
Technology has improved the quality of life for young people.
A couple clues: I found it best to divide the group first, be very clear about what their "point of view" is-"You are going to argue that it is a BAD idea for a couple to live together before marriage, and YOU are going to argue that it is a GOOD idea..." Make clear that their point of view in the debate does NOT necessarily reflect their real opinion.
Also, after dividing the group and clarifying their positions, give them a chance to talk together for about 10 minutes to come up with ideas, and you can circulate and help them out if they are having any problems.
Good luck!

Hey, here are some websites I've used:

http://kiwiyert.tripod.com/ideas_for_debate_topics.htm
http://www.multcolib.org/homework/sochc.html
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/debate.html
http://www.youdebate.com/
http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_index.php

Otherwise I seem to recall there were discussion questions either here (under the idea cookbook - so you'll have to wait a couple of days) or at the ESL classroom. These are (if I remember correctly) controvertial questions that could easily be turned into debate questions.

Or you could set a suitable homework task that gives you material for a debate class later - that's my usual trick