Motions List

We've attempted to give you some indication of how difficult the average group of Debate Mate
students will find each motion, by colour-coding "easy" motions green (primary and inexperienced
secondary clubs), "medium" motions amber (most secondary clubs) and "difficult" motions red
(experienced secondary clubs).

Please keep in mind when using this guide that difficulty encapsulates many different facets of
accessibility. A motion may cover very accessible content, and therefore be coded green, but may
actually be very difficult to develop advanced arguments for/against. It is important that you use
your judgement. Do not rely solely on our rating of these motions, but instead consider how your
individual group of students may respond to the individual motion.

Education/Children
 This House would give young people more say in what they are taught at school
 This House believes that teachers should publicly shame bullies in schools
 This House would ban ads targeted at children
 This House would ban children under the age of 16 from using social media
 This House would introduce a curfew for everyone under the age of 16
 This House would stream students in school according to academic ability
 This House would abolish single-sex schools
 This House would ban school uniforms
 This House would ban exams
 This House would ban homework
 This House would force teachers to wear school uniforms
 This House would ban the use of child actors
 This House would make Physical Education compulsory in schools
 This House would punish parents for their children's truancy
 This House would allow random bag searches in schools
 This House would introduce compulsory national service
 This House would ban religious schools
 This House would ban boarding schools
 This House would carry out random drug tests in schools
 This House would ban home schooling
 This House would ban independent schools
 This House would force universities to lower their entry requirements for pupils from
disadvantaged backgrounds
 This House would teach sex education from the age of ten, regardless of parental consent
 This House would abolish tuition fees at university

Environment / Animal Rights

 This House would ban cars in cities
 This House would ban zoos
 This House would ban eating meat
 This House would ban all testing on animals
 This House would impose lighter carbon emissions targets on developing countries

Teaching Resources Copyright ©Debate Mate, 2015

Health
 This House would ban cosmetic surgery
 This House would ban smoking
 This House would ban alcohol
 This House would force obese people to attend compulsory weight-loss camp
 This House would ban junk food advertising
 This House would introduce a tax on unhealthy foods
 This House would pay morbidly obese people to lose weight
 This House would legalise all drugs
 This House believes that important decisions about children’s health should be made by medical
professionals and not by their parents
 This House would legalise euthanasia
 This House would make vaccinations compulsory
 This House would make smokers pay for their own medical care
 This House would not give organs to heavy smokers
 This House would legalise the voluntary sale of human organs
 This House would test new medications on prisoners
 This House would stop providing IVF on the NHS
 This House would privatise healthcare

International Relations
 This House would not give development aid to non-democratic governments
 This House believes that the US should pay reparations for slavery
 This House would never negotiate with terrorists
 This House believes that the government should censor the media during times of war
 This House would require all new teacher graduates from developed countries to work in the
developing world for a period of twelve months
 This House would offer dictators asylum in return for them giving up power
 This House would return all cultural treasures to their countries of origin
 This House would torture suspected terrorists for information
 This House would ban the broadcast of any terrorist-provided hostage footage
 This House regrets the media showing photos of drowned asylum seekers
 This House would release terrorists to secure the freedom of hostages
 This House believes the UK should leave the EU
 This House believes that wealthy countries should relax their immigration laws
 This House would make colonial powers pay reparations to former colonies
 This House would allow soldiers to opt out of individual conflicts for personal reasons
 This House would remove restrictions on child labour in the developing world
 This House would require university students to work in their country of origin for a number of
years after graduation
 This House believes that every country should have the right to possess nuclear weapons
 This House believes that developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration
 This House believes that nations should be obliged to accept refugees in proportion to their GDP
 This House would abolish drug patents in the third world
 This House would allow female soldiers to fight on the front line
 This House would make it illegal to pay a ransom
 This House would disband NATO
 This House would assassinate dictators
 This House believes that the EU should stop expanding

Teaching Resources Copyright ©Debate Mate, 2015

 This House would ban international adoption
 This House would give the EU its own army
 This House believes that the UK should remove all restrictions on immigration from its former
colonies
 This House would allow law enforcement agencies to cross international borders in pursuit of
criminals or terrorists
 This House believes that NGOs are better at distributing aid than governments
 This House believes that slum tourism does more harm than good
 This House believes that extraordinary rendition (moving terrorists to other countries where
torture is legal in order to do so) is necessary in the fight against terrorism
 This House believes it is legitimate to violate state sovereignty to prevent human suffering
 This House believes that governments should grant amnesty to all illegal immigrants

Law
 This House believes that the police should take threats made in song lyrics seriously
 This House would hold parents criminally liable for the crimes of their children
 This House would have harsher sentences for celebrity criminals
 This House would give all prisoners the right to vote
 This House would only imprison violent criminals
 This House believes that civilians should have the right to bear arms
 This House would allow parents in prison to raise their children behind bars
 This House would arm all police officers with guns
 This House would reintroduce the death penalty
 This House would require all police officers to wear body cameras
 This House believes that Holocaust denial should be a criminal offence
 This House would allow non-violent criminals to pay a fine instead of going to jail
 This House would make fines relative to wealth
 This House would televise criminal trials
 This House would criminalise the use of prostitutes
 This House would ban emergency services personnel from going on strike
 This House would sentence repeat offenders to life imprisonment
 This House would make the smacking of children illegal
 This House believes that the police unrestricted access to the personal online data of everybody,
including email, web history and private content on social media
 This House would pardon anyone convicted of committing a petty crime during the London riots
 This House would decriminalise file sharing that breaches copyright
 This House believes that the first priority of criminal justice should be rehabilitation, not
retribution
 This House would introduce more severe punishments for racism-related crimes
 This House would legalise polygamy
 This House believes that doctors should have an obligation to report suspected marital abuse to
the police
 This House would create a national DNA database
 This House would elect judges
 This House would allow prisoners to choose death over a life sentence
 This House believes that all defendants in criminal trials should be required to use a government-
provided defence lawyer

Politics

Teaching Resources Copyright ©Debate Mate, 2015

 This House would introduced compulsory voting
 This House would lower the voting age to 16
 This House believes that the media should not report on the private lives of politicians
 This House would ban extremist political parties
 This House would ban all individuals who have advocated or used violence in order to further a
political cause, from standing for election
 This House would only allow those who pass a political awareness test to vote
 This House would give Scotland its independence
 This House would abolish the monarchy
 This House would prioritise income equality over economic growth
 This House would ban trade unions
 This House would make all major government decisions through referenda
 This House would ban the wearing of items of religious significance in schools
 This House would require government schools to teach religious studies
 This House would ban state-funded schools from running single-religion religious studies classes
 This house would make churches ordain gay and lesbian priests
 This House supports the state funding of political parties
 This House would ban political opinion polls
 This House would ban all corporate political donations
 This House would ban charities from proselytising in the developing world
 This House would ban members of extreme political parties (i.e. the BNP) from holding public
sector jobs (civil servant, teacher, etc.)
 This House would prevent MPs from having an alternative source of income

Science/Technology
 This House would allow human cloning
 This House would stop funding space exploration
 This House would stop sending humans into space

Society
 This House believes that your brain and intelligence is more important than your heart and your
emotions
 This House would ban reality TV
 This House would ban violent video games
 This House would ban gambling
 This House would ban beauty contests
 This House would ban music with violent lyrics
 This House would ban all advertising
 This House would ban the use of Photoshop in advertising
 This House would abolish the minimum wage
 This House would require companies to pay their interns
 This House would scrap all government arts funding
 This House would abolish the licence fee
 This House believes that reality TV has a negative effect on society
 This House would allow parents to choose the sex of their child
 This House would ban the use of models below a 'healthy' weight
 This House believes that celebrities don't deserve privacy
 This House believes that [Miley Cyrus / Beyoncé] is a good role model for women
 This House would require people to work in exchange for welfare payments

Teaching Resources Copyright ©Debate Mate, 2015

 This House would introduce a 100% inheritance tax
 This House would cut welfare support to compulsive gamblers
 You have the ability to know when and how people will die. This House would not tell anyone
 This House would force companies to put more women in senior positions
 This House would pay stay at home parents a salary
 This House believes that children conceived through sperm or egg donation should have the legal
right to know who their parents are
 This House supports an unconditional living wage
 This House would not consume art created by people who have committed deeply immoral acts
 This House believes that the LGBT rights movement should out gay celebrities
 This house regrets the characterisation of soldiers as heroes
 This House would abolish all forms of affirmative action

Sport
 This House would cap footballers' salaries
 This House would ban boxing
 This House would ban all sports involving animals
 This House would punish football teams for the behaviour of their fans
 This House would give lifetime bans to sports players convicted of violent criminal offences
 This House would remove the ban on blood sports
 This House would legalise the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport
 This House would require equal media coverage of men's and women's sports
 This House would never hold major sporting events in countries with ongoing human rights
violations

Teaching Resources Copyright ©Debate Mate, 2015