Sometimes in my debate classes, if I need to lighten the mood or want to give a reward, I have the kids do an "absurd debate." I have a list of a whole bunch of different possible absurd debate topics, and I'll let the students choose one to do. I posted a short list of topics some years ago, but the list has since grown longer. Here is my current absurd topics list, for the sake of documentation.
1. "Santa Claus is a criminal."
2. "Black is the best color."
3. "Aliens make the best friends."
4. "Unicorns are better than zebras."
5. "A smartphone is smarter than a dog."
6. "The moon is made of green cheese."
7. "The earth is flat."
8. "The teacher is a ghost."
9. "This debate is boring."
10. "Women are smarter than men."
11. "Barack Obama is a robot."
12. "All cars should be the same color."
13. "Monkeys make the best soccer players."
14. "Alligators are better than crocodiles."
15. "Mars should be destroyed."
16. "Rice is dangerous."
17. "The capital of South Korea should be moved to Ulleung-do."
18. "Zombies are harmless."
19. "Baseball should be outlawed."
20. "This class is a waste of time."
21. "Soccer is better than basketball."
22. "League of Legends is better than Starcraft."
23. "Homer Simpson is a perfect father."
24. "Cheating is OK if no one knows."
25. "Men should be allowed to wear dresses too."
26. "Vampires are scarier than werewolves."
27. "Chickens came before eggs."
28. "Iron Man should fight Batman."
29. "School is useless."
30. "Beauty is the only important thing."
31. "Pirates can beat ninjas in a fight."
32. "The world would be better if Harry Potter was never invented."
33. "It is easier to fight one horse-sized duck than to fight fifty duck-sized horses."
34. "Marriage is bad."
35. "Park Geun-hye would be a better president if she wore a hat."
36. "The North Pole is more interesting than the South Pole."
37. "E-Mart is better than HomePlus."
38. "The Lake in Lake Park is too small."
39. "The word 'the' is useless."
40. "Boogers are more disgusting than spit."
41. "It is better to be a dragon than have a dragon."
One of the most popular propositions with the students is "A smartphone is smarter than a dog" – which often gets simplified to "A smartphone is better than a dog." Today we had a debate on that topic in my special 7th grade debate class.
One student, Finn, said that smartphones were better, because dogs can hurt people, for example by biting them.
Henry had an excellent rebuttal, that made everyone laugh. He said, simply: "Note 7."
This is a reference to the recent difficulties Samsung has been having with their Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, which has a tendency to explode, and which has been recalled.
I had to give the win to Henry on this debate.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]