Debate Topic for Dec 3 class

Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving. This Wednesday our class will debate one of the topics for the Dec 13 Tournament. The title is: Slot machines in the DC Metro area will do more harm than good. On the Chatterbox site I have collected some materials to help you summarise some pro and con arguments . If you are going to cite a survey or research please remember the name of the source. You are encouraged to look beyond this basic package especially for research which shows actual results from when slot machines have been introduced in other States or Countries.

Think about pro and con case lines for this topic so when we debate it on Wednesday we can apply this case line :  e.g. the pain of extra gambling is better than higher taxes, or the benefit for children's education outweighs the costs of gambling addition for adults

We want to improve our rebuttal so as you make your arguments for one side think how you would refute this argument and note it down. Then think how you would convince a judge your argument is better.

On Wednesday we will select four students to argue the positive i.e.slots do more harm and four to debate the con argument they do more good than harm. 

Please come ready with WRITTEN notes, a blank flow chart and a pen to write with.

The following week we have to cover two topics before the Dec 13 tournament so I am going to suggest we either do an extended lesson (my preference) or we do an extra class on the Tuesday Dec 9. Could students and parents let me know their preference at next weeks class.