Category: Essays on Controversial Topics
Browse our collection of essays on controversial topics. Each topic in this category represents a controversial issue and thus is a good choice if you are looking for argumentative or persuasive essay topics. When writing an argumentative essay or a persuasive essay you should focus on picking a topic that is current and relevant to society and can be argued logically.
While a strong interest in a topic is important, it’s not enough to be interested. You have to consider what position you can back up with reasoning and evidence. It’s one thing to have a strong belief, but when shaping an argument you’ll have to explain why your belief is reasonable and logical. As you explore the topics, make a mental list of points you could use as evidence for or against an issue.
Bail is providing security, usually in the form of money, to guarantee a defendant’s return to court for subsequent court dates. When an offender is arrested, that individual must appear before a lower court judge (e.g., a municipal court judge) for an initial appearance or for the first …
Business bankruptcy occurs when a commercial organization does not have sufficient readily available funds (capital) to pay its current debts. Further, the business is either unable or unwilling to sell its assets, or to use debt (by borrowing capital) or equity (by selling ownership shares), to pay such …
Personal bankruptcy occurs when a court of law approves and grants the person’s (debtor’s) petition or application to legally declare an inability to pay and satisfy monetary obligations (debts) to those owed monies (creditors) for the purpose of eliminating or reducing those debts. In contrast to ongoing income-providing …
Basic skills tests measure the knowledge and skills examinees have in core areas that will impact future performance. These core areas typically include reading, mathematics, language arts, and sometimes other prerequisite skills. A fine line exists between exit requirements from one level and entrance requirements to the next …
The increased risk of death among individuals who have lost their spouse is known as the “bereavement” or “widowhood effect.” The bereavement effect originates from the difference between the health benefits of marriage and the negative consequences of widowhood. Research shows a strong and long-lasting bereavement effect among …
Bilingual education, the use of two languages to educate children in a school, is very complex in its nature, aims, approaches, and outcomes. So much as its philosophy and practices vary across schools, regions, states, and nations, the controversial issues and arguments surrounding bilingual education have bewildered not …
Most alcohol treatment clinicians use the term binge drinking to mean a drinking spree that lasts several days—an episode known colloquially as a “bender.” Such drinking is often a diagnostic sign of alcoholism or severe alcohol dependence. In recent years, medical and public health researchers have defined binge …
Bioethics refers to an interdisciplinary approach used to address quandaries and moral dilemmas that arise from applied biology and medical science. It involves applying societal mores, philosophical principles, religious values, and human judgment to making decisions about human life and death, health and medical treatment, environmental issues, and …
The term biracial refers to a person with parents of two different races. The 1967 Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision that invalidated laws forbidding inter-racial marriage, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and the opening up of Asian and Latin American immigration in 1965 …
Birth rates are measures used by social scientists and journalists to provide some indication of the role that new births contribute to a country’s total population growth each year, as well as potential future increases when the new cohort reaches childbearing age. The most common form is the …
Situated within the heterosexual versus homosexual binary, bisexuality is a sexual orientation or preference consisting of more than incidental amounts of sexual feeling, sexual behavior, or romantic desire for persons of both one’s own and the other sex. The term encompasses those who self-define as bisexual, whether or …
The term Black Codes refers to a collection of laws passed to restrict the civil rights of freed slaves and other persons of African descent. These are most commonly associated with an assortment of local and state laws passed in the Southern states between 1865 and 1866 following …
Often misunderstood and misplaced historically, Black Nationalism (most often directly or indirectly interwoven with Pan-Africanist thought and practice) has its U.S. origins in the 19th century with Paul Cuffe’s (1759-1817) “Back to Africa” voyage of 1815, whereby he sailed to Sierra Leone and founded a colony with 38 …
Black Power signified both a departure from, and a continuation of, the ongoing civil rights movement. Prominent during the late 1960s and 1970s, Black Power promoted an activist-oriented strategy to challenge racial oppression and exploitation. Various individuals and groups identified as part of the Black Power movement include …
Victim blaming is the act of attributing fault, in whole or in part, to a person or group damaged by a social or physical context or situation. It can include those hurt in an accident; victims of crime, mental illness, poverty, or nonfunctional education; and those with “undesirable” …
Body image refers to a person’s self-perception of his or her body type and body size. This image is sometimes in keeping with the reality of a person’s body size but often quite disparate from that actuality. When a disconnect exists between perceived and actual body size, harmful …
The Boomerang Generation refers to a trend in North America of young adult children, generally between the ages of 18 and 30, returning home to reside with their middle-aged parents in greater numbers than young adults in previous generations. Tied closely to social psychological life course theory, the …
Correctional “boot camps” have existed as part of the U.S. penal system for the past quarter century. In most states, young, first-time offenders participate in lieu of a prison term or probation; likewise, in certain jurisdictions, an adolescent can be sentenced to serve time (ranging from 90 to …
Bootstrap theory refers to social practices and laws dedicated to helping people help themselves; these practices range from the Puerto Rican industrialization project titled “Operation Bootstrap” in the mid-20th century to U.S. ideology and social policy in the post-welfare reform state. Bootstrap theory was first intimated in an …
The U.S.-Mexico Bracero Program was a temporary worker program that began in 1942 and lasted until 1964. Designed to be a wartime labor relief measure, agricultural producers successfully pressured the United States into extending the program for 22 years. During that time, 4.5 million individual work contracts were …
