Middle School's The Great Tech Debate

Students presented impressive arguments on vaccinations, television, gunpowder, and the internet, and led small workshops with the audience to explore how the respective technologies compare, developing cross-examination paragraphs. After the workshops, students were asked to use the paragraphs to create a closing argument. We are so proud of the critical thinking and creativity that all of the students put into this unit! Below is just one of the thoughtful conclusions written by a student who presented on the internet and led a cross-examination on gunpowder.

"The evidence clearly shows that the Internet has had the greatest negative impact on humanity because kids are getting sucked into social media, misinformation is being spread about things as important as presidential elections, and thanks to internet education, 18 year olds are going to college having never read a book before.

While gunpowder has made negative contributions, they haven't matched the transformative power of having entertainment on your phone that has continuously caused mental health problems in teens and adolescents in the area of social media.

The most compelling example is that thanks to the internet and social media, suicide is the second most common form of death for youth, which has affected billions of people by losing their children, their siblings, and their friends. As we look to the future, the internet will continue to shape our world by distancing each other, spreading misinformation, changing education, and having the most unlimited impact in human history."