Claim: Students should get free bus passes.

• The claim that I agree with best is that students pay tuition and having to pay for transportation separately aside from paying tuition as well is a huge financial toll on someone who isn’t being financially supported independently or may be borrowing money from elsewhere. According to a hidden cost of inadequate transportation, many low income students don’t finish college because approximately 17% of their entire college spendings on transportation and getting from one place to another.

Claim: Classes should start later in the morning

• The claim that I agree with best is that students would be more focused in a classroom compared to starting exactly at 8 am sharp because when students start classes very early, it doesn’t give them that time to fully wake up and be able to comprehend information being thrown to them by teachers and professors. For example, a large meta-analysis of 28 studies with over 1,774,000 participants found that later school start times are associated with longer sleep duration, better mood, and overall better developmental outcomes.

Claim: Everyone should learn how to cook

• The claim that I agree with best is that cooking saves money, compared to purchasing fast food and take-out. A recent article from Investopedia shows that by doing meal prep and eating at home rather than eating out, people can reduce their “food away from home” expenses significantly — e.g. weekly food-away-from-home costs might drop from ≈ $95 to ≈ $20. That adds up to savings of about $3,900 per year for someone who shifts more meals to home cooking.

Claim: Reading fiction improves critical thinking

• The claim that is best for this is that fiction strengthens empathy among other people. For example, researchers (Castano and Kidd) had participants read either literary fiction, popular/genre fiction, non-fiction, or nothing. Those who read literary fiction scored significantly higher on tests measuring their ability to understand other people’s thoughts and emotions (Theory of Mind tests).

Claim: voting should be mandatory

• The claim that I agree with best is that some people truly don’t care about politics and don’t really understand the justice system that well enough to be able to vote or know what are the right options to vote for, many people tend to follow along with what other people say about someone running for office. According to an article by science direct, a multilevel analysis found that compulsory voting is associated with an increase in efforts to obtain political information. That supports the idea that people may care more or try to understand more if part of their civic duty is to vote. But it also found that there was a negligible effect on most forms of cognitive political engagement beyond that, meaning people may seek info, but whether they deeply understand or critically evaluate is less clear.

Claim: Homework should be reduced

• The claim that I agree with best is that students get stressed and overwhelmed from being assigned too much homework at once. According to the Stanford Study – “Pitfalls of Homework”, in a survey of 4,317 high school students in high-achieving schools in California, 56% of students said homework is a primary source of stress. Many reported health issues (like headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss, stomach problems) resulting from excessive homework. Students also said heavy homework loads meant less time for family, friends, extracurriculars and hobbies.

Claim: Social media does more harm than good

• The claim that I agree with best is that social media spreads misinformation and it doesn’t give people the right facts and information that should be told and there is a lot of propaganda on social media that makes people think twice before they say something on a specific topic going on in the world. For example, a Pew Research Center survey in 11 emerging economies found that many social media users say they frequently encounter false or incorrect information when using social media or messaging apps. Also, a big majority said they’re concerned about being exposed to misinformation via mobile devices. Another source (SQ Magazine, 2025) reports that about 45% of U.S. adults say it’s difficult to determine whether social media content is true or false. Also, one-third of young users admitted sharing misinformation unknowingly.

Claim: Video games should be considered a sport

• The claim that I agree with best is that they don’t necessarily involve physical activity, aside from someone using their fingers to play on a controller, but it shouldn’t be considered a sport. Many definitions of “sport” (for example, in dictionaries and by sports governance bodies) include physical exertion or use of large muscle groups as a criterion. For instance, in a debate in Talon Marks, one writer quotes the Oxford Dictionary: a sport is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill …” and argues that video gaming fails the “physical exertion” part since it mostly involves fingers/hands.

Claim: College students should take at least one art class

• The claim that best supports this given claim is that art classes reduce stress and it gives students a breather in between classes that require more attention and makes a student feel a lot more stressful. A study with 155 undergraduates showed that after participating in artistic activities, students’ stress levels dropped by about 11.61% on a standardized stress scale. Qualitative feedback from students said that the art activity helped them relax, feel better emotionally, and enjoy a break from their other, more demanding schoolwork.