5 Prompts on Current Events

Looking for a way for your teens to think deeply about some of today’s issues?

This week’s prompts will give your teens a chance to look at current events, express their opinions, and practice persuading readers. Each one of these prompts has a link so your teens can read more about the issue.

Warning: You may want to check the sites out before your teens do. Though I am careful which links to include, inappropriate material may appear on the other sites after I’ve posted the links.

Ready? Let’s go . . .

1. Lethal Injections

When a jury convicts someone and the judge gives a sentence of death by lethal injection, there’s a new problem.

According to some reports, lethal injections are considered cruel and unusual punishments because they do not always work correctly or quickly. In fact, Pfizer has refused to let their drugs be used for lethal injections anymore: “Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve. Consistent with these values, Pfizer strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment,” according to Fox News.

Lethal injections are not only used for capital punishment but also to kill babies before aborting them. Read this article on lifenews.com to find out what is in the lethal injection and how it is being used.

What is your opinion of capital punishment? Use at least two solid reasons or facts to support your view.
If legal drugs cannot be found to carry out death sentences, how should those violent offenders be executed? Give at least one method and explain it.
In years past in England and Europe, those found guilty of a crime could be literally torn limb from limb by being tied to two horses, or they could be eviscerated (cut open while still alive). This is why the infant United States adopted a stance against “cruel and unusual punishment.” Do you believe it is cruel and unusual punishment for a violent offender to experience anxiety, a slow-working drug, or an ill-working drug while being executed with a lethal injection? Support your view with at least two solid reasons or facts.
What is your view of using a lethal injection on second-trimester babies so their aborted body parts can be intact for selling? Write a paragraph or essay explaining your view. Use at least two solid reasons to defend your view.
How is capital punishment different from abortion? How is it similar? Compare and contrast them in a paragraph or essay. Here’s a tutorial on compare-and-contrast writing, just in case.

2. Euthanasia

It is ironic that while Pfizer blocks the use of their drugs in legal executions of violent criminals, it seems to be acceptable to other companies to make drugs to euthanize ordinary people. Case in point: the number of victims of euthanasia in The Netherlands has skyrocketed. But The Netherlands is not alone in this trend.

Dementia, depression, and other reasons are given for these deaths. You can read about euthanasia in Canada here.

What is your opinion of euthanasia? Support your view with at least two solid reasons or facts.
Write about a time in history when euthanasia was misused.
Can you envision euthanasia being abused by family members or by those in power? Make a list of the ways you think it could be abused.
Euthanasia is employed in the novels The Giver and in The Children of Men to get rid of undesirable members of society, and by “undesirable” I mean twins, older people, sick, those who do not conform to society’s norms, and so on. Describe how euthanasia is used in a book you’ve read or in a movie you’ve seen. Was it viewed as positive or negative?
Killing someone by euthanasia for physical or psychological reasons is viewed as compassionate: saving the person from suffering. What other way can euthanasia be viewed? Choose one word and write a paragraph to explain how that word can be used in a discussion on euthanasia.

3. Biological Men Competing in Women’s Sports

Some biological boys and men who identify as woman (transgender females) would like to compete in women’s sports. However, as males tend to be faster and stronger than females, this presents a problem for women’s sports. In fact, trans women have a twelve percent “competitive advantage” over biological women.

USA TODAY reports that “in the Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation, signed on Inauguration Day, the Biden administration said that any school that receives federal funding must allow biological boys who self-identify as girls onto girls’ sports teams or face action from the federal government.”

What is your opinion of biological males, who identify as female, participating in women’s sports? Support your view with at least two solid reasons or facts.
If transgender females are skilled in sports, how can they participate without compromising women’s sports or being unfair to women competitors? Write a “how I propose to fix this problem” paragraph or essay.
Why do you think a man would want to be a woman or a woman would want to be a man? Write your ideas.

4. Green Energy

Governments and consumers are trying to find greener, safer energy sources. Solar and wind power are popular alternatives to fossil fuels such as gas, coal, and oil.

Solar panels for home have a life span of, at the most, thirty years. And they contain harmful materials like lithium and cobalt. Batteries for electric cars contain lithium. How can they be recycled without harming the soil and water? When a wind turbine breaks, can the fiberglass blades be recycled?

Read this article to learn more about the problem.

In addition, this green energy is harming animals, even some threatened species. A solar farm is reportedly killing hundreds of desert tortoises and lighting thousands of birds on fire annually. Wind turbines on one California farm kill almost 5,000 birds a year, including golden eagles.

And here’s an article showing how one student makes solar panels from food waste.

How can dangerous materials from solar panels and fiberglass blades from wind turbines be recycled or reused safely? Write a “how I propose to fix this problem” paragraph or essay.
Which causes more environmental problems: using fossil fuels or using green energy such as solar and wind? Support your view in a paragraph or essay with at least two solid reasons or facts.
If fossil fuels are less and less available, what will planes use for fuel or how will plastics and other products that rely on fossil fuels be manufactured? In a paragraph or essay, write your ideas for substitutes for fossil fuels.
How can solar and wind farms become safer for animals? Do some research on what others propose and evaluate their ideas based on the feasibility. Or write your own ideas.

5. The Power of Connotations

The Colorado House of Representatives voted to remove the words “illegal alien” from their state laws and substitute them with “undocumented immigrant” or “foreign national.”

Stephen Lebsock, the Democratic Representative behind the bill, says that “aliens are from other planets. We should not be referring to human beings as aliens,” according to the Denver Post. And the radio station K99 in Colorado quotes him as saying that the term “illegal alien” is “outdated and hurtful language.”

Click or tap here to read more about connotations and how they affect us. Teens weigh in on the topic with their choice of four prompts .