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MOTIONS

List of all CTMSDL motions (most recent to oldest):

April 6, 2024 Championship: Prep ahead: This House believes that only violent criminals should be incarcerated.

Extemp: 1. This House would allow formerly incarcerated persons to serve on juries.

2: This House would grant incarcerated workers the same labor protections afforded to other U.S. workers.

3: This House, as a Middle Schooler, would turn in a friend for cheating.

February 10, 2024: Prep ahead: This House, as a Middle Schooler, would choose not to use social media.

Extemp: 1. This House, as public Middle Schools, would require students to complete community service hours. Definition of community service: work that is done without pay to help people in a community.

2. This House, as public Middle Schools, would make physical education (also called PE or gym) classes optional instead of required.

December 16, 2023 Tournament: Prep ahead: This House would set maximum age limits for elected office.

Extemp: 1. This House would lower the voting age in the U.S. Info Slide: U.S. citizens must be 18 to vote in state and federal elections and most local elections. Several U.S. cities and towns have lowered the voting age for local elections to age 16. Some countries allow citizens to vote at age 16, some at age 17, and some at age 18.

2. This House would require employers to give employees paid time off to vote. Info Slide: Election Day in the U.S. is the first Tuesday of November.  Polls are generally open from 7 am to 8 pm. U.S. federal law does not require employers to give employees time off to vote on Election Day.  29 states and the District of Columbia do.  Some require that the time off be paid, others do not.  21 states (including CT) do not require employers to give employees time off.

November 4, 2023 Novice Scrimmage + Open Tournament: Prep ahead: This House supports student uniforms.

Extemp: 1. THW ban homework in grades K-5. Info Slide: Definition of homework from Wikipedia: Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed at home. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, mathematical exercises to be completed, information to be reviewed before a test, or other skills to be practiced.

2. THW mandate the teaching of cursive writing and reading in elementary school.

Definition of cursive from Wikipedia: Cursive is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters.

Info Slide: Last month California became the 18th state to require public elementary schools in the state to teach children how to write and read cursive.

April 1, 2023 Championship: This House believes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will do more harm than good.

February 11, 2023 Tournament: This House would give low-income parents vouchers for their children to attend private schools.

December 17, 2022 Tournament: This House believes that state lotteries do more harm than good.

October 22, 2022 Novice Scrimmage + Open Tournament: This House believes that zoos do more harm than good.

May 7, 2022 Championship: This House, as the US Federal Government, would institute a Universal Basic Income (UBI).

April 2, 2022 Tournament: This House would eliminate school Gifted & Talented programs.

February 12, 2022: This House regrets the rise of space tourism.

December 18, 2021 Tournament: This House would boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

October 16, 2021 Scrimmage: This House would ban direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising in the U.S.

May 22, 2021 Championship: This House, as the International Criminal Court, would make ecocide an international crime.

April 24, 2021: This House, as the US federal and state governments, would not require standardized testing for the 2020-21 school year.

February 27, 2021: This House would ban law enforcement from performing genetic genealogy searches in consumer databases.

December 19, 2020: This House believes that televised Presidential debates do more harm than good.

October 24, 2020: This House, as Facebook, would ban all political advertising.

RESCHEDULED FROM APRIL 4 TO MAY 9, 2020: This House believes that it’s time to expand nuclear power for civilian use.

January 25, 2020: This House would require corporate boards to have women members.

December 14, 2019: This House regrets the worldwide proliferation of surveillance cameras.

October 19, 2019: This House supports the restitution of cultural objects.

This House would prohibit the development and implementation of human gene editing.

This House, as the United States, would ban hate speech.

This House would allow incarcerated felons to vote.

This House would include E-sports in the Olympic Games.

This House believes that Artificial Intelligence will do more good than harm.

This House would eliminate executive pardons and commutations.

This House would implement year-round schooling.

This House believes that (THBT) National Service should be compulsory in the United States.

This House would colonize Mars.

This House would eliminate life without the possibility of parole sentences for all adults.

This House would make voting in US elections compulsory.

This House would not assign homework.

This House would provide a path to citizenship for immigrants living illegally in the US.

This House believes that the United States should curtail free speech rights in order to combat terrorism.

This House would establish a program to revive extinct species and restore them to the environment.

This House would lower the voting age for all US elections to 16 years.

This House would require police to wear body cameras when on duty.

This House believes that zoos do more harm than good.

This House would permit schools to discipline students for internet and phone

activity.

October 24, 2020 Scrimmage Topic

We are pleased to announce our topic for the upcoming October 24, 2020 online CTMSDL scrimmage. This house, as Facebook, would ban all political advertising.

April 6 motion announced

Thank you to everyone who suggested possible topics for our next tournament and thanks to the CTMSDL Board for the time and effort they put into making the decision. The motion for our April 6, 2019 tournament at Eastern Middle…

December 1 Tournament Motion Announced

Our first tournament of the year will take place on December 1, 2018 at Seymour Middle School from 9:30 — 3:30. (The snow date is Saturday, December 15.) The motion will be: This House would allow incarcerated felons to vote.…

April 21 Tournament Motion Announced

We are happy to announce the motion for the tournament on Saturday, April 21, 2018 at Eastern Middle School in Riverside, Greenwich: This House believes that Artificial Intelligence will do more good than harm. Debaters should prepare to argue both…

January 27 Topic Announced

We are happy to announce the motion for the CTMSDL’s next tournament coming up on Saturday, January 27, 2018 at Smith Middle School in Glastonbury, from 9:30 — 3:45: This House would eliminate executive pardons and commutations. Debaters should prepare…

December 2 Tournament Motion Announced

The Connecticut Middle School Debate League’s next event will be a tournament on Saturday, December 2, 2017, at Middlebrook Middle School in Wilton, CT, from 9:30 — 3:30. The motion will be: This House would implement year-round schooling. Debaters should…

October 21 Scrimmage Motion Announced

Our first event of the year will be a scrimmage on October 21 at Bethel MIddle School.  Debaters will see an exhibiition round by experienced debaters and have two practice rounds, one on each side of the motion. Our motion…

April Tournament Motion Announced

The motion for our April 22 tournament will be: This House would colonize Mars.   The tournament will be held at Eastern Middle School, 51 Hendrie Avenue, Riverside, Greenwich, CT 06878, on Saturday, April 22, 2017. Thanks to Eastern Middle…

January Motion Announced

The next CTMSDL tournament will be held at Middlebrook School, 131 School Road, Wilton, CT 06897 on Saturday, January 28, 2017. Our snow date is February 25. Thanks to Middlebrook School and Coach Michael Panoli for hosting. The motion will…

December 3 Tournament Topic Announced

The CT Middle School Debate League’s first competitive tournament of the year will be held on Saturday, December 3 at Smith Middle School in Glastonbury. The motion will be: This House would make voting in US elections compulsory. Please remember…

October 15 Scrimmage Topic Announced

The scrimmage will be held at Bethel Middle School, Bethel, CT. We’ll start the 2016-17 year with a scrimmage.  We’ll have a demonstration debate, a workshop to introduce new students to debate, followed by 2 rounds of debate.  No awards…

April 30 Tournament Motion Announced

  The motion for the April 30th Connecticut Middle School Debate League tournament will be: This House would provide a path to citizenship for immigrants living illegally in the US. The tournament will be held at Smith Middle School, 216 Addison Road,…

January 23 Tournament Motion

The Connecticut Middle School Debate League’s next tournament will be held on Saturday, January 23, 2016 at Eastern Middle School, 51 Hendrie Avenue, Greenwich CT, 06878. The snow date is Saturday, January 30, also at Eastern Middle School. Our motion…

Motion Announced for May 2 Tournament

The topic for the May 2 tournament at Bethel Middle School will be: This House would require police to wear body cameras when on duty. This is the same topic debated by the high school league at their January 10th…

Motion for November Scrimmages

The motion for the November scrimmages at Bethel and Glastonbury will be: This House Would permit schools to discipline students for internet and phone activity. Remember your students should be prepared to debate both sides of the motion, arguing both…

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