YOU DECIDE: Should the U.S. Lower the Voting Age to Sixteen?
New Zealand’s parliament is currently debating whether to lower the country’s voting age from eighteen to sixteen. This comes after the New Zealand’s Supreme Court ruled that setting the voting age at eighteen is age discrimination. Several other nations are considering similar measures, while nine–Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Malta, Nicaragua, and Scotland and Wales–have […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Community College Be Free?
Have you thought about your plans following high school graduation? Community colleges are a great option for many students. They are often closer to home and less expensive than traditional four-year universities. Many community colleges offer flexible hours for students who choose to work or raise a family at the same time. Presidents Obama and […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Foreign Travelers Who Aren’t Vaccinated Against COVID-19 be Denied Entry to the United States?
Novak Djokovic, the Serbian twenty-one-time Grand Slam tennis champion, is not competing in this year’s U.S. Open. Why? Because he’s not vaccinated against COVID-19. According to current U.S. regulations, any non-U.S. citizen must be fully vaccinated in order to enter the country. (Djokovic was also unable to participate in the Australian Open and was deported […]
YOU DECIDE: Should communities leveled by hurricanes be rebuilt in the same place?
It’s summer, and that means the start of hurricane season. Due to the effects of climate change, the United States faces more deadly hurricanes every year. During the past two years, a record fifty named storms formed over the Atlantic Ocean, with eighteen tropical storms and hurricanes making landfall in the U.S. Every year, communities […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Student Debt Be Forgiven?
College is expensive. More than 43 million Americans (one out of every eight people) is responsible for some student loan debt. President Trump paused federal student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and President Biden has, so far, continued this policy. President Biden announced that he is considering some form of student debt forgiveness. […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Ohio Postpone its Primary Elections?
Every ten years, state legislatures must evaluate the census population data to see if their state’s congressional district maps must be changed. Information about population growth and loss comes directly from the Census. If the population increases or decreases enough to change the number of congressional members assigned to each state, the districts must be […]
YOU DECIDE: Should Members of Congress Be Allowed to Trade Stock?
In April 2012, Congress passed the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act by a large majority of both Republicans and Democrats. The STOCK Act required members of Congress and their spouses and dependent children to publicly (and promptly) reveal when they have bought or sold shares of stock in a company. Recently, however, some […]
YOU DECIDE: Cars That Stop Drunk Driving?
When Congress passed President Biden’s infrastructure package last month, it included a demand for U.S. automakers: find a way to stop drunk people from driving cars. As a result, automakers are developing monitoring systems in cars. These new safety systems could be installed as early as 2026. But the legislation isn’t specific about what exactly […]
YOU DECIDE: Civilian Space Travel
In September 2021, four people–a CEO, a physician assistant, an aerospace data engineer, and a pilot/geoscientist–became the first all-civilian crew to orbit Earth on a mission called Inspiration4. On October 14, 2021, actor William Shatner experienced his own eleven-minute journey to the edge of space courtesy of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin aerospace company. Space travel, […]
YOU DECIDE: School Social Media Free Speech Case
As a student, what are you allowed to say–and not allowed to say–on social media? That’s the question at the heart of a recent Supreme Court ruling. A high school student from Pennsylvania is at the center of the case. She posted her frustration on Snapchat after not making the varsity cheerleading team. Here, btw […]