150 persuasive speech topics for students, by theme and level

A persuasive speech topic works when someone in the room could reasonably disagree with it, the audience has a stake in it, and you can back it up in the time you have. The 150 topics below are original and sorted by theme and level, from first speeches in middle school to policy arguments for a college class. Each one is already written as a claim, so it can serve as your thesis as it stands. To argue the other side, change "should" to "should not."

Start with the row that fits your class:

Easy persuasive speech topics for middle school

First persuasive speeches go best on subjects the whole class already has opinions about. You can support most of these with your own experience, a quick survey of classmates and one or two articles.

1. Every student should learn to cook three simple meals before high school.
2. Recess should continue through eighth grade.
3. Students should be allowed to choose their own seats.
4. Lunch periods should be at least 30 minutes long.
5. Every classroom should have a class pet.
6. Allowances should be tied to chores, not grades.
7. Teachers should not assign homework over school breaks.
8. Students should be allowed to listen to music during quiet work time.
9. Field trips are worth missing a day of regular classes.
10. Cursive is still worth teaching.
11. Middle schools should offer a foreign language starting in sixth grade.
12. Kids under 13 should not have their own smartphones.
13. Libraries should stop charging kids late fines.
14. Students should help write their own classroom rules.
15. Board games teach more than video games.
16. Every student should play an instrument for at least one year.
17. Our school should plant a garden that students tend and eat from.
18. Kids should be allowed to walk or bike to school on their own by age 10.
19. Book reports should be replaced with book talks given to the class.
20. Every student should learn basic first aid before high school.

Persuasive speech topics about school

Your audience lives with every one of these rules, which makes them easy to care about and hard to fake. Expect someone to ask who pays for the change or who loses out, and have an answer ready.

21. High schools should start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.
22. Phones should be locked away for the whole school day, lunch included.
23. Every student should pass a personal finance course to graduate.
24. Class rank should be abolished.
25. Final exams should be replaced with end-of-year projects.
26. Students should be able to retake any test once.
27. Homework should have a nightly time limit for each grade.
28. Our district should switch to a four-day school week.
29. Students should rate their teachers anonymously each semester.
30. Students should get one excused mental health day per semester.
31. Media literacy should be a required class.
32. Dress codes should be written with students, not for them.
33. Seniors should complete a community service project to graduate.
34. Gym class should be graded on effort, not athletic skill.
35. Written feedback should replace letter grades.
36. Shop and home economics should be required again.
37. Juniors and seniors should be allowed off campus for lunch.
38. Summer break should be shorter, with longer breaks during the year.
39. Teachers should post every major due date on the first day of the semester.
40. Every high school should offer a public speaking class.

Technology and social media topics

The strongest tech speeches argue for one specific change, such as a default setting, a rule or a law, rather than whether technology is good or bad. Nobody in the room will give up their phone. They might agree to change a setting.

41. Social media accounts for users under 16 should be private by default.
42. Students should be allowed to use AI chatbots for homework if they say how they used them.
43. Schools should teach students to write with AI tools instead of banning them.
44. Infinite scroll should be off by default for teenage users.
45. Video apps should turn autoplay off by default.
46. Parents should ask their kids before posting photos of them online.
47. Loot boxes in video games should be regulated as gambling.
48. Child influencers should have part of their earnings held in trust until they turn 18.
49. Every phone should have a mode that turns off everything except calls, texts and maps.
50. Self-driving cars should have to pass the same road test as human drivers.
51. Facial recognition cameras should be banned in schools.
52. Group chats have made teenage friendships stronger, not weaker.
53. Phone makers should sell spare parts and repair manuals to anyone.
54. Canceling a subscription should take no more steps than signing up.
55. Sharing a deepfake of a real person without consent should be a crime.
56. Every student should learn to code before graduating.
57. Online anonymity does more good than harm.
58. Smartwatches should be treated like phones during tests.
59. Esports should count as a varsity sport.
60. Teenagers should set their own screen-time limits.

Health, food and sports topics

Most of these turn on a tradeoff between safety and personal choice. Name that tradeoff out loud. Listeners trust a speaker who admits the other side has a point, then explains why it loses.

61. Energy drinks should not be sold to anyone under 18.
62. Every public school should serve free breakfast to every student.
63. Sugary drinks should carry health warning labels.
64. Kids' meals should come with water or milk unless a parent asks for soda.
65. Tackle football should wait until high school.
66. Kids should play several sports instead of specializing in one before high school.
67. Student athletes should be excused from gym class during their season.
68. Every school should have a full-time nurse.
69. Participation trophies do more harm than good.
70. Sports betting ads should be banned from game broadcasts.
71. Schools should teach sleep the way they teach nutrition.
72. Competitive cheerleading should be recognized as a varsity sport.
73. College athletes should be treated as employees of their schools.
74. CPR training should be required to graduate high school.
75. Junk food ads aimed at children should be banned.
76. Standing desks should be an option in every classroom.
77. Video replay is making professional sports worse to watch.
78. The Summer Olympics should have one permanent host city.

Environment and animal topics

Small, local versions win here. Your class can't fix global emissions in five minutes, but it can ask the principal for compost bins in the cafeteria and get them by spring.

79. Our school should replace part of its lawn with native plants.
80. Single-use plastic water bottles should not be sold on campus.
81. Every school cafeteria should compost its food waste.
82. Zoos do more good than harm for endangered species.
83. Clothing brands should pay to collect and recycle the clothes they sell.
84. City buses should be free to ride.
85. Gas-powered leaf blowers should be banned in cities.
86. Lab-grown meat should be sold in grocery stores.
87. Pet stores should sell only animals from shelters and rescues.
88. Pet cats should be kept indoors.
89. Circuses should not use wild animals.
90. Classes should meet outdoors once a week when the weather allows.
91. Electronics makers should take back and recycle the devices they sell.
92. Every new home should be built with solar panels.
93. The country should build more nuclear power plants to cut emissions.
94. Governments should fund high-speed trains before new airport runways.

Money, work and the future

These suit juniors, seniors and college students, who are about to run into most of them in their own lives. Personal stakes make for easy openings: a first paycheck, a tuition bill, a job posting.

95. Every teenager should hold a part-time job before graduating.
96. Restaurants should replace tipping with menu prices that pay a full wage.
97. Unpaid internships should be banned.
98. Community college should be free for every high school graduate.
99. A gap year should be the normal path between high school and college.
100. School counselors should give trade schools as much time as four-year colleges.
101. The standard workweek should be four days.
102. Stores should be required to accept cash.
103. Credit card companies should not market to college students.
104. Students should be paid for good grades.
105. Every worker should have paid sick leave by law.
106. Every job posting should list its salary range.
107. Buy-now-pay-later apps should follow the same rules as credit cards.
108. State lotteries do more harm than good.
109. Anyone whose job can be done from home should have the right to work remotely.
110. Companies that replace workers with robots should pay a tax on them.

College persuasive speech topics: society, law and ethics

Each of these needs real research, clear definitions and a fair account of the opposing view, which is why they suit college classes. The side each topic takes is a starting point, not an endorsement. Several are phrased the opposite way from how you usually hear them argued.

111. The voting age for local elections should be lowered to 16.
112. Voting should be mandatory, with "none of the above" on every ballot.
113. Election Day should be a national holiday.
114. Colleges should end legacy preferences in admissions.
115. Selective colleges should require SAT or ACT scores.
116. Every 18-year-old should do a year of national service, civilian or military.
117. People who finish a prison sentence should regain the right to vote automatically.
118. Cash bail should be abolished.
119. Supreme Court justices should serve a single 18-year term.
120. Members of Congress should be banned from trading individual stocks.
121. Members of Congress should have term limits.
122. The president should be elected by national popular vote.
123. Organ donation should be opt-out: everyone is a donor unless they say no.
124. Every prison should offer college courses.
125. Police body cameras should stay on for the whole of every call.
126. Social media companies should be legally responsible for what their algorithms recommend.
127. Museums should return artifacts taken during colonial rule.
128. Cities should allow small apartment buildings in single-family neighborhoods.
129. Public school funding should follow students to any school their family chooses.
130. Big cities should charge drivers a fee to enter the most crowded downtown streets.

Funny persuasive speech topics

A light topic still needs a real argument. The comedy comes from treating a small question with full seriousness: evidence, an objection, a call to action. These work well for a first speech or a warm-up round.

131. Pineapple belongs on pizza.
132. Cereal is a soup.
133. A hot dog is a taco, not a sandwich.
134. Socks with sandals should be accepted as fashion.
135. The snooze button should be removed from every alarm.
136. Clocks should stop changing twice a year.
137. Toilet paper should hang over, not under.
138. Dogs make better coworkers than people.
139. Every class should end five minutes early.
140. The middle seat on a plane gets both armrests.
141. Naps should be built into the school day.
142. Water is the best drink, and it isn't close.
143. Breakfast for dinner should be a weekly tradition.
144. Chewing gum should be allowed in class.
145. Movie theaters should have a texting section in the back row.
146. Cats make better roommates than most people.
147. The school week should start at noon on Monday.
148. Cold pizza is better than hot pizza.
149. The front row is the best seat in any classroom.
150. The word "literally" should be retired.

How to choose a topic you can win

The right topic is the one you can argue well in the time you have, to the audience in front of you. Run your shortlist through this test, and drop any topic that fails two items.

Fact, value or policy

Persuasive claims come in three main kinds, and the kind changes what your speech has to prove. Policy claims are the most common kind. For those, decide whether you want the audience to agree or to act, because the ending is different.

Swap a tired topic for a sharper one

Teachers hear the same handful of topics every year, and so do your classmates. The usual versions are too broad to win in five minutes. A narrower claim on the same subject is easier to prove and easier to act on.

Read the assignment before you choose abortion, gun control, the death penalty or religion. Some teachers rule them out. Even where they are allowed, most listeners have heard every argument already, and few change their minds in five minutes.

Turn a topic into a speech

A topic becomes a speech when you know who has to be convinced, what they need to hear and what you want them to do afterward. At a typical pace of 130 to 150 words a minute, a five-minute speech is about 650 to 750 words, enough for three reasons and one objection.

1. Narrow it to one claim

   "Phones are a problem" is a subject. "Phones should be locked away all day starting next semester" is a claim. Name who would make the decision: the principal, the school board, the city council.

2. Find where your audience starts

   A friendly room needs a reason to act. A skeptical one needs you to take its objection seriously before it will listen. Decide how much of each appeal you need, using ethos, pathos and logos: why you are worth hearing, why it matters, what the evidence says.

3. Back each reason with evidence

   Give every reason one piece of support: a number from a named source, an expert, a specific example. A survey of your own class counts if you say how many people you asked.

4. Answer the best objection

   State the strongest argument against you in words its supporters would accept, then answer it. Skip it, and the audience will make it for the other side in their heads while you talk.

5. End with one specific ask

   Sign a letter, vote, email the board, try something for a week. "Think about it" is not an ask. Give the action a deadline and make it easy to do on the spot.

For the order of the parts, Monroe's motivated sequence is hard to beat. Alan H. Monroe developed it at Purdue University in the 1930s: attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, action. Here is topic 21 outlined that way.

Persuasive speeches lean on rhetorical devices such as repetition and the rule of three, and the persuasive techniques guide covers 15 of them with examples. For the first 30 seconds and the last, see how to start a speech and how to end one. If the assignment is to explain rather than argue, switch to informative speech topics.

Draft and test it in Strokes

Strokes is a desktop editor for macOS and Windows that keeps your documents as files on your computer. For a class speech, keep the outline, the sources and the draft as documents in one project. Select a paragraph and press ⌘K to ask for a tighter version. Open the AI Assistant and ask it to argue against your thesis, so you hear the objection before your classmates raise it. Version history keeps every earlier draft in case Tuesday's cut was a mistake, and the finished speech exports to PDF or Word to hand in. Classes differ on what AI help they allow, so check your teacher's rules first.