Future leaders often seem to come from high school debate teams. Students participate in these debates because they are interested in current affairs and want to hone their public speaking skills.

The National Federation of State High School Associations has announced the topics for the upcoming year. These important issues are worthy of debate which hopefully will lead to greater understanding.

I was honored and very pleased that two topics were chosen based on my book, Presidents, Congress, and the Public Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2015). I wish the students well, and thank them for their involvement. To use a trite expression that is nonetheless true, the future is in their hands.

This article was first published in LinkedIn on August 22, 2017.  The site for the information about the debate topics is: https://www.nfhs.org/media/1018485/education-topic_affirmative-cases.pdf