Help me with class debate please.?

Question

We are having a class debate. I just wanted to ask if you guys can help me come up with good things to say.

The topic of the debate could be found here:

http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=238

I am doing the Cons. The other team is doing the pros.

Please suggest things I could say. Thanks.

Answer 1

Sorry, the only thing con I can think of is that it gives the children the freedom of doing whatever they want without consequences to themselves.  However, if they are punished for their own offenses, then they understand that there are consequences to our actions.

Answer 2

Do your home work and stop being Lazy, you really want us to read through all that mess so you dont have to Think

Answer 3

One possible angle you might try is children as individuals rather than property (presumably focusing on older children, i.e. teenagers - though you can figure for yourself).

People are responsible for their dogs, because their dogs are considered property.  Dogs must constantly either be constrained on the owners property (i.e. in the yard) or otherwise directly under the owners control.

Although young children are expected to be under their parents direct control for their own safety, teenagers are not expected to be held to similarly strict guidelines.  

Under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, children are considered citizens, with rights therein.   Adulthood is not an instant transformation, as they grow teenagers gain additional responsibilities under the law, and have access to additional rights (such as being able to gain a driver's license - with parental consent, though in most cases that would not be considered automatically negligent.

Some kids are very good at hiding stuff from their parents.  It is all too human for parents to see their kids as little angels and blind to warning signs of trouble.

Parent's can still be held responsible if they were directly contributing to a child's misbehavior (for example, buying alcohol for a party), but I might think that there should be a burden of proof that the parent deliberately or through gross negligence contributed significantly to the problem.

Anyway, I won't tell you what to say (you gotta figure that out for yourself), but you might want to mull over some of these concepts as a start.

(also, consider what you might say if you were on the other side, then look for ways to counter those points).