By Matt Carlstrom
Round Table reporter

Students in Becky Larson’s English 11 Honors classes at Middletown High School spent the week making presentations to their peers to persuasively convey their opinions on controversial issues. The presentations capped off a month-long research paper unit that was a requirement in the class.

“I thought it was a nice follow-up to our research paper,” Larson said, noting that “being able to present in front of a group is so important.”

The students had the freedom to pick any issue that interested them, and then had to take a position and convincingly inform the class why that position was best.

Several groups of students inadvertently chose opposing positions on issues such as the death penalty and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The polarized viewpoints allowed for intense debate and educational discussion.

Students had already written a five-page research paper on the position that they took, and were thus informed on the issues they studied.

“The kids were required to do so much research, it made everyone’s arguments well-founded,” said Larson.

MHS junior Sayre Posey chose “Keeping Sex Offenders in Jail” as her topic. “It’s a topic I’m passionate about, and I had a lot of fun researching it,” said Posey. She presented her issue to the class while using pictures of children that were murdered by sex-offenders. The children’s deaths, according to Posey, could have been avoided had the previously-convicted sex offenders remained in prison.

“It’s too easy to get away with so many crimes in our system, and I’m a firm believer in justice,” she explained.

The project was a great opportunity for the students to learn about issues they would otherwise have not known about, and gave them motivation to continue political involvement and stay informed. “I feel inspired to get involved and debate topics I care about,” MHS junior Molly Rothenhoefer stated.