The West Prairie Press

By Janell Heaton

The eighth grade social studies class participated in a formal debate with social studies teacher Drew Snyder in the media center April 13, 2026. Students debated the question: Should the United States have dropped the atomic bombs during World War II?

The debate connected to what students have been studying in both social studies and literature. In social studies, students have been learning about the causes and events of World War II. In literature, they are reading Unbroken, which also connects to the war.

Fourth hour social studies argued in favor of the bombs. Speakers for that side were Emmalyn Wilson, Cashton Shipman, Drew Branch and Michael Hocker. Sixth hour social studies argued against the bombs. Speakers for that side were Abbie Cooper, Taegyn Knowles, Evan Cooper, Landon Porter, Keegan Siemens and Paxtyn Ford. The rest of the eighth grade served as the audience, and the speakers volunteered to participate.

Audience members also had an important role during the debate. They filled out a listener sheet where they documented the strongest arguments from each side and evaluated which side made the better case. They were also asked to put their personal biases aside and judge the debate based on evidence instead of opinion.

The debate was the result of a weeklong preparation process. Students worked in groups and used two different graphic organizers, one for each side of the argument. They also used an evidence packet Snyder provided to help them build strong arguments. After researching both sides, students were assigned a position and had to create the best argument possible using evidence to support their claims.

Students uploaded their information to Google Classroom, which became the material they used during the debate. While the class prepared evidence, the speakers worked on their opening and closing statements. Before the official debate, students practiced in class, with Snyder playing both sides.

When the results were finalized, the pro side won by a wide margin.

Eighth grader Daylee Smith said both sides made strong points.

“I think the debate went really well, and each side had many good arguments,” Smith said. “Both sides had good evidence, and it was very hard to determine a winner.”

Eighth grader Kate Beck said the debate made it difficult to choose one side.

“Everyone had very educated arguments that I couldn’t even decide which side I agreed with more,” Beck said.

Eighth grader Emmalyn Wilson, one of the speakers for the pro side, said the experience helped her understand history in a deeper way.

“It was fun because it helped me understand history better because we had to spend so much time preparing,” Wilson said. “During the actual debate, I think both sides did a really good job of making good points and showing different perspectives.”

Eighth grader Abigail Cooper, one of the speakers for the side against the bombs, said the debate was a positive learning experience.

“I thought the debate went really well because everyone contributed their opinion, and no one really went for the person; they went for the ideas they had,” Cooper said. “The debate was also super fun just to learn more about what could have happened and get out of our comfort zone.”

Snyder said he was pleased with the students’ work and the final debate.

“I thought they did a very good job,” Snyder said. “They were able to craft arguments and support them using evidence, which is a good skill to have in school and life in general. I was happy to see them be able to start from a position of limited knowledge, and then they were able to do a task that was pretty complex using a bunch of new information that they gathered.”