For Schools
School-Based Competitions: Essay Contest Ideas
Essays on Democracy and Diversity
1. Have students write an essay telling how democracy and diversity go hand in hand.
2. Ask students to write an essay describing the characteristics of democracy and how the law contributes to them (i.e., government leaders gained power by legal, peaceful means; individuals have basic rights like freedom of speech, etc.)
3. In many parts of the world, countries are adopting democratic principles for their governments. Ask students to reflect on the meaning of this and what role the United States has played in promoting democratic principles.
4. Ask students to interview a parent or other adult about their experiences with people of other races or religions when they were growing up. Then have students write an essay comparing their own experience with that of the older generation.
5. Challenge students to explore in an essay whether Americans are becoming more or less welcoming of diversity today.
6. Discuss with students how America, as a nation of immigrants, was established by those wanting political and religious freedom. Ask them to write on how America's diversity has contributed to her strength.
7. Select one or more of the Bill of Rights posters (as seen in the Law Day Store Poster Shop) and ask students to write an essay expanding on how the poster's theme relates to protecting diversity.
8. Have students write about their own racial or ethnic background. What kinds of discrimination, if any, did they or their ancestors face in the U.S. or in their original homeland?
9. Ask students to tell what diversity means to them and how they can work to achieve it in their school.
10. Ask students to write an essay entitled "The Naturalized American I Admire Most and Why." The essay can discuss a living or historical figure who is prominent in the community or someone personally known by the contestant.
Essays on Equality & Equal Protection
1. Have students write an essay telling what equality means to them or how they can work to achieve equality in their school.
2. Challenge students to explore in an essay the distinctions between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.
3. Ask students to research the evolution of equal protection of the laws in our legal system, and write an essay in which they determine which constitutional amendments, laws, and legal cases were most important to the development of law in this area.
4. Is affirmative action fair? Is it in keeping with our values and traditions as a nation? (You might ask students to begin their thinking with President Johnson's words from the mid-60s: "You do not take a person hobbled with chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and say, 'You are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.")
5. Is affirmative action still necessary in our society? Are there other means of providing assistance that target those in need without establishing racial preferences?
On the Overarching Theme of Law Day
1. Ask students to complete this thought: "To me the phrase 'Celebrate Your Freedom' means...."
2. Select one right from the Bill of Rights and ask students to explain why that right is important to them.
3. Challenge students to explore in an essay the balance between constitutional freedoms and public safety on one of the following issues: school dress codes, school locker searches, school drug testing, or school safety rules (metal detectors, no beepers, etc.).
4. Another essay contest could have students trace the historical origins of the rights contained in the Bill of Rights.
5. "As for me, give me liberty or give me death" declared Patrick Henry. Ask students to write an essay about how Americans feel today about their freedoms.
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