List+of+topics+from+previous+years

Senior Project topics 2008-2009

• Drinking and driving laws—would the US be better off adopting the Canadian model? • Does Obama’s economic stimulus package violate free market norms (as described by Adam Smith)? • What is the relationship between handwriting and identity? Can handwriting instruction alter identity? • What does it mean to say that we have “free will”? Is a student “free” to go from a slacker to a conscientious student? • Can a Presidential candidate marked himself/herself as a “brand,” much like toothpaste is marketed? If so, what does this mean? • Should any sort of encryption (especially as it relates to computer encryption) be banned? Can it be banned? Is totally safe encryption possible? • What role might public art play at BHS? What about “Art-Science”? • Should the US rule out ever using assassinations as a strategy to defend US interests? Would this be a good plan for dealing with Iraq? • Might lucid dreaming be an inexpensive way to improve the crew team? What is lucid dreaming good for? Is it a real phenomenon? • Should patients suffering from depression be given placebos rather than expensive anti-depressants? Would this work? Is it ethical? • Why NOT use sweatshops? If they bring economic benefit to the people who work there (and the countries where they are located), what’s the problem? What are the economics of sweatshop labor? • Can chlorophyll be implanted in human DNA? Can humans get their energy from the sun (rather than from the food they eat)? Would this be a solution to the problem of hunger in the world? • Is Barbie dangerous? What’s the connection between Barbie and eating disorders? Between Barbie and girls’ low self-esteem? • Where the best players in the Negro Leagues (baseball) as good as the best players in Major League Baseball? • What is the neurological cause of déjà vu? How might studying it help us to develop a cure for Alzheimers? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• What’s the line between news and entertainment? Between tabloid journalism and news journalism? Between gossip and news? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Should college athletes be paid for playing? At big-name schools only? How much? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Is electro-shock therapy worth the risks? Why was it banned? Should it continue to be banned? When might it be worth the risks? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Is the Wisconsin Plan to deal with meth use a viable model for the country as a whole? Why has it been so successful? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Is drug treatment a reasonable alternative to incarceration for drug users who break laws? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Why haven’t attempts to develop a Federal judicial system on Native American reservations failed? Why isn’t it working now? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Does the KIPPS program work? Are KIPPS schools successful or are they only trying to educate a limit group of students? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• What was the main cause of the recent economic meltdown and subsequent recession? Who’s to blame? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Should we be concerned about the Mayan prophecy that the world will end in 2012? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Can meditation help people who have OCD mental ritual? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Was the West End (Boston) redevelopment project an example of “good urban planning”? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Is synesthesia a mental disorder? Do I have it? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">• Does yoga have proven (provable?) medical value? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #666666; display: block; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">
 * Senior paper topics 2007/08**


 * Running is the best way to lose weight (causal—evaluation)
 * Thomas Edison was a more successful inventor than Alexander Graham Bell because Edison was a better businessman (causal—single difference)
 * Spanking does not qualify as child abuse (definitional)
 * X (?) is an example of hip hop, though you might not think so (definitional)
 * Phrenology does not explain the relationship between facial appearance and character (causal—elimination)
 * Shooting the fight scene digitally (rather than in analog) is essential for the type of movie I’m creating (causal—elimination)
 * The personality one develops while using Prozac is not a different self (causal/definitional)
 * Atheists should be classified as a group worthy of special legal protections (causal)
 * Despite the fact that acupuncture and vaccinations share a similar history, the theoretical basis for acupuncture will prevent Western doctors from accepting it (causal)
 * Gladwell’s theory in //Blink// is a scientific theory (definitional)
 * Students with Aspergers would do better in mainstream classes than in isolated classes (definitional)
 * Graphology is a scientific theory (definitional)
 * Buddhism (Dharma, in particular) can solve the problems faced by many teenagers (definitional)
 * [Uncertain argument about how the US should deal with the controversy over the 2008 Olympic games in China]
 * Gangs are the main source of violence in federal prisons (causal—elimination)
 * The 2000 Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore was reached inappropriately (definitional)
 * The album, //Oh Brother, Where Art Though//, was so successful because it was a variation on what was already familiar (causal)
 * John Lennon should be consider a significant political leader (definitional)
 * The main cause of the US difficulties in Iraq stems from the decision to dissolve the Iraqi Army (causal)
 * My grandmother’s recent dream is best described as a “significant dream” (to use Jung’s term) and therefore should be taken as an indication of her true feelings (definitional)
 * The morality that mountain climbers should follow is different than that which most of us follow (definitional)
 * [Something about paranoia as mental illness v paranoia as non-mental illness]
 * Cryptography has been the key to the development of the Internet (causal)
 * The Avian flu resembles the Spanish Flu of 1918 and thus we should devote more money to research and preparedness (resemblance—proposal)
 * The situation in Darfur resembles the situation in Germany in the 1940s and, for this reason, the US should do the following… (resemblance, proposal)
 * The oppression of women in Afghanistan is a result of decisions made by political leaders and not because of what is written in the Koran. (Causal—elimination)
 * Graphology provides an efficient and effective way to positively alter personality (definitional; causal)
 * The theory of birth order is not scientific (definitional)
 * Major League Baseball should use an asterisk to designate the records of those players who were found to have used steroids (causal)