Gum chewing in school

Definitions: Laxative: A substance that, when ingested, has the property of loosening the bowels. People: Any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at least 200 people in the audience" I would like to point out several flaws in your arguments. "You seem to claim that gum has laxative effects. It may contain things that are used in laxatives, but it doesn't make it primary for that function. For example, cigarettes have a chemical used in rat poision. That doesn't mean a cigarette can be used as rat poision." Certainly sugar-free gum was not intended to be a laxative, but the sweetening ingredients, sorbitol or xylitol, are laxatives by definition. I don't know what kind of argument you are trying to make since I never did state that gum should be used as a laxative at all. It's irrelevant to the debate. "Also, I would like for you to present a source that says chewing regular gum (regular defined as not drug enhanced) acts as a laxtive and has caused such a "problem". As for the weight loss, I'd like you also to present a cite for it, because I've never heard of such a thing. Gum has little to no relation to weight loss." Sugar free gum as I already stated uses sorbitol or xylitol as a sweetener. Normal consumption, perhaps 3 sticks a day, should not cause any laxative effect to the body, but chewing large amounts of sugar free gum every day can cause severe gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea which leads to weight loss as you would have found out if you have read source number 2 in round one. If you don't believe that I already had a source then here's another one: [1]. "You just stated that it was proven to enhance cognitive function; however, in this, you state that it's NOT proven? You contradict yourself." I did not contradict myself. Glucose is sugar, and glucose was used in gum to make it sweet. There have been studies on chewing gum containing glucose in the past such as the one in round 1 and those have shown a slight increase in cognitive function. But you misinterpreted me when I said that sugar FREE gum has not been proven to make you smarter or do better tests, since sugar free gum does not contain sugar (glucose). I did not contradict myself. "I presume you mean noise, and if it becomes a problem, the teacher can easily tell the person to spit it out. There can be rules set in place for gum. Furthermore, you can't generalize like that by saying "People find chewing gum annoying in general.", because you can't prove it." If it's a problem, then there should be a solution to fix the problem. Telling a student to simply spit it out for possibly every day means that there was a problem with the gum chewing for every single day and that would not be an effective solution to the problem. A better solution would be to disallow people from chewing gum, since there wouldn't be any problem in the first place. Having to put up with noisy gum chewing while trying to be respectful and let the teacher finish her lesson is not acceptable since I will be distracted by the gum chewing and so will other people as well. I do not find going up to a teacher to interrupt her teaching about the matter of gum chewing to be respectful since it is not an emergency. An effective solution is the one I've stated. I can prove that people find gum chewing annoying since, by using the definition of people as a "group of human beings collectively", the people found gum chewing to be annoying. After all, if you don't believe me, read source number 5 in round 1, or here: [2]. "It is possible if you allow students to chew gum and show them the wastebasket JUST once, perhaps they'll use it. If not, you can ban it, but there's no way to know unless you find out. However, even in schools where gum is banned, you can easily find gum under desks." I think high school students know where the trash can is. By judging from the amount of gum on sidewalks, floors, desks, etc., it is reasonable to say that some students litter with their gum by choice, since they know where the trash can is, but do not use it. Yes even schools who do have bans on gum have gun littered, I agree, but that is why I brought up the statement that "ENFORCING a rule that disallows people from chewing gum, surfaces are less likely to be littered." Simply telling students to spit their gum out into the trash can is not adequate since you said schools that have bans still have gum underneath the desks. Telling students to go to the assistant principal's office is more like it. "As for your point on Nicotine gum...that costs about 30-60 dollars to supply. It is incredibly improbable that students would purchase this to distribute. The probability is so unlikely, that I will not address it further." Since you did not cite sources for your claim, I did my research and came up with 20 pieces of 4 mg nicotine gum at CVS pharmacy for around $10 [3]. It is not improbable, since this kind of nicotine gum is cheap to purchase. As irresponsible as teenagers are, this $10 could end up killing someone, since this pack contains 80mg of nicotine, while only 60mg is enough to kill a person [4]. Drugs have been passed around in school from student to student, which is why there are drug dogs. Aren't other drugs expensive as well? Nicotine gum could very well prevent some people from getting caught since it's disguised as gum. "If they want to chew gum, that's their choice and it's legal. Any medical repercussions are their resposibility." And I presume you mean responsibility. Last time I checked students in school are still living with their parents since they take care of them. To assume that any medical repercussions are the responsibility of the student is false since most are not legal adults yet. "So does eating, but that can not be helped, reguardless what you do." Eating is a natural thing, but when you overwork you jaw by chewing for hours every day, for a long time, that can produce wear and tear on the cartilage in your jaw that should not be present if the person did not chew gum. Here's a quote from an article discussing TMJ (temporomandibular joint) "Gum chewing may result in muscle fatigue and pain--especially if it is done frequently and/or for long periods of time. In one survey of orthodontists and oral surgeons, 46 percent believed that infrequent gum chewing could lead to TMJ concerns. This statistic increased to 65 percent for frequent gum chewers. [5]" Overall, it looks like there are lots of problems with gum. By eliminating gum in school, students are less likely to have jaw problems in the future, there will be a lot less litter caused by gum, and most importantly to me is that class will be easier to concentrate in. My opponent did not mention any positive things about chewing gum, and poorly tried to refute my arguments. It's clear that people should not chew gum in school because it causes so many problems and does not have any benefits. Vote Con! Sources: 1. http://www.newscientist.com... 2. http://community.tasteofhome.com... 3. http://www.cvs.com... 4. http://www.thesun.co.uk... 5. http://www.ivillage.com...