We were merely freshmen

Don't try and act like you're friends with the freshman class, or that you look down on those who make generic negative remarks about freshman. I may or may not have heard you specifically say, "I hate freshman" (although I'm fairly certain I have). I do however know that I have heard you mutter, "Stupid freshman!" as well as use other derogatory terms toward them and even use the word freshman itself as an insult, such as -Those people are being stupid and immature. They're acting like freshman.

First, on the subject of fashion, I wouldn't say most everyone is walking around in hoodies in this weather. There are plenty of upper-classmen females who dress in shorts and t-shirts to escape the heat. The fact that a portion of freshman wear less clothing than you are used to is due to the changing trends in fashion for people in that age group. The fact that older college students dress differently is because many of the 'fashionable' ones realize they don't need college for their life plans, and many others get married and "tame down" a bit.

Your strict "no freshman" rule came about because you hadn't had any luck dating freshman in the past, and you thought your luck would improve if you restricted your dating field. There are exceptions. Let's face it, if a smart, mature girl who played the cello and looked like Alexis Bledel was interested in you, you would date her. Period. Pause for effect.

What's the big deal with the age 18? Laws have to be made somewhere, so the age 18 was determined to be an adult. 17 dating 16? fine. 20 dating 19? fine. 18 dating 17? ... I'm not so sure about that. Perhaps they should break up until the 17 year old has a birthday and everything is acceptable again.

It's slightly different for each person, but by around age 18 you have developed most of your personality traits and your brain is physically capable of allowing you to be a responsible, mature human being. I don't feel much different than I did at age 18. We still worry about social interactions with females, try too hard to be cool (although our definition of cool may have changed), make fun of those different than us ("Man, that guy's a tool. Look at him on his long board"), and try to mooch stuff from our parents.

I don't think that one year in college rewires us to be unrecognizable from the person we became the first 18 years of our life. If two people love each other and are happy together, having over a 2 year difference in ages shouldn't automatically subject one of them to being called a dirtbag. Yes, there are dirtbags out there who prey on younger girls. But there are also people who simply connect with someone that wasn't born at the same time as them. If you love someone, don't let small age differences keep you apart. In 5 years you'll be 26 and 23 and few people will care, and in 55 years you'll be 76 and 73, and no one will care.

If you want to go on to be a sophomore or higher, you start as a freshman. Freshman in general may have some differences with respect to older college students, but they are still humans, still our classmates, and still our peers. Since we share more similarities than differences with freshman, they are allowed to be our friends, and if you choose to, they can be your dates as well.

And the Oscar goes to ... who cares?

Why are celebrities so celebrated? There are multiple tv shows, tv stations, web sites, and magazines dedicated solely to the lives of celebrities. Meanwhile, the people who are actually important are cast down to the History chanel.

Our basic needs are food, shelter, and good health, yet carpenters and food workers get paid squat. And while doctors make more because of the years of training and education that goes into their job, they still don't make much compared to any movie star that fulfils the tertiary need for entertainment.

Teachers who educate and inspire new generations are barely making ends meet, while rappers like Akon and T-pain, who are leading new generations in the wrong direction, can afford all kind of unnecessary gold accessories.

There are child stars who own their own mansions. Do we really need to pay Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers that much? The "fabulous life of..." show on VH1 always gives me a mix of feelings of shock, anger, and despair. I just think of all the better things the money could be going to than spending $1,000 on a bottle of wine and staying at resorts that cost $10,000 a night. (I'm not making those numbers up)

We pay celebrities based on the recognition of their name. There's not a shortage of acting talent (although some movies may give that impression). Perhaps if there weren't papparazzi swarming actors, then some of the more serious actors would consider coming out of plays and other mediums to perform in movies without worrying about destroying their privacy.

People are so hungry for gossip that papperazzi get paid loads of money for pictures that offer a glimpse into the private life of celebrities. Because celebrities are in the public eye, people can talk about them as if they were a mutual friend. But should I really care if Brad and Angelina break up? The truth is they aren't my friends, and I have little to no impact on their lives.

A side issue I have with the Hollywood elite is the fashion industry. Most of it is based on trying to find new ways to feel superior to other people. There's a good Daily Show interview between John Stewart and Tim Gunn (a famous fashion consultant who stars on 'Project Runway'). They are discussing fashion and Tim says, "I'm the first to encapsulate this realistically. Nobody needs it. I mean, we need clothes - do we need fashion, no."

I'm not a fan of the whole Hollywood culture. Why is there such an interest in celebrities? They're not perfect people we should worship; you might even argue that most have more issues than your average american. It seems like people caught up in celebrity lives are often trying to escape their own. I don't think many reasonable people would be upset if we stopped broadcasting celebrity lives. Celebrity culture is like a bad tv show that's still on air. People just watch it because it's there.

Closing Arguments-- Willis

I don't feel like I focused on bad norms. I listed many good societal norms also, like using silverware or sleeping while lying down. I simply used the slavery example to argue against your point that it's a societal norm, so all people should do it.
Doing everything the bible says in whatever way you interpret it leads to a whole new set of problems (slaughtering goats, stoning people, mass banning of the Harry Potter books, etc.) but that's possibly a topic for another debate.

Even if you don't think that a woman taking the man's last name has any connection to ownership, writing "Mr. and Mrs. JOHN Doe" seems unnecessarily chauvinistic.

The hyphen doesn't rid the union of romance; it's a symbol that welds the two parties together. What's more romantic, carving "John + Jane" in a heart on a tree, or only carving "John"?

"The choice is still entirely up to the woman"? Saying "You can either marry me and take my name, or you can marry someone else" seems to limit the choices of the woman. When a woman answers "Yes" or "No" to marriage, it should be based on how compatible she is with the man and how much they love each other, not other stipulations such as whether or not she'll give up her name.
It comes down to the argument of "If you love me, you'll do this" vs "If you love me, you wouldn't ask me to".

For some females in positions of fame or power, it's in their best interest to keep their own last name. Sandra Bullock shouldn't change her name to Sandra Whatshisface.

I agree that things seem to be working the way they are, and it can be a hassle to have different last names in the same family (although if society changed to where more people had different last names, this wouldn't be an issue). I also think a family should all share a last name until one of the children grows up and starts a family of their own. The issue is in who's name the family takes. 

If it had turned out it was tradition for the male to take the female's name, I would somewhat reluctantly go along with that simply because that's the way the system works, and I don't usually stand up for things that I consider not worth the fight, but I'd still be sad about loosing my last name.

If a female isn't ok with taking the mans name, and she decides to keep her own or add a hyphen, she shouldn't be ostracized for her decision. She should be looked up to as a strong, independent woman who challenges issues that aren't fair, where most other people just fold.