100 Fresh and Unexpected Essay Topics for High School Students

Check out our new selection of 100 high school essay topics to inspire your best papers! Grouped by paper type and subject, easy to navigate, original, and accessible.

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Looking for topics to write an essay on for a high school assignment, and all the lists seem to suggest endless variations of the same 10 basic ideas? Kind of reminds you of that 999 in 1 vintage video game that your dad still keeps in the attic. Annoyingly repetitive.

No such stale stuff here. Find only the most interesting essay topics for high school students below. Make this assignment one of a kind — just like your favorite ship!

We have divided our suggestions by essay types and subjects. However, keep in mind that these topics are given as examples and do not cover the entirety of the high school curriculum. If you need essay inspiration on class material not covered here, request personalized recommendations and assistance from our paper writing service.

Fun Essay Topics for High School

As a warmup, let’s start with some easy essay topics for high school. If the teacher said you can write about anything, why not have fun with your essay and be creative?

1. A day in the mind of a cat
2. Which superpower would you choose to have?
3. If you could remove one stressor in your life, what would it be? How would your life be better without it?
4. What role does music play in your life?
5. Which reason to skip school should be made legitimate?
6. Makeup today is gendered as a female attribute. Do you believe that with growing equality, it becomes outdated? If not, will men start using makeup more instead?
7. Do you believe plants could be considered pets?
8. Which invention/technology considered obsolete do you wish were around today? Why?
9. Why do you think we so often crush on book characters?
10. Pick three objects to symbolize the past decade and explain your choice

Good Persuasive Essay Topics for High School

Now let’s up our game. Persuasive essays test your eloquence since they must change your opponent’s perspective. Which side will you take on these issues?

1. School classes start too early, contributing to sleep deprivation. Agree or disagree?
2. Do you believe teachers should be armed to protect underage students?
3. Homework is obsolete and useless. Agree or disagree?
4. Is it ethical to engage service animals in dangerous tasks?
5. Do you think keeping wild animals as pets is ever ethical?
6. Do you think students should resolve conflicts independently, or school authorities must interfere?
7. Do you believe that exposing a cheating student in front of the class amounts to shaming and is unacceptable?
8. Classroom learning is outdated, and we all should study remotely. Agree or disagree?
9. Do you believe your school’s cafeteria could offer more vegan options?
10. Should unhealthy food be taxed?

Argumentative Essay Topics for High School

Moving from amateur to professional: an argumentative essay is a hard nut to crack. You must persuade people only with the power of ice-cold logic. Can you change people’s minds on these topics by giving only objective reasons and facts?

1. Do you believe cancel culture has a positive or negative influence on public discourse?
2. Do you think the voting age should be raised, lowered, or left as is?
3. In your opinion, should the minimum marrying age in your state be raised, lowered, or left as is?
4. Do you think the legal drinking age should be lowered in the US?
5. Do you believe your school dress code is too restrictive or too permissive?
6. Do you believe weight-based airline fares are discriminatory?
7. Is it discriminatory to show job ads to a specific age group of social media users?
8. Do you agree with the statement, “Gun violence is caused by mental illness, so gun control won’t prevent another mass shooting tragedy?” Why/why not?
9. Can a job application requirement to have a college degree be discriminatory?
10. Do you think standardized tests are obsolete?

Informative Essay Topics for High School

Writing an informative essay is easy. If you are well-informed, that is. If not, you will need to spend a couple of hours researching your topic. Which is always great in our book. Here at Charles Writers Hub, we love learning!

1. The black Death pandemic and its cultural influence
2. Climate change and its impact on wildlife
3. Literary archetypes, stock characters, and stereotypes
4. Write about one of the New Seven Wonders of the World
5. Write about your favorite Polar explorer
6. The Life and challenges of the early American Settlers
7. Bipolar disorder: myths and Facts
8. The Brief History of Piracy
9. Cultural appropriation and Why it’s problematic
10. Privacy vs. security dilemma and ways of resolving it

Expository Essay Topics for High School

Expository essays thoroughly investigate a topic, objectively laying it out in all its complexity. Care to dig into some of these?

1. Types of cognitive bias and ways to overcome it
2. History of women in coding
3. A brief history of romantic love
4. Were the knights of the Middle Ages chivalrous?
5. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and its modern forms
6. Abortion rights debate: timeline of confrontation
7. The benefits of art therapy for mental and physical health
8. Cold war and its impact on American culture
9. Indigenous languages of America and political recognition
10. Imperialism and Internal Colonization

Narrative Essay Topics for High School

Students Basically, you have to tell a story for this assignment. It doesn’t have to be super-creative, but expressive means and figurative language are welcome. Paint a picture with words — and here is your inspiration.

1. Tell a story of your perfect day: real or imaginary
2. What was the scariest thing you have ever done?
3. Tell about the first time you fell in love
4. Describe your first day in a new school
5. Have you ever been in a dangerous situation? What happened? How did it make you feel?
6. What was the most memorable summer trip you had?
7. Share a story from your family lore (how your parents met, how your grandparents came to live in a new place, etc.)
8. What is your most treasured possession? Why is it so dear to you? How did you obtain it?
9. Tell a story from the perspective of a library book
10. Tell a story about luck (good or bad)

World History Essay Topics for High School Students

World history is huge, insane, and fascinating. Unfortunately, too huge to fit here in all its glory. Here are some highlights if you want to explore particular topics closely.

1. Stone Age technology and most significant inventions
2. Findings of the Cactus Hill Archeological Site
3. Sumerian tablets and the dawn of the writing system
4. Egyptian belief system and architecture: evolutions and revolutions
5. Viking legacy in Europe and around the world
6. Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties
7. Economic and social outcomes of the Age of Exploration
8. Enlightenment and its impact on political systems
9. The primary outcomes of the Springtime of the Peoples in 19th-century Europe
10. World War I and its impact on society and culture

Science High School Essay Topics

Science in its pure form might seem boring to many. Yet once you see how it works in everyday life, it’s nothing short of awesome. See for yourself!

1. The technology that transformed the world: which is the greatest invention of all time, in your opinion?
2. A brief history of electricity
3. Why is a perpetual motion machine impossible?
4. Which of the science fiction antigravity devices could hypothetically exist without breaking the laws of physics?
5. Food waste as a source of clean energy
6. Colloids, solutions, and suspensions and their application in everyday life
7. The chemistry behind diagnostic reagent strips
8. The primary evidence of evolution we can observe today
9. The history of blood transfusion
10. Urban ecosystems and their influence on biodiversity

Literature High School Essay Topics

Literature is the closest thing to a time machine we have. Dive into the life, dreams, and fears of yore with these topics.

1. Feminist icons of Greek tragedies
2. Kennings and their use in modern culture
3. Anglo-Saxon values and culture in Beowulf
4. Fourteenth-century Christian society structure in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales
5. Why don’t we laugh at Shakespeare’s comedies anymore?
6. Andrew Marvell as a poet of nature
7. Heathcliff from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights: Gothic villain or Byronic hero?
8. Edgar Allan Poe: the epitome of a tormented genius
9. Steam of consciousness writing and its influence beyond the Modernist era
10. Wealth and glamour in the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby

Geography High School Essay Topics

We talk a lot about the world getting small and turning into one global village. Yet do we know this “little” place all that well? Let’s find out!

1. What are the main five themes of geography as a science?
2. What were the main seafaring limitations in the Age of Sail?
3. Modern tools of geography: maps, GPS, GIS
4. Choose one macrogeographic region and describe its terrain, climate zones, and population
5. The timeline of anthropogenic influences on climate
6. What are the main objections to the terraforming of deserts on Earth?
7. Greatest volcanic eruptions and their aftermath
8. Choose one alternative source of energy and describe its advantages and challenges
9. The geopolitics of rare Earth elements and their role in the globalization
10. Main tools of meteorology and weather forecasting

If you find some of the topics above fascinating but a bit too complex, request a customized sample! Our expert writers will prepare a model essay for you. Learn working with sources, structuring, formatting, and writing from the pros!