Developing a Research Question

In the post below I will be listing several questions regrading the English and Education discipline. These questions stem from personal interest and will hopefully lead to pressing current debates that I can further investigate.

1. What is the current status of education funding across the United States and how does it compare to other nations? Does that reflect on student performances? Should we increase funding because of these potential comparisons?
           

Bushn "Question 3" 4/4/07 via flickr

                This question (or rather string of related questions) has interested me for a long time and I am aware that it is a present issue that many people are debating about. I've been passionate about the condition of education and think that finding out the facts behind funding will help me to establish a more solid argument regarding the state of our system.

2. How should racial slurs in literature be addressed in the present day and what might people feel merit their worth?

                I was exposed to this topic by out professor when he mentioned a debate to me regarding a classic literature book (I'll be honest in saying I don't remember the book) which included consistent racial slurs toward characters and a debate that was going on in regards to removing or changing the slurs. I would like to look into this topic because I know that it is a modern debate and I think it would be fascinating to read up on either side of the argument.

3. What is the worth of modern poetry and what state is it in?

                This particular topic is close to home for me because I am very interested and passionate about poetry. I have analyzed a fair amount of classic poetry and other older movements, but I'm not sure what the current state of poetry is, nor how it will be valued in the future. This may not lead to a debate, but I am certainly curious about the topic and would love to look into finding the answer.