On Jan. 12, students from Columbia River High School and Jesuit High School met at Portland State to practice for the National High School Ethics Bowl, a national event designed to encourage critical thinking and civil discourse in high school students. Both teams will be attending the regional Ethics Bowl in Seattle this February.
“The Ethics Bowl is an activity that helps kids develop a nuanced way of thinking,” said Michael Andersen, a philosophy teacher at Columbia River High and Ethics Bowl coach. “The questions are designed to foster and nurture respectful discourse, because right or wrong answers to ethical questions can be difficult to discern. The most important skill is critical listening and understanding how the other team may have come to their conclusion.”
At the event, teams of students are tasked with analyzing and discussing current ethical issues and offering solid explanations of how they arrived at their positions. Teams are then scored on their ability to present the most supportive argument.
Unlike a typical debate where teams take opposing sides, Ethics Bowl teams are allowed to agree with each other, collaborate and expand on the other team’s argument.
Some of the ethical questions presented to teams address teen pregnancy, genetically engineered food and executive pay in nonprofit organizations.
Despite the benefits of exposing youth to philosophy studies, the U.S. is one of the only nations that does not require it as part of the education curriculum, according to Andersen.
Andersen says he often faces an uphill battle about the assumptions of what philosophy really is when trying to educate those unfamiliar with the subject.
“Many seem to believe philosophy is about teaching kids to be politically correct, and some people object to that idea,” Andersen said. “Philosophy has nothing to do with political correctness, or the indoctrination of any ideas. Philosophy is the practice of rigorous thinking without ego. It is debate that is balanced with compassion, with the understanding that being rational is an emotional process.”
Kailin Osborne, a junior on the Jesuit High team, agrees.
“I appreciate the reasonable approach in ethics debate. I’ve learned that both sides can be right, and the debate is more about finding compromise, because we can never come to a solution without understanding the other point of view.”
Robert Gillis, a senior instructor of philosophy at PSU, was impressed with the level of respect the students had for opposing opinions during the debates.
“It’s nice to see collaboration in disagreement rather than yelling at each other, like so many people in media these days.” he said.
Ben Dzananovic, a senior on the Columbia River High School team, added, “Studying philosophy taught me to be less narrow-minded and instead focus on the bigger picture. I’ve found I also think bigger. I consider how my actions influence the ethics of everyday life. I just wish there were more opportunities for ethical debate for us.”
Dr. Alex Sager, assistant professor of philosophy at PSU, is hoping to expand those opportunities through collaboration with PSU.
“These students are coming to practice almost every Sunday because they find intrinsic value in philosophical debate. Young people crave the chance to examine these topics in a safe space. Society often grossly underestimates how much young people actually know. This harms them by teaching them not to think, and teaches them to distrust themselves,” he said.
He hopes to introduce more high school students to the benefits of philosophical debate through service-learning opportunities. “I’ve noticed that the students at PSU are particularly invested in their education—they really want it to mean something. Helping introduce young people to philosophy is a very rewarding teaching process” he said.
For more information on the NHSEB visit their website at nhseb.unc.edu