Category: Annoucements

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Congrats to Michigan HSEB Champs, Saline High

Saline High School Ethics Bowl team members Brian Kang, Alex Larson, Sarah Yousif, Colin Learman and Michael Bryant.

Regional HSEB champions from across the country will meet in North Carolina for the 11th annual National High School Ethics Bowl in two weeks. We at EthicsBowl.org congratulate, send our admiration and well wishes to all organizers, coaches, teams, families and fans. But special kudos to Saline High, a founding Michigan Bowl League school, for winning the Michigan HSEB and their regional match against the Maryland champs to advance to nationals. Way to go, Coach Ornelas, Brian, Alex, Sarah, Colin and Michael! Here’s some heartfelt praise from founding and former Saline HSEB Coach Shelly Venema, who no doubt strategically positioned the school for their success.

“This year’s team has shown incredible insight, dedication, and teamwork. Each member brings unique strengths creating a group capable of tackling the dilemmas presented in the competition. Saline has worked for many years to win the Michigan Bowl and is so excited to compete at the national level, especially following the impressive national victory by Ann Arbor Skyline High School last year. Michigan is also excited to contribute to the state’s growing legacy in the Michigan Ethics Bowl community.”

It’s a legacy that gets more impressive every year. According to Organizer Jeanine DeLay, 2024’s was “the largest ever gathering with about 175 fabulous students and 85 amazing judges from 13 colleges and universities and community leaders.”

A2Ethics and the University of Michigan’s Philosophy Department definitely know how to make Ethics Bowl as cool as it can be with a red carpet entry for the teams, a team song competition (“Free Will” by Rush was this year’s winner) and philosophically awesome team names including The Drowning Children, Shackled Leviathan, Parfit for a Queen, Aristotle’s Garden, Serving Kant, The Soaring Socratics, Kantscientious Objectors, Kant Stop and Locke-d In.

Add one-of-a-kind promo art like the below and it’s hard to find a better run, more fun Ethics Bowl. Keep up the great work, rock on, and enjoy Chapel Hill, Michiganders!

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Announcing the 2024 Pan American Ethics Olympiad!

A new Ethics competition, hosted by the Modus Ponens Institute, will be held in March 2024. The Western competition will be on the 10th of March, and the Eastern competition will be on March 30th. The Pan American Final will be held on April 14th.

This event is unique for a few reasons: first, it has an exciting International competition students can attend if they place in the top positions at the National tournament. Also, all judges have extensive background in either Philosophy or a related field of study, or a history of Ethics Olympiad judging. They will provide extensive feedback each round, which will be invaluable for your improvement throughout the rounds!

Furthermore, the competition emphasizes the use of ethical theories to ground arguments. Understanding the key theories, utilitarianism, some sort of deontology (the founding father being Emmanuel Kant), care ethics, virtue ethics, and perhaps Rawlsian justice could all be utilized to build your positions.

You can find additional info at the Modus Ponens Institute webpage, or you can get in touch with the organizers at panamethics@modusponensinstitute.com. They will release the cases to you, and offer training if you desire it, once you’ve registered for the competition.

Finally, if you have any financial difficulty paying for the team fee ($180 Canadian dollars), or for pre-tournament coaching, you can simply ask via email for a scholarship, and access will be granted.

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Kicking Off the Season with New Cases, New Studio Times & New AAPAE Champions

Happy fall! With the 2023-2024 season fully underway, here are three important updates.

  1. The NHSEB case pool is live here. Favorites include #1 on generative AI (my second favorite issue), #4 on Canada’s recent move to freeze the finances of certain protestors (PM Trudeau sparking considerable debate), and #5 on the morality of cruelty in video games (which is very likely to lead to callousness in the real world).
  2. Per a recent email from our friends at UNC’s Parr Center and the National High School Ethics Bowl, “NHSEBAcademy’s popular Studio Hours program has been revamped and now offers on-demand appointments every day of the week and across multiple time zones.” Session foci range from case brainstorming to presentation consultation to commentary workshops to judge Q&A practice. Live, on-demand, free coaching on the core components of Ethics Bowling? That’s hard to beat. If you’re coaching a team or on a team, book some free studio time here. A big thank you to our friends at Parr for offering such a helpful and generous resource.
  3. The first-ever Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics (AAPAE) Tertiary Ethics Olympiad (comparable to the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl sponsored by America’s Association for Practical and Professional Ethics) was held earlier this week. Australian National University took the Gold and Bronze medals, and Macquarie University the silver. Congrats to them as well as honorable mention winners at the University of Melbourne and Monash University. And thanks to multiple time zone international organizer extraordinaire, Matthew Wills, for the invitation to judge. It’s always a pleasure. Even when my mid-40s brain gets a little tired after midnight 😉 Group photo below.
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1st International Tertiary Ethics Bowl-Olympiad Results

Congratulations to Australian National University in taking both the gold and bronze medals in the first international collegiate Ethics Bowl/Olympiad! I had the honor of volunteer judging the evening of the 18th (the morning of the 19th in Australia) and the competition was impressive on several levels, with ultra-prepared teams from the U.S. and Down Under, and a collegial, collaborative spirit running all the way from Ethics Olympiad Director Matthew Wills and Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Director John Garcia, through judges, coaches and teams.

According to organizer Matthew Wills, the winners were:

Gold – Australian National University Team 2

Silver – Tufts University

Bronze – Australian National University Team 1

Whitworth University was close behind in fourth, with honorable mentions awarded to Tufts University, University of Chicago and Monash University.

Kudos to Matthew and John for making this first collegiate-level international Bowl/Olympiad a reality, to the judges for volunteering their valuable time, and to the coaches and teams for spreading the goodwill of our unique approach to difficult moral and political issues across oceans and around the world. It’s needed in every country, and through partnerships like these the ethically-minded can combine forces, mutually empowering and elevating discourse one conversation at a time.

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Trolley Congas and Ethically Kantscious Teams – Michigan HSEB Celebrates 10 Years

2023 MHSEB Participants Striking their Best Philosopher Poses

Our friends in Ann Arbor report another successful Michigan High School Ethics Bowl. That makes 10 in a row! The only event cool enough to open with a 12-school trolley conga (no rail workers were injured), here are highlights from longtime organizer Jeanine DeLay.

“Our winner of The Hemlock Cup and Michigan regional champion was a first timer – The P-Zombies from Ann Arbor Skyline HS. And the runner-up and Keeper of Philosophy Flame prize also a first timer – Saline HS. The Best Team name prize for ‘Ethically Kantscious’ was submitted by Ann Arbor Huron HS. And The Best Team song prize for ‘I Won’t Back Down’ by Tom Petty was submitted by Beaverton High School’s ‘Dazed and Confucius’ team.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. No HSEB out-styles the Michiganders!

Jeanine and team are curious about other bowls’ traditions and colloquial brands of fun. If you’re up for sharing, shoot me an email or simply post a comment. And super EthicsBowl.org congrats to A2Ethics and Ann Arbor Skyline!

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Inaugural International Tertiary Ethics Olympiad Coming April 2023

According to a recent press release, leaders in the US and Australia have agreed to hold the very first International Collegiate Ethics Bowl (aka Tertiary Ethics Olympiad) this coming April!

“In October 2022, ten university teams participated in the first-ever Tertiary Ethics Olympiad. Teams from universities in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, ACT and Western Australia participated in these heats. And in the end, teams from ANU and Monash University were awarded medals. This event is based on the popular Inter-Collegiate Ethics Bowl held annually in the US for nearly three decades. Given the long history of running these events in the US and the recent history of running Ethics Olympiads in Australasia, it made sense for the first International Tertiary Ethics Olympiad to happen on Wednesday, 19th April. Four top teams from Australasia will face the top US teams from the recent Intercollegiate US Ethics Bowl.”

To clarify, while it’ll be held the morning of Wednesday, April 19th down under, it’ll still be the evening of Tuesday, April 18th in the U.S. However, not too late – 6 til 10:30 Eastern, 3 to 7:30 Pacific. Awesome that a mutually amenable schedule was set.

To register a team, click here. To sign up to observe, email admin@ethicsolympiad.org. And for more info on Ethics Olympiad generally, visit ethicsolympiad.org.

Thanks to the folks on all sides for making this happen, chiefly Matthew Wills and John Garcia. Someone needed to do it. No one was. Way to be the change rather than merely talking or dreaming about it. Cheers!

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IEB Reflections from Ethics Bowl’s Father

Ethics Bowl Creator Bob Ladenson with another legend, Max Minshull – the only high schooler to organize a HSEB while still a student.

Ethics Bowl creator Bob Ladenson recently published an article in The Philosopher’s Magazine outlining benefits of and lessons from Ethics Bowl.

Benefits include “experiential education for open-mindedness” which participants gain by thinking through difficult, controversial, and as Bob puts it, often “highly viewpoint dependent” cases.

Another is “deliberative thoughtfulness” attained via “serious effort to understand [others’] views from the inside – to comprehend the key concerns motivating the viewpoint, and, at least to some extent, appreciating the force of those concerns.” Bob considers this ability to understand and empathize with those who disagree with us central to a stable, respectful democracy, and I agree.

The article also includes tips on how to offer stellar case commentary, even when your team agrees with the other’s conclusions, as well as a cool sample case on whether and how medical professionals should treat prisoners subjected to waterboarding and other “advanced interrogation techniques.”

If you’ve not had the pleasure of chatting with Bob or reading his work, the article is an easy, quick way to appreciate Ethics Bowl from the original founder’s perspective. Check it out here – and thanks to the Phil Mag editors for spreading the good word!

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Bookable Scrimmages Now Live

As promised, the NHSEBAcademy Studio recently began offering Zoom-based supplementary coaching. Beyond the Staffed Scrimmages, teams also have the option to book a Case Brainstorm session, Presentation Consultation or Practice Q&A.

That this is free and available to any team — public or private, seasoned or rookie, near or far — is marvelous. Coaching on the public speaking aspects will help so many inexperienced and shy participants. And I think the Case Brainstorms will be especially helpful. So often we get caught up in the competitive aspects. A chance to simply share ideas and explore lines of reasoning may be the best way to promote the true spirit of Ethics Bowl yet.

Special thanks to the Parr Center and Team NHSEB for making this superb resource available. Click here to check it out, and please help spread the word!

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Inaugural Collegiate Ethics Olympiad a Success

Earlier this week the first ever Tertiary Ethics Olympiad was hosted by Matthew Wills and team in Australia. I was honored to serve as a judge, and was supremely impressed with the quality of analyses and discussion. The results, shared by Matthew via email afterwards:

“[Australian National University, ANU] (Green) was awarded the Gold medal, ANU (White) the Silver medal and Monash University (Red) received the Bronze medal. Close behind and in order were; [University of Western Australia, UWA] (Aqua), UWA (Green), Monash University (Yellow), University of Wollongong (Blue), UQ (Orange), Curtin University (Black) and UQ (Plum). The following teams received honorable mentions from the judges; Curtin University (Black), ANU (White), Monash University (Red & Yellow), UWA (Aqua & Green), University of Wollongong (Blue) & UQ (Orange and Plum).”

Super congrats to Australian National University for winning both 1st and 2nd place! But thanks and congrats to all coaches and teams for making this first event possible. I know Matthew was thrilled to expand Ethics Olympiad to the collegiate level, and the broader Ethics Bowl community couldn’t be more proud.

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Inaugural University Ethics Olympiad

The Beautiful University of Melbourne

Ethics Bowl began in the U.S. on the college level, first in Bob Ladenson’s classroom, then at APPE sessions under the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl.  Several years later, folks like Fred Guy in Baltimore, Roberta Israeloff on Long Island and George Sherman in St. Petersburg found success extending them into high schools. And slowly, innovators like Deric Barber in Houston tried Ethics Bowl in middle schools as well.

In Australia, the high school version came first, followed by middle and elementary school. And this fall, our friends down under are holding their first collegiate-level Ethics Olympiad.

Gold, silver and bronze awards will be determined by three Zoom-based heats on October 4th. Each team needs a coach, up to two teams are allowed per institution, members may be undergraduate or grad students and must be enrolled in “a tertiary institution in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore or Hong Kong.”

Kudos, Matthew and team! I understand that several schools in India participated in a recent high school Ethics Olympiad. Awesome that you’re not only expanding geographically, but across age groups as well.

For more information click here or email admin [at] ethicsolympiad [dot] org.