Five Academy students in the Honors Program will compete as a team in this year’s National High School Ethics Bowl (NHSEB). 这个竞赛挑战学生讨论当前, 涉及道德困境的现实世界情境. Chisimdi Nnabugwu, Zara Okoli, Avery Abraham, Julia Durbin, and Annabelle Thompson will participate in the regional competition on February 3 at Rice University in Houston, Texas. 

The National High School Ethics Bowl was formatted by Robert Ladeson in 1993 as a lesson plan for an ethics class he taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology, 但比赛正式开始于2012年，创始人之一, 北卡罗来纳大学帕尔伦理中心和斯夸尔家族基金会. 这个项目的使命是促进尊重, supportive, 以及关于道德的深入讨论.

为了竞争, the team of five will participate in discussions that require them to defend a position of whether a given situation is ethical in front of a panel of judges. 案例是提前提供的, and the team has been researching the details and preparing their claims in practice sessions. 比赛的设计更像是一种合作讨论，而不是辩论. In order to win, the girls will have to demonstrate not only that they have thought critically about the cases to develop well-informed claims but also that they have listened and responded respectfully to other ideas contributed in the discussion.

与Ms进行小组练习. 第一学期，吉洛里首先读了一个案例, 然后是每个团队成员的评论. 正如茱莉亚解释的团队实践, 团队确定每个人在场景中的立场, and, 没有任何特定的命令或指定的角色, we provide input. 每个案例通常附带三到四个问题, 我们通过什么来完善我们的思维. 我们将在每个实践中介绍两个案例, and we typically wrap up the first case when we can all agree enough to form a temporary claim like, ‘Yes, but only if,’ or, ‘No, but maybe if.’”

Zara elaborated, “Team practices have alerted us to the fact that there might be no correct answer to solve the dilemmas we are asked to consider, so we have to choose one based on our ethical knowledge while also exploring other possibilities and maintaining a moral point of view in the discourse.”

该队由两名来自尼日利亚的大四学生和三名来自路易斯安那州的大三学生组成. 据安娜贝尔说, “因为我们的团队由有着不同背景和观点的女孩组成, 这加强了我们的论点，因为我们都以不同的方式处理提示. 到目前为止，我真的很喜欢参加道德碗, 它扩大了我对所有话题的理解. 它教会了我，一切都是微妙的，没有什么是简单的答案或解决方案.”

因为案例都是基于现实世界的问题, the students have been learning about many different topics that they may not otherwise have known about or considered. “This year we have researched topics from dietary restrictions in school lunches to nuclear weaponry,” explained Avery.

Julia很欣赏这次比赛所涉及的广泛话题. She said, “My favorite part of the Honors Program is how I can research important and current topics. With Ethics Bowl, 我可以研究从太空旅行到电子游戏的主题, 然后我运用这些信息来判断一个行为是否合乎道德.” 

“For example,” Julia continued, “in one case, we considered whether products of artificial intelligence should be subject to the same copyright protections that protect art. After discussion, we concluded that we could not debate what forms of art should be protected without first answering the question: ‘What is art?’ Generally, 我们的研究课题非常广泛, which leads us to explore deeper topics we would not have thought of without hearing others’ opinions.”

Working to understand various perspectives and to acknowledge them ethically in responding to moral issues has been “a fun and rewarding experience” for Avery. She said, “ I have gained skills in team work and independent research along with the ability to think critically about current situations to build reasonable opinions. I have learned to understand the moral complexities in a variety of situations and take into consideration the dignity of people and how certain decisions impact others.”

Simdi has discovered some fundamental patterns in her study and discussion of the cases involving ethical dilemmas. 她说:“首先，你不可能知道所有的细节. A lot of times, we think that an answer is impossible to derive if all the variables are not present. Training for the NHSEB has shown me that it is rare to be presented with a case that neatly presents all variables. Unlike science, 永远不会只有一个正确的答案, 而你的第一个答案是最容易改变的. Oftentimes, 当我读到与案件有关的问题时, 我很快就给出了一个答案，我认为这是一个不需要动脑筋的问题. However, 在和我的队友交谈之后, 我最初的立场经常被修改或完全改变.”

Zara chose to participate in NHSEB because she plans to study international relations in college on the pre-law track. She said, “Ethics are especially important in the legal field where there is an air of distrust and suspicion surrounding lawyers. The knowledge I will gain through the process of this program acts as an important guide to ensure proper conduct in my future daily practice of the law.”

安娜贝尔也在使用NHSEB为她未来的法律职业做准备. She explained, “This is a great opportunity to improve my public speaking skills while also learning how to formulate concrete, 经过深思熟虑的论证. I want to go into the field of law and think that this opportunity is a great way to get experience in debate. 我还认为，通过陈述基于证据的主张，这是一种在小组环境中工作的独特方式, 同时也要倾听和欣赏别人的观点.”

比赛的辩论部分也吸引了茱莉亚. She said, “因为我们学校没有演讲和辩论队, this is a great opportunity to have an academic discussion with like-minded peers to answer very current issues in the world. In previous years, my Honors research has gone toward proving one claim; however, 道德碗比赛, 我可以提出各种微妙的主张，因为没有一个具体的答案. Overall, I am most interested in the active and informed discourse I get to have by participating in the Ethics Bowl team.”

Simdi plans to enter the world of global politics and values the competition’s goal to encourage teams to work “towards a reasonable analysis or solution through a collaborative format.” Simdi continued, “通过参加比赛和训练, I believe that I am training myself to participate collaboratively and constructively with my peers at the United Nations or fellow students in my comparative politics class to reach an ethical response toward any social dilemmas.”

For Avery, NHSEB是她打造大学简历的一种方式, 但她最渴望的是“利用这段经历给我的天赋”.” She explained, “我相信这段经历不仅会对我的学业产生挑战, 还能让我对周围复杂的情况感同身受. 道德碗会帮助我成为一个更好的学生, more importantly, 一个能对世界产生影响的更好的人.”

According to Ms. Guillory, 这些女孩是“梦之队”,她预计他们将在地区比赛中出色地代表学校. 不过，对辛迪来说，获胜并不是唯一的目标. For her, the most important thing is that the team finishes the project with stronger argumentative skills. “一天结束的时候, if my teammates and I are able to have met the NHSEB goals for making meaningful arguments and are able to apply the lessons learnt from the competition to our daily discourse, 那我就说我们干得不错.”