Ethics Bowl China Director Leo Huang spoke online at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University on March 26th. The event, named Democracy, Dialogue and Innovations in Engaging Civic Education, was part of the Centre’s Doubling Down program. Mr. Huang shared his thoughts on how the Ethics Bowl program encourages ethical discourse and civic discussion in China. For more information on the event, including several similar initiatives in Canada: https://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/programs/strengthening-canadian-democracy/doubling-down/democracy–dialogue-and-innovations-in-engaging-civic-education.html
On Feb. 28th, we held the first-ever Ethics Across Our Borders with the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties, the non-profit human rights and civil liberties organization overseeing the Canadian High School Ethics Bowl. As its name suggests, the Ethics Across Our Borders fosters collaborative and respectful discussions on ethical dilemmas among students in a worldwide community. Students from 9 schools in Manitoba, Shanghai, Guangdong, Connecticut, and Massachusetts joined us in the program. The event took an ethics café format, where in each round, students are placed in heterogeneous groups of six to seven in breakout rooms led by moderators. After each round, they return to the main room to share the fruits of their discussions with the whole group. We covered three ethical cases developed by students and teachers from both sides, including the relations between human beings and technology, the ethical issues involved in Britney Spears’ conservatorship, and the role of universities. The program is a pilot to future international events to involve even more students in the cross-continental exchange!
Update: Another Ethics Across Our Borders is set to launch in early April! Feel free to contact us for more information.
The 2021 Shanghai Intersholastic Ethics Bowl (SIEB) was held on Feb. 7th with 14 teams from 4 provinces (Shanghai, Beijing, Changshu, and Guangzhou) across the country participating, after the 4-day Moral Philosophy Workshop. The SIEB, for the first time, has taken a hybrid format, in which Shanghai teams gathered in person, while teams from other provinces joined online. This was an adaptation made according to the current pandemic situation in China, where cross-provincial travels are still discouraged.
The day of match begins with some opening remarks delivered by the Ethics Bowl China program director, Leo Huang. The plenary session was also live-streamed via zoom for the online teams.
After the plenary session, both online and offline teams joined their (real or virtual) rooms for the first of the three preliminary rounds. 5 of the 14 teams were participating remotely with each student connecting from a different location. In general, there were three types of matches: offline team vs. offline, online vs. offline, and online vs. online.
Students enjoyed three rounds of constructive and heated ethical discourse, discussing topics ranging from university funding and drone strikes to the relations between human beings and algorithms.
The preliminary rounds concluded at noon. While the staff were busy calculating scores, participants enjoyed their lunch.
Quarterfinals were announced and the afternoon matches began. The final was between SMIC School, Shanghai, and Affiliated High School of SCNU, Guangzhou. The online/offline match was conducted at the main hall.
Congratulations to SMIC School from Shanghai for claiming first place! They were followed by Affiliated High School of SCNU, Guangzhou, in second place, and Shanghai Pinghe School in third place.
The exciting day concludes with some closing remarks from the director.
The Shanghai Intescholastic Ethics Bowl will be one of many regional Ethics Bowls held in the 2021 season. For plans and updates on future Ethics Bowl competitions, please follow us on WeChat platform or visit our official website: https://ethicsbowlchina.com.
Click here for an online album of the 2021 SIEB.
The Ethics Bowl program has always been a valuable opportunity for students to get to know ethics and philosophy – and to discuss them in a community of peers who are just as passionate about the subjects as they are.
The 2021 Moral Philosophy Workshop, a 4-day seminar series held from 1/31 to 2/3 during the winter holidays, introduced students to a variety of topics in moral philosophy while preparing them for the coming Shanghai Interscholastic Ethics Bowl. Led by 7 professionals in ethics from Canada, the US, and China, our 6 seminars covered topics including moral relativism, just war, the Eichmann Trial and the use of examples in ethical reasoning, the four mapping techniques for analyzing ethical cases, and ethics in the criminal justice system, etc., many of which closely relate to the ethical cases for the coming Ethics Bowl competition. 130 students from 26 schools across China participated in the workshop.
The workshop opens with an introductory session led by the director of Ethics Bowl China program, Leo Huang, followed by an exciting seminar with Dr. Matt Deaton, formerly the Outreach Director of the (US) National High School Ethics Bowl, on the foundations of ethics and important distinctions in ethical reasoning based on his book, Ethics in a Nutshell.
On the second day, Mr. Yan Li, a renowned IB Philosophy teacher previously at Shanghai Pinghe School, led the first seminar on the topic of just war, exploring various aspects including the justice of war, fair conduct in war, and the responsibility and accountability of warring parties after the war. He was followed by Ms. Emily Muller, an Associate at the University of Manitoba Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, on the Eichmann Trial in WWII and its related metaethical issues. She demonstrated to us the complexity involved in using examples to support ethical arguments.
Mr. Raymond Sokalski and Mr. Nova Martin led a joint seminar on the third day on the four ‘mapping techniques’ analyzing ethical cases, namely, Issues Mapping, Conflict Mapping, Power Mapping, and Change Mapping. Mr. Sokalski is the coach of the champion team of the 2018 Canadian High School Ethics Bowl (the team Mr. Martin is on!) at Kelvin High School.
On the final day, we had Mr. Matthew Wu discussing moral relativism, examining the scholarly debate between its defenders and critics, and Ms. Ava Truthwaite, a senior in the Ethics, Law, and Society Program at the University of Toronto, on ethical issues in the criminal justice system and ways to analyze its related Ethics Bowl cases.
The students also benefited from an online platform developed for the progam, known as the Ethics Bowl Symposium, allowing them to manage course schedules, complete assignments, cross-assess each other’s work, co-edit wiki pages and glossaries, download course materials, and join forum discussions during the workshop.
Workshops on ethics and philosophy will continue throughout the 2021 season. More information can be found on our official website: https://ethicsbowlchina.com.
Participating schools (26):
International Department, The Affiliated High School of SCNU
Shanghai Pinghe Bilingual School
Saint Mary’s School
Shanghai SMIC Private School
Shanghai Hua’er Pudong Experimental School
Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy
Shanghai No.1 Experimental School Affiliated to SISU
Shanghai Pudong Foreign Language School
Guangdong experimental high school
United World College Changshu China
Cambridge School of Weston
Shanghai Shangde Experimental School
Keystone Academy
Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School
High School Affiliated to Fudan University
Shanghai High School International Division
Shanghai High School
Choate Rosemary Hall
Shanghai United International School, Gubei Secondary Campus
Beijing World Youth Academy
Groton School
American Heritage School
Nanjing Foreign language School
Shanghai Foreign Language School
No.2 High School of East China Normal University
Shanghai Hua’er Private Middle School
Categories
Older News in 2019 & 2020
This news portal is built for the 2021 and future Ethics Bowl seasons. For older news in 2019 & 2020, please visit https://ethicsbowlchina.com/sieb2020/blog.html.