Ethics Olympiad

On Wednesday 22 November, our two Somerville Ethics teams competed in the North Island Middle School Ethics Olympiad for 12 to 15 year olds.

The purpose of the Ethics Olympiad is to help students to develop important skills such as communication, collaboration and critical thinking. Unlike a debate, students are not assigned a position. Rather they take their own considered position in relation to an ethical question. As a team, the students carefully consider their response to the question and collectively present their position.Teams are also given a score based on the respect and care they demonstrate.
The teams participated in four heats and discussed eight different cases with questions like, “To what extent, if any, are individuals responsible for the actions of their governments?”

Both teams performed exceptionally well, one team earning the bronze medal and the other team receiving an honourable mention from the judges.