The photos and report are from Chief Sealth International High School teacher Noah Zeichner (and note the reference to a newfound legal celebrity toward the end):
Eight Chief Sealth International High School students participated in the Washington State High School Ethics Bowl at the University of Washington on Saturday. At the end of the day, the two Chief Sealth teams finished with 2nd- and 3rd-place trophies.
Students discussed the ethical implications of raising the smoking age to 21, banning religious garb, funding contraception under the Affordable Care Act, among other topics. The event was organized by the UW Center for Philosophy for Children and took place at the UW School of Law. From the Center for Philosophy for Children’s website: “Unlike debate, Ethics Bowls do not force teams to take adversarial positions or hold fast to assigned perspectives. Instead, students have a forum in which to engage in dialogue, and they are judged on the quality of their analysis – how well they reason through the issues, organize and present arguments, analyze a case’s morally relevant features, and respond to commentary and questions – and the degree to which they engage in a thoughtful, civil exchange.”
The two Chief Sealth teams faced off against Lakeside, Seattle Academy, the Bush School, Lake Washington High School, and King’s School. In the final round, Chief Sealth’s Team 1 lost narrowly to a team from Seattle Academy. The judges included Justice Steven González of the Washington State Supreme Court and Noah Purcell, the Solicitor General who argued the case against President Trump’s immigrant and refugee ban in federal court on Friday.
The top three teams have earned a trip to Olympia on March 16 to hear an oral argument at the Washington State Supreme Court. They will have lunch with the Supreme Court justices, visit the legislature, and take a private tour of the Governor’s Mansion. The 1st-place team will be traveling to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to compete in the National High School Ethics Bowl in April.
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