On February 8th 2015, students from the Henry Ford Academy: School of Creative Studies, Ypsilanti High School, Greenhills School, Huron High School, Pioneer High School, Washtenaw Technical Middle College, and Saline High School -- representing Detroit, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, and Saline -- will participate in the second ever Michigan High School Ethics Bowl. The first Michigan High School Ethics Bowl was organized last year by a partnership between A2Ethics.org, a community organization devoted to promoting public ethics education, and the Outreach team of the University of Michigan Philosophy department.

Since last September, these students have been studying a set of "case studies" describing real-world ethical dilemmas, written by local residents and members of A2Ethics.org. Michigan graduate students Paul Boswell, Anna Edmonds, Zoe Johnson-King, Caroline Perry, Nina Windgaetter, Kevin Craven, Chloe Armstrong, and others have served as assistant coaches by meeting regularly with the students and their school teachers to teach ethical theory and discuss its application to the cases. And in November, students from these different teams gathered together for a Kick-Off event in which they met and mingled, worked through a number of exercises in "trolleyology"... and ate lots of pizza!

During the Bowl, the students will be judged on the clarity and systematicity of their arguments, their ability to identify the multiple ethically relevant features of complex cases, and their awareness and responsiveness to opposing viewpoints. Our winning team will fly to North Carolina on April 20-21 to participate in the National High School Ethics Bowl at UNC Chapel-Hill. In the meantime, all are welcome and encouraged to attend the Michigan High School Ethics Bowl from 10 til 5 on February 8th, at the Neutral Zone, 310 E. Washington St.!

For more information on the Ethics Bowl, including an example case study, please visit: http://a2ethics.org/michigan-high-school-ethics-bowl.