Senior Ethics Olympiad  

Matthew Pivec, Year 11, Ridgeway Campus

This year I was part of a team of four, who took part in the online Ethics Olympiad. Since my only real ideas about ethics came from a YouTube video I had once watched about the trolley problem, I was a little hesitant to get involved as I didn’t really know what to expect.  

 The competition consisted of around eight ethical ‘case studies’ each discussing a complex ethical issue. In each round of the competition, a question is chosen by the judge, and then team A presented on the issue. Team B then responded by asking questions, but what I quickly learned was that the purpose of this response is not the same as in debating - you aren't trying to demolish your opponents’ arguments, but merely to raise ethical questions they may not have considered and try to reach the most ethical answer, scoring points for respectfulness. Team A then had a chance to respond, after which they were questioned by the Judge, reminiscent of a courtroom as the judge poked holes in their arguments. 

To give a quick example, we discussed the ethical considerations of interfaith marriage, and the case boiled down to whether it was ethical for someone to undertake a performative conversion to orthodox Judaism in order to satisfy their spouses family who would otherwise completely ostracise their son. As very few people in the competition were orthodox Jewish, it was an interesting exercise trying to apply ethical ideas without bias and consider all perspectives. All sorts of hypotheticals were discussed with reference to the different ethical theories - something I had to research in preparation, and although we did not reach a ‘correct’ answer - as the judge explained, we had a robust debate about ethics, and all reached a better understanding of the moral issues. 

Our team made it through to the international final. It was a fantastic opportunity to have complex discussions with students from all around the world. Working to view ethical issues through the same ethical theories with Indian schools, English schools, Chinese schools and others from all around the world was a lot of fun. 

I have benefited from the experience, as in day-to-day life it's rare to have our viewpoints and opinions examined so vigorously under the ethical microscope, and although we didn’t win the finals it was an amazing experience which I thoroughly recommend to anyone interested in ethical dilemmas.