The Ethics Bowl: a team perspective

By: Julia Torrico Photo: Courtesy of Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges

The Ethics Bowl  is a debating competition that focuses on the ethical perspective of cases given to the participants in order to present an ethical argument. School teams go head-to-head to compete in the semi-finals to win the ultimate prize, the Ethics Bowl’s trophy bowl.

My fellow teammates and I went to the Ethics Bowl on Feb. 11 at Hampden-Sydney College, and came back exhausted the following evening. Within the confines of my inner being, I felt somewhat unsatisfied from our experience with the tournament. However, when I finally arrived home, the first thing I did was yell “Dios mio! Ya regrese a mi casa!”

I began to realize that my team’s experience at the Ethics Bowl was not a total loss. Each one of us seemed to feel the pain of losing each match during the Ethics Bowl, but we learned and collected a lot of information that was beneficial for all of us.

I interviewed our coach, Dr. Matthew Shadle, to get his perspective on the tournament.   

Torrico: “What did you find most challenging in the Ethics Bowl?”

Shadle: “During the tournament, one of the challenges is that you want to talk to the team during the match: ‘Oh, yeah, do this!’ But, you can’t, you just have to sit and trust they’ll come up with something good…respond to the question in a good way. Generally they did a good job.”

Torrico: “What did you find engaging or interesting in the Ethics Bowl?”

Shadle: “This year’s tournament in particular that one thing I found engaging and exciting was that we were not just thinking about the cases themselves, but we were also thinking about the ethics of the tournament.”

Torrico: “What were your thoughts of the team before we went to the Ethics Bowl?”

Shadle: “I think this [particular] group, compared to the previous two years, seemed to have the most raw talent coming in. Just the first practices right away, I could tell that they could have a lot of talent. Not that I’m saying that the previous groups didn’t have talent, [this year’s group] immediately adapted to the style for the Ethics Bowl in a way I hadn’t seen. Then, by the time we were getting ready to go to the tournament, in a way, we were the most prepared team I had ever sent.”

I wanted to examine each of my teammate’s perspective regarding the Ethics Bowl. The first student interviewee was junior Morgan Carter.      

Torrico: “Morgan, what did you find challenging in the Ethics bowl?”

Carter: “I was under this impression that you have to use your entire time. We have different segments of time to state your argument or come back with something, and you get there, and there were some [participants] who weren’t using their full time, and that was definitely challenging. It was also challenging when they [the moderators,] weren’t clear about the rules…you would give personal experience and some judges would [critique] “That’s so good” or “That’s awesome! You should always do that.” Then, there were other judges who would say “Don’t do that. You don’t need to.” However, only when females would use their personal experience, they were brought down for it, but when a man used their experience, the judges comments were “That’s so wonderful!” That was definitely the most challenging thing for me.”

Torrico: “What did you find most engaging in the ethics bowl?

Carter: “I guess my favorite part was definitely when you would have a really good point, and the team would [present another perspective], and you could [use that as a counterpoint]. I loved that. I also really loved the people I met.”

Torrico: “What did you think of the team before going to the Ethics Bowl?”

Carter: “I didn’t know you well enough. We started off without a practice where all of us were together…I think we had one…but it was short. I think we were still trying to practice, so I didn’t really know you guys, and I was very [confused] about the rules and what’s going on. I felt kinda awkward. During the whole trip, I realized how similar we are. It turned into this whole friendship…and we got really, really close. I really learned a lot about yours and the others’ individual strengths.”

From interviewing Carter, I realized that she and I had become closer after the Ethics Bowl. Instead of acting as students or teammates, we were acting as friends. Even though she pointed out firmly my lack of projecting my voice during the competition, I took her criticism to heart. I may be confident in speaking in front of Marymount students and staff members, but am I confident enough to present my voice amongst an unfamiliar audience, especially if it’s an unknown audience to me? This thought struck a cord deep within me. Am I too afraid to voice my opinion because people don’t like it or don’t agree with it? Is my fear of rejection suppressing the voice that is willing to scream-out the truth?

Next, I interviewed our captain, sophomore Katharina Tesme in order to understand the Ethics Bowl from a learning experience.

Torrico: “Katharina, what did you find challenging in the Ethics Bowl?”

Tesme: “I found a lot of things very challenging, especially for the first [scenario] we had. I thought how I could create a well thought out argument, and then being able to articulate well to convey that argument, it was challenging, especially in the first debate. However, as we got more and more experienced I believe we got better at it [along] with watching the other teams on how they articulate and create their argument…that helped a lot. [Also], we didn’t have an experienced person, [so] this made the competition challenging for us, [and] competing at an all-men [college] was definitely a challenge for [us], we were an all-women ethics team.”

Torrico: “What did you find engaging in the Ethics Bowl?”

Tesme: “We had cases about different cultural backgrounds because Marymount University is such a diverse school, we have such a diverse background, and, as an international student from Germany, I found cultural diversity interesting. There are a lot of ethical dilemmas that we were able to present in such a professional setting. We were such a diverse team. Unaiza is from Pakistan, Morgan has Native American [background], and you have a Latin American background, and me being from Germany, like, were so diverse.”

Torrico: “What did you think about the team after the Ethics Bowl?”

Tesme: “Even though it was about 24 hours, it was such a close bonding experience, I was really surprised. That was really great. Also, learning how to be professional and present yourself, how to articulate really helps us to prepare for our careers, and to consider other viewpoints, so I feel more enriched in life and for the future.”

From interviewing Tesme, my thoughts of the tournament started to change. With interviewing Unaiza Khalid, Senior majored in Education for Elementary level, her responses were similar to Carter and Tesme, and this fortified my new thoughts about the competition. Even though our experience as a team at the Ethics Bowl was a surprise, and we felt that we were not being given much of a chance to voice our opinion in casual conversations with the other participants, we learned some important values as a team and as individuals. Most of us see each other as strong members of our team, and, even though all of us come from different cultural backgrounds, we have a lot in common.

Our time at the Ethics Bowl was not focused on winning, but it was centered on learning from our mistakes and having the freedom to socialize with new people. The tournament and some of the participants and judges influenced us to prepare more, harness our skills, present future ideas for the Ethics Bowl, and to never disregard ethical values.

We may not have won a trophy, but we did win the opportunity to represent ourselves as a team from Marymount University.