Top 6% in Australasia at International Competition

The Central West Leadership Academy Ethics Olympiad Team has placed 15th in this year’s international championship held on February 24, with over 240 teams competing throughout Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. This is the first time a team from the Central West has competed in the finals level in this highly revered competition.

In an Ethics Olympiad, teams represent their school as they argue constructively about contemporary and relevant ethical issues. Unlike a debate where one team tries to poke holes in another’s argument, the Ethics Olympiad team ‘wins’ by showing a broad depth of knowledge and perspectives that furthers constructive, collective thinking. Usually, this event has been run in face-to-face meetings in capital cities throughout Australasia. The event was held remotely this year due to COVID.

This is the first year Academy team, consisting of Poppy Caldin, Sovanah Doherty, Finn Randell, Noah Randell and Jia-Rong Tan, have competed in this event. Coached by Academy HSIE teacher Christian Dayment, the team practiced after school weekly for 10 weeks to explore all 8 ethical cases and prepare for the finals. Examples of the ethical cases include:

• Case 1 – Extra! Extra! Don’t Read About It!

• Case 2 “There Must Be No Deserters” COVID-19 and the Ethics of Mass Quarantine.

• Case 3 - Companionship or Commodification?

• Case 4 – Belief vs. Action

• Case 5 – Flying High

• Case 6 – Democracy by Lot

• Case 7 – Repatriation of Foreign Fighters/Participants (FFPs)

• Case 8 – Campus No-Platforming

At the Academy, we have a great emphasis on critical and ethical thinking. We are so proud of the hard work these students have put in to earn them the distinction of being deemed the best ethical philosophers in.