Kate Padgett Walsh, Des Moines Register ; Looking for reasons to hope? Ethics Bowl is an antidote to toxic discourse.
"At a time when political conversations too often devolve into shouting matches, personal attacks, or worse, there's a new model taking root in high schools and colleges across Iowa. It's called Ethics Bowl, and it points the way forward to heal our fractured public discourse.
Since co-founding the Iowa High School Ethics Bowl in 2019, I have seen hundreds of Iowa teenagers thoughtfully grapple with real-world moral dilemmas and respectfully present arguments. Teams succeed by demonstrating careful reasoning, genuinely listening to their opponents, and engaging with questions from judges and fellow competitors in a civil manner. Students learn that acknowledging complexity isn't weakness—it's part of how people disagree productively."
