CASE Library
Explore The Issues that Matter.
We excitedly invite you to browse, search, and explore our newly redesigned library of over 300 case studies which render some of the most complex and controversial moral and political issues of our time. These cases were formerly used for official NHSEB competitions at the Regional, Divisional, and National Championship levels. They are freely available for public use under Creative Commons licenses.
The NHSEB Case Library is an excellent tool for competitive preparation, internal or intramural competition, or beyond the context of the Ethics Bowl activity completely—as a classroom resource for Grades 9-12 and beyond.
Featured Cases
NAVIGATING THE LIBRARY
NHSEB’s Case Library is now fully browsable by individual case, or by Case Set—using the filters below. Or, if you already know a bit about what you’re looking for, the entire library of over 300 Ethics Bowl cases is newly indexed, referenced, and searchable by title, topic, keyword, year, and category. Each individual case entry contains the full text of the case and discussion questions as they originally appeared for competitive use, all references assembled in hyperlinked footnotes, and additional contextual resources curated by NHSEB HQ.
CASE SET COLLECTION
REGIONAL CASE SETS
2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | 2019-2020 | 2018-2019
2017-2018 | 2016-2017 | 2015-2016 | 2014-2015 | 2013-2014 | 2012-2013
National CASE SETS
2023-2024 | 2022-2023 | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | 2019-2020 | 2018-2019
2017-2018 | 2016-2017 | 2015-2016 | 2014-2015 | 2013-2014 | 2012-2013
FIND AN ETHICS BOWL CASE
ATTRIBUTION AND CITATION
All National High School Ethics Bowl cases are the intellectual property of the Parr Center for Ethics, and all are freely available for public use under Creative Commons licenses once retired from use in NHSEB competitions. This library represents thousands of hours of work from our Contributing Authors, Editors, and others. Please do not reproduce NHSEB cases or sets—in part or in whole—without attribution, or modify the text of individual cases or sets. If you reproduce or make reference to NHSEB cases from this library (e.g., in classroom materials, academic papers, etc.), please attribute and/or cite those materials:
National High School Ethics Bowl (Ed.), <YEAR>. “<Case Title>.” National High School Ethics Bowl Case Library. UNC Parr Center for Ethics: Chapel Hill, NC. http://nhseb.org/case-library
Browse The Library
Banking on Cash
At the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many stores stopped accepting cash, and are still rejecting the payment method. This is because of the inefficiencies when dealing with cash, such as slow lines, counterfit bills, and the time it takes to process the money. However, by excluding cash payments, a business may be unintentionally discriminatory towards people unable to open a bank account.
Left Behind, at Warp Speed
With the release of three vaccines for the COVID-19 variant, the Coronavirus pandemic is finally starting to look up. However, the pandemic has thrown the disparity between economic classes into full view. Vaccines are taking longer to get to those of a lower economic status, especially outside of Western countries, such as the United States and those in the EU. Countries unable to afford COVID vaccines are all relying on the same international fund to supply them, but it will take much more time and money for these nations to see a vaccination rate on par with the United States.
To Forgive or Not to Forgive?
The student debt crisis is steadily increasing by the year. Candidates like Bernie Sanders promise to totally delete all debt, while some promise to severely decrease it. Despite how good this sounds, there are a lot of critics surrounding this. Some say it's not fair for others who have handled their financials in a way where they need no loans. Would this policy be unfair to those who went about things differently? Should this policy be accepted to strengthen the middle class, therefore strengthing the economy since they'd be able to actively participate?
Desk Rent
There is an emerging trend in primary and secondary education to teach financial literacy to students by structuring the classroom as a “simulated microeconomy.” Parents and teachers alike have praised the program for making the process of learning about financial responsibility fun for the students, and for teaching important life skills and values organically—the background—of their everyday class activities. However, one might worry that this program will merely recreate in the classroom the oppressive class structures that already cause so much trouble in the wider society.