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

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

All Eyes On You

Agustin is a tenth grader at a public school in Charlotte, North Carolina, who posted a picture one Saturday with his friends holding up various hand gestures. This photo was flagged as “suspicious” by his school, who had the school resource officer (SRO) question Agustin in school on Monday. Later, Agustin told his friend via an email on his school computer that he was feeling depressed and anxious about the SRO, which resulted in another visit from the police for a wellness check. These actions were taken for the protection of the school and of other students, but was invasive to Agustin’s privacy.

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Contraceptive Controversy

Jeremy and Ayla are both involved in the Heritage High School PTA, which is trying to decide on a better way to prevent teenage pregnancy at school. One person proposed the idea of providing condoms in the bathrooms for the students, destigmatizing sex and allowing the students to partake safely. Jeremy believes that providing condoms is a bad idea as it would encourage students to have sex who may otherwise not, thus bringing more problems to the school.

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2020-2021 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard 2020-2021 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard

Wholesome Discipline

The aim of discipline has often been to punish a person for wrongdoings that they have committed, but this has a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged students. Instead of punishing students to discipline them, many schools have turned toward wholesome discipline. Rather than punish for something done, schools try to rehabilitate the aggressor to understand their actions and return them to a state before they commit a wrongdoing. This leads to a more supportive environment with accountability, but makes academic and disciplinary outcomes worse.

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2019-2020 National Case Set Katie Leonard 2019-2020 National Case Set Katie Leonard

Ethics Bowl vs. Prom

Jake, a high school senior, made a promise to his girlfriend, who is also a senior, that he'd take her to prom. Jake is also apart of his highschool ethics bowl team along with two other junior members, in which they just moved into nationals. Unfortunately, both events conflict with each other and there's no way he can go to both. There is also no one that can take his place at the national ethics bowl. Jake prefers to go to prom and this upsets his two teammates. Should Jake reconsider, even though he and his girlfriend are seniors while his teammates can try again next year?

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2017-2018 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard 2017-2018 Regional Case Set Katie Leonard

Science Unfair

Valentina and Gerald are paired up for a science project, but Gerald is uninterested and unprepared. Valentina does not want to jeopardize her grade so she asks Gerald not to contribute anything significant to the project and he consents. Is academic laziness ethically problematic? What if Gerald wants to contribute to the project? Should the teacher know about this agreement?

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