All across the United States, politicians, professors, and pastors alike decry a lack of civility and an inability to find common ground in the public square. Our conversations about the things that matter, commentators insist, are plagued by antipathy, partisanship, and motivated reasoning. Insistence, insinuation, and innuendo have come to define the norms of public discourse backgrounded by a political landscape which is as polarized as ever. Political scientists and theorists worry that these norms have begun to displace the ideal of democratic deliberation in public life—of reasoning carefully together about hard problems. This is particularly the case with those problems which implicate our most closely-held values. We have, it seems, begun to forget the crucial skill of talking to each other about the things that matter.

As first explained to me by a baseball coach in my youth, “practice makes perfect.” As I worked my way through primary and middle school, I realized—as most children do—that this was the case with all of the important skills I was gaining. As I grew older and turned my attention to other pursuits like playing music, and ultimately, the study of philosophy as an undergraduate, I began to internalize the fact that how one practices the skills that matter is nearly as important as the fact of the practice itself. As one music instructor told me, “only perfect practice makes perfect.” While this was something of an unattainable ideal, of course, there was an important truth to it. Excellence, according to the ancient philosopher Aristotle, is that good which you can perform repeatedly and consistently—a disposition built by habituation over the course of a life. Aristotle thought this sort of thinking applied to all things in the universe, and while the world of scientific and philosophical inquiry has progressed much since classical hylomorphism, the importance of not just practice, but good practice when it comes to acquiring skills and virtues has stood the philosophical test of time. A good life, we might reason, is one in which crucial virtues are practiced well and often. People are what they repeatedly do. As we are fundamentally social, these skills are practiced in a context of community. We work together to construct a good life over time. Such a life requires a critical mind, an ongoing process of questioning and inquiry about difficult things, and yes, revisions to our beliefs and practices, be they large or small.

The skills associated with living together well in a democratic society are no different. They too require practice. And not just practice, but good practice which is consistent, socially embedded, and rewarding for participants. Done well, the National High School Ethics Bowl (NHSEB) is an ideal venue for the development of those skills which are absolutely crucial if democracy is to flourish. Created by philosopher Robert Ladenson, the Ethics Bowl format is based on the notion of a public philosophical dialogue that finds its way back to the ancient world. It emphasizes skills like critical reasoning and argumentation, careful listening, and empathetic engagement with the ideas and experiences of others. Since 2012, the National High School Ethics Bowl has worked to cultivate these skills in thousands of students all around the country by carefully crafting transformative educational experiences—both inside the classroom and out. The skills and dispositions our program fosters—particularly the core value of reasoning productively together over disagreement—are more important now than they ever have been, as our society struggles with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and economic upheaval, and hard questions about history, identity, and belonging. These grand challenges are each subjects for careful thinking and discussion in their own right. Taken in concert, they form the complex grounds on which citizens must work together—now and into the future.

High school students are not merely the distant future leaders of our democracy. They are the immediate inheritors of the demands of citizenship, and play an already important role in our society. The National High School Ethics Bowl is designed to equip participants to take on these challenges—not only as students, but as full members of social and political communities. Our goal is not merely to teach students to reason about and discuss moral and political issues. It is to teach them to do this hard work responsibly, constructively, and most importantly, together. I invite you to learn more about the Ethics Bowl, get involved with our fast-growing community, and join a great conversation today.

Sincerely,

Alex Richardson, Ph.D.

Director, National High School Ethics Bowl
Parr Center for Ethics
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill