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Recently, the Department of Philosophy hosted one of the regional qualifiers of the Ontario High School Ethics Bowl.

The Ethics Bowl brings together teams from local high schools to debate difficult ethical questions involving moral dilemmas. It is an opportunity for students to hone their critical thinking and verbal skills, and to meet other students interested in discussing complex ethical questions.

Despite being an early sponsor of the Ethics Bowl program in Ontario, it was the first time the Department of Philosophy hosted of one of the regional events since the event began in Canada. “In past years, our main contribution was sending a team of faculty and senior doctoral students to serve as judges at the annual Ontario wide Ethics Bowl competition at U of T,” said Philosophy Department Head Rahul Kumar. “Our experience at these occasions was always one of meeting highly engaged, thoughtful, students; exactly the type we are eager to attract to our program. We decided to host a regional Ethics Bowl competition in order to deepen our support for the program, and to introduce outstanding high school students to Queen’s.  Doing so made attending a regional competition much more accessible to students at Eastern Ontario high schools.”

Hosting the Ethics Bowl event at Queen’s also provided the high school students with a unique opportunity to interact with Queen’s campus, as well as students, faculty, and staff. “The usual experience for a prospective student is that they do a campus tour and visit booths at an open house,” says Dr. Kumar. “The students who participated in our competition spent the whole day in Kingston Hall with the Queen’s Philosophy faculty, grad students, and senior undergraduates who volunteered as competition judges and moderators, providing ample opportunity for informal chats. Most of these students had never been on a university campus before, or met, let alone had a conversation, with a professor.”

“Queen’s University is excited to support the next generation of leaders by hosting the regional Ethics Bowl. This event epitomizes the collaborative analysis and discussion that we need to engage in to solve the challenges that we face in society. It demonstrates the capability of our youth and showcases the critical role of Philosophy in contemporary discourse,” says William Nelson, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning)

Nine teams, and more than fifty students from across Kingston and the GTA competed in the regional event. Debating topics including collective punishment, children’s duties to their parents, changing the voting age, and even the importance of memes. Teams were scored based on the clarity and systematicity of their argument, the moral dimensions and opposing viewpoints that they identified, their engagement with both the other team and judges, and finally their respectful dialogue. Through multiple rounds, teams had the opportunity to present a case, respond to commentary from their opponents, and answer questions directly from judges.

The Ethics Bowl was initially developed in 1993 by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, as an intercollegiate competition to enable students to discuss complex ethical issues within a format offering several pedagogical advantages over traditional debate. This expanded to the formation of the High School Ethics Bowl in the United States in 2012 with the Canadian version launching in 2016. Since its inception, the Canadian Ethics Bowl has undergone a rapid expansion across the country and now has events taking place in over twenty cities in eight provinces.

In the end, the Tzu-Kant Confucius team from Kingston Secondary School (Kingston) had the highest score of the day and automatically qualified for the Ontario competition. The Skeptics team from Milton District High School (Milton) were victorious in the final round against The Magic School Bus team from Regiopolis Notre Dame (Kingston). With twenty-two teams from the nine regional events advancing to the Ontario Championship, both teams were awarded the opportunity to join Tzu-Kant Confucius at the provincial championship. The winner of that event will earn a chance to compete at the National event in April.

“The Philosophy Department had never undertaken to put on an event at this scale, but the effort was more than worth it, and we look forward to hosting our 2nd Queen’s Regional Ethics Bowl in the winter of 2026”, says Dr. Kumar.

For more information about Ethics Bowl Canada, .