Mallory and Ross are in love, and slated to be married this fall. Both hail from the South, and their respective families are very proud of their lineage; in fact, the groom’s family owns a plantation-turned-wedding venue in North Carolina. Ross’ family has offered to host the couple’s wedding free of charge on the property, but the couple struggles with the ethics of saying “I do” on the very grounds where cruelty and racism were practiced just a few generations ago. As Millennials, they are adamantly opposed to the history of the property. Should they have the wedding at the venue to save money and keep the peace, or should they find another venue, refuse the groom’s family’s offer and pay for the entire wedding themselves?
Cypress Charter High School senior Davey Mobley and his four Ethics Bowl teammates knew the answer: gettin’ hitched on the soil where slaves were bought and beaten simply isn’t an option for the couple whose roots trace back to the days of Southern Pride. The judges agreed with Mobley’s team, and they won that round—just one of six rounds featuring twelve ethical questions and nine hours of debate and cross-examination—at the Northern California Regional High School Ethics Bowl. Hosted by UCSC on Sunday, January 12th, 28 teams from public and private high schools vied for the title of Regional Champion, and the Cypress Charter team emerged victorious with a 6-0 record.
This was Mobley’s third showing at the NorCal Regional Ethics Bowl, and his team’s first win. All five seniors on the team (Mobley, Ava Willis, Rowan Hutchinson, Skye Hathaway and Lee Loftin) have competed for the last 1-3 years, but this year was one for the record books: Cypress Charter High School from Live Oak is the only public high school to have ever won the regional title.
So how does a small school (~100 students) develop an Ethics Bowl team that’s as refreshing as a glass of Southern sweet tea? Mobley says it comes down to friendship, moral truth and a knack for great communication. “I took a philosophy class in my sophomore year, and we looked at ethics cases during the course,” Mobley said. “That was my introduction to the Ethics Bowl. At first it was just Ava and me on the team, but we drew in our friends, and our team bonded and took off. The first year, we made it to the regional quarterfinals; junior year, we made it to the semifinals, and now, we’re headed to the national championships in North Carolina. It’s crazy!”
The Ethics Bowl is one part debate, one part academic decathlon and one part courtroom drama. Judges grade teams based on the following criteria: embodying the spirit of the Ethics Bowl (being committed to finding the ethical truth); clear and systematic presentations; the ability to carefully consider alternate perspectives; accurately take into account all moral considerations; maintaining a respectful tone towards opponents, and providing professional responses to judges’ questioning. Teams receive booklets of 15 cases in September, and from that point on, it’s all ethics, all the time. “Our recipe for success is that we’re lucky to be really close friends. We have great team rapport and energy, and that gives us an advantage. We work really hard on these cases, and when they’re released in September, we do nothing but study and practice until competition begins. We all stay after school and stay late to do practice rounds. We’re all very passionate and competitive, and it shows in our presentations,” says Mobley.
Unlike debate, though, teams are not assigned a position for or against a resolution; rather, they work together to arrive at their shared ideals regarding all of the cases. “An Ethics Bowl is finding your position to achieve your moral truth,” Mobley says. “You’re committed to finding the ethical truth for any circumstance.” Searching for those outcomes can be especially meaningful to students at Cypress; the campus has a high percentage of LBGTQ students, and Mobley has experienced his own share of discrimination and transphobia. “I’ve always cared a lot about other people,” he says, “and at Cypress, we try to be aware of everyone’s feelings.” That supportive environment has led to some great teamwork by the Cypress seniors, and stellar leadership by head coach and pal Travis Parker. “He corrals us when we get too rowdy,” admits Mobley, but that’s an infrequent occurrence. “You can see how our friendship has benefitted the team immensely. We have more study sessions and practice rounds together, and since we all have classes together, the presentations we give flow really easily.” UCSC’s Kyle Robertson is the NorCal High School Ethics Bowl Founder and Director, and he has a soft place in his heart for the Cypress team as well. “He’s willing to help us do some prep for nationals,” beams Mobley, “and he said that our cross-examination questions were some of the best he’s ever heard!”
Is there one right answer to any of these ethical cases? Mobley says no. “One of the criteria for winning a round is embodying the spirit of the Ethics Bowl—not choosing a position and sticking to it, but finding the most ethical solution possible.”
Has the Cypress team ever lost a round because the members couldn’t agree on an answer? “We did, in our first ever competition. We were all sophomores, and the case was about someone who had been accused of sexual harassment but was never convicted. The question was, without any actual proof, should this individual be hired for a job? “We couldn’t quite agree on a common solution, and so we lost that round.”
With that event behind the, the Cypress team is now gearing up for an April trip to North Carolina—that means airfare, hotel rooms, meals and more. How does a tiny school collect the funds for such an important trip? Mobley isn’t entirely sure, but he’s happy to invite interested community members to help underwrite the team’s travel, and for all the right reasons. “The Ethics Bowl team has had a huge impact in my life,” Mobley says. “I don’t know who I’d be without it.”
To contribute to the Cypress Charter High School’s Ethics Bowl team’s travel expenses, contact Principal Megan Tresham at mt******@sa**********.org.
