On the week of the 15th of January, Donabate Community College held their first ethics week. This was to promote the subject of ethics and philosophy and to make our school community more aware of the moral and ethical decisions we have to make every day, from the environment to social media. Philosophy helps us with inquiry and our critical thinking skills.
During the week we had two speakers in to talk to students; Dr. Alan Kearns and Dr. Fiachra O Brolchain who are both Doctors of Ethics in DCU’s School of Theology, Philosophy and Music. They spoke to year groups about a range of different topics such as What is Ethics?, Morality, Environmental Ethics and Social Media and Technology Ethics. These were very interesting and made us think about the different choices both good and bad that we make, and how they affect others around us.
We also had a quote of the day and launched the Irish Young Philosopher Awards Competition which we will enter in March.
A daily competition was run in which students had to answer a question based on ethics. The following students won Scrumdiddly’s vouchers: Sophie Mc Grath, Carla Crosbie, Jack Grant, Jack Davis, Ashley Lawlor, Ciara Stell, Holly Star, Darragh Brett, Kim Finnegan and Tomin Sajeev. Congratulations to all our winners and well done to all who participated!
Thank you also to the ethics subject department for co-coordinating the week and we look forward to the Irish Young Philosopher Awards preparations.
If students are still interested in entering the awards please meet in Ms. Kearn’s Room on Thursdays at 3.20pm.
Two reports from first year students about the talk they attended:
Ethics week started on the 15th of January. We had a professor from DCU come in and talk to the first years as well as well as 2nd years, 5th years and 6th years.
He showed us a video where they did an experiment where someone purposely dropped their wallet and to see if people would take the wallet or hand it into the shop. At the end of the talk there was a short paragraph about morals, which had questions we had to answer. I liked the talk and I think everyone else did too.
Rebecca Mc Sorley
On Monday the 15th of January Ethics week started. We had a number of guest speakers and planned activities. First years were lucky to have a visit from Professor Alan Kearns from DCU, where he teaches ethics.
He started the talk by handing out jellies. When everyone’s jellies were eaten, he then told us a plot twist! He had stolen the jellies from the staff room! He went around to many first years and asked, “How do you feel that you have eaten jellies that have been stolen?” Everyone gave their opinions. He continued with showing us a video where they did a social experiment to see whether people would take a wallet that someone had dropped. Towards the end of the talk we read a short paragraph, which had some questions that had us all thinking ethically. I think everybody enjoyed the talk so a big thank you to Dr. Kearns.
Elana Crosbie.