Houston-area high school students recently took part in Ethics and Society, a three-week summer program at Rice University that taught them about justice and normative ethics and how ethics are applied in professional organizations.
“A lot of these concepts and ideas are not
something that kids of this age are often exposed to,” Rice doctoral
student Brandon Williams, who helped develop and lead the curriculum with
fellow doctoral student Peter Zuk, said. “From my perspective, one of the major aims
and goals for this program is to do just that, try to give them these tools
such that they can then be disseminated in their own context, at their own
schools.”
Offered to rising juniors, the tuition-free
program encompassed roughly five hours per day and included classroom
conceptualization as well as site visits to Baylor College of Medicine’s Center
for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Anadarko Petroleum and Interfaith
Ministries for Greater Houston’s Refugee Services department.
“It helps you consider…what’s right for you
and what might be right for others,” program participant Kendall Jackson,
who attends Harmony School of Advancement, said. “It helps you find a standpoint on
how you’re going to make your own decisions in life.”