A source of pride at Greenwich High School is its voluminous course offering guide. Once distributed exclusively in hard copy, today it is available online and is as impressive as ever.
The popular Ethics elective course was the brainchild of GHS social studies teacher Ken Alcorn, who researched and wrote the course curriculum.
The one-semester class was first offered in 2011 and is open to 11th and 12th graders.
Ethics teacher Michael Belanger and Ken Alcorn, who created the course curriculum for the class which was first offered in 2010. Sept 3, 2024 Photo: Leslie Yager
Mr. Alcorn explained that the genesis of the course stemmed from his teaching the Shapers of the World.
“What struck me was the students were curious about the ethics questions that came up when we read Aristotle, Plato’s stories about Socrates, and Dante’s Inferno. There were questions about what is the right thing to do and, most importantly, why?”
Alcorn presented his idea for an Ethics course to the social studies coordinator at the time, Richard Alessi, who responded favorably. From there it was presented to the Board of Education who approved its launch.
The class has run every year since then, typically filling four sections, for about 80-100 students a year.
“Enrollment has been steady,” Alcorn said. “It’s an elective, but not an AP. We offer a mixed level class with some students taking it for honors credit and some taking it for regular credit, which is true of all electives, including Intro to Psychology and Intro to Sociology.”
“Some students have a real curiosity about it, and have a sense that it is a philosophy course, and others take the class because it fits their schedule and it’s a social studies credit,” Alcorn said. “If they’re college-bound, the expectation is for four years of social studies.”
The school’s graduation requirement is three years of social studies.
Michael Belanger, who is teaching Ethics this semester, said many students have heard bits and pieces about the course and are excited to explore ideas and ethical dilemmas that are relevant to their daily lives.
“The first day, we start talking about whether Socrates should escape? It’s really exciting for them to explore these questions every day,” he said.
“There aren’t necessarily right answers. There are well reasoned answers. That can be liberating for the students,” Alcorn said.
The idea of the Ethics course is more to give students experience through academic study and historical resources to apply ethical reasoning to situations they encounter.
Mr. Alcorn said teens are so often told what to do without being given explanations as to why, with parents sometimes explaining, ‘Because I told you to.’
“Not to knock parents, but, developmentally, at this stage, with students heading to college where they’ll be on their own, it’s a good experience to be in a class where they’re asked to reason through their decision making.”
Alcorn said the goal of the course is to give students the vocabulary and habits to think through situations they will encounter and be able to articulate their decision making.
The course, however, is not designed as a daily current events focused class, but rather is a philosophy class.
“Ethics is a branch of philosophy,” Alcorn said. “It’s about what is the right thing to do and why.”
“It’s fun when you can use the language of ethics to talk about things – like being late,” Mr. Belanger said. “What would Emmanuel Kant say if everyone walked in late? It clicks for them in an interesting way.”
“It’s one of the only courses in the high school that wrestles with questions as fundamental as what does it mean to live a good life?” Belanger said. “Questions run the gamut, from talking about day-to-day things a teenager might face. I think kids find that really exciting.”
Belanger started teaching Ethics in 2020, right after Covid.
“I needed something new – and I found this course that Ken (Alcorn) wrote. I was in a meeting where they asked for a volunteer to teach the course and I offered because I’ve always liked philosophy,” he recalled. “Teaching this course in fall 2020 re-energized me to think about ways to approach content. The curriculum is so fascinating, I love teaching it.”
Since 2020, Mr. Belanger has requested to teach Ethics every year.
“Regardless of the level of the students – juniors or seniors – it’s intellectually invigorating for me as a teacher,” Belanger continued, adding, “If my sons went to this school, I’d want them to take this class.”
Others who have taught the course include Erik Lee, Margarita David and Joe Baske.
Mr. Lee happened stopped by Mr. Alcorn’s classroom and reflected on teaching the class himself.
“I was terrified of philosophy and never knew much about it, but I was assigned to teach the class and it was awesome,” he said.
Alcorn described the course as akin to a pebble dropped in a puddle, radiating out ripples.
“We start with the pebble itself. We explore our ideas about right and wrong. We explore historical sources like the Ancient Greeks, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle,” he said. “We look at religious sources – The Book of Job and The Old Testament, The Sermon on the Mount, the New Testament, and learn some basics about logic, including how to reason, how to catch ourselves or other people committing fallacies – errors in logic that may be intentional or unintentional.”
“A silly example – ‘We’re the best because we’re number one.’ – ‘We’re number one because the best,'” he said. “Another example, common in politics: ‘You’re either with us or you’re against us.’ ‘If you disagree with me at all, then you are my enemy.'”
During the course, the first unit explores the foundations of thinking in ethical terms – logically and honestly – and where ideas about what is right and wrong come from.
The second unit, “Ethics in daily life,” looks at four theories that inform how people make decisions in their daily lives.
“We look at The Virtue of Aristotle’s Ethics. We look at Kant’s moral theory. We look at Egoism and Utilitarianism,” Alcorn said.
The third unit is Individual Ethics which involves the tension among individual members of society between doing what is in one’s self interest versus what is best for society.
“It’s that dynamic tension we all wrestle with to find the sweet spot between the two is a great challenge of any society, particularly a democratic society.”
In the fourth unit, students select an area of focus from a list of essential questions in three categories: Matters of Life and Death, such as abortion, euthanasia, cloning, and the death penalty; Global Justice with questions about war and peace, rich nations and poor nations; and third, the relationship between Humankind and Nature: with questions for example about protecting versus exploiting the environment.
Alcorn said in all his classes his hopes were that students emerge more empathetic and curious people.
“I want them to come out of the class with a sense of personal accountability and honest introspection about their motivations,” he said.
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