Claire Fahy
Asst. Sports Editor
The Junior Classes of CSH and SHHS came together Nov. 22 to reflect on how to understand oneself and one’s connections through the Internet after watching a showing of “The Social Network,” a movie about the founding of the social networking site Facebook.
The 6-year-old Ethics Forum, previously called Ethics in Action, takes place once in the fall and spring semesters.
“We [are] trying to look for ways to exchange ideas and speakers in an academic setting with the boys and the girls,” Director of Student Life Celine Curran said.
In previous years, students participated in activities such as a Hunger Banquet in which they were assigned to high income, medium-income and low-income meals. The low-income students received little food and water compared to the lavish meal prepared for high-income students. Fifty percent of students were assigned to the low-income group to reflect the 50 percent of the world’s population living in poverty.
Some students became upset over their income assignments and missed the point of the exercise, prompting junior theology teacher Paul Pryor-Lorentz to change the program from “Action” to “Forum”— a more reflective and discussion-based activity.
“I hope that the students will get into the habit of asking reflective and critical questions about their cultural situation and work to shape it in a way that reflects the goals of our school,” Pryor-Lorentz said.
In previous years, juniors participated in several activities — listening to a speaker, creating small group presentations and contributing to group discussions.
“We tried to fit too much into the day,” Pryor-Lorentz said. “We wanted to narrow but deepen the focus by having just one activity.”
Juniors participating in the Forum this year said that the new format is helpful in connecting their in-class discussions with real world experiences.
“It was interesting discussing something so seemingly simple and finding real life issues to talk about,” junior Meghan Helms said.
Pryor-Lorentz said the focus on social networking relates to in-class discussions about Aristotle’s virtue ethics.
“We are talking about how one understands herself in the context of social media tools and how do those tools end up shaping what we think of ourselves and our relationships with others,” Pryor-Lorentz said.
